Rhode Island

R.I. Gen. Laws § 40-11-3; § 40-11-11 — Rhode Island mandatory-reporting statute

Clergy named as mandatory reporter?: No
Confessional exemption?: No

Statute: R.I. Gen. Laws § 40-11-3; § 40-11-11
Clergy named: All-person
Pending: —

Rhode Island already has one of the strongest reporting laws in the country. Any person with reasonable cause to suspect child abuse (not just licensed professionals) must report it to DCYF within 24 hours, and clergy-penitent privilege does not excuse failure to report. After the March 2026 Attorney General report identified 75 credibly accused clergy and 300+ victims dating to 1950, the legislature passed a civil statute-of-limitations revival window, signed into law in June 2026, that reopens previously-expired claims against institutions for a two-year window (July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2028). The remaining push is a companion bill (H8093A) that would expand the institutional reporting overlay to name religious organizations and clergy; it passed the House 73-0 and died in Senate Judiciary at the June 11, 2026 sine die adjournment, so it must be reintroduced in 2027. The statutory framework lives at R.I. Gen. Laws § 40-11-3 (the all-person reporting duty) and § 40-11-11 (privilege abrogation, with attorney-client the only carveout), though § 40-11-11 never expressly names the clergy-confession privilege at § 9-17-23, leaving its reach into a courtroom confession a quieter question worth settling by amendment. This is exactly the kind of state-level reform UCO is pushing for in every state.

Section 01What needs to change

What needs to change in Rhode Island.

All-person reporting duty (§ 40-11-3(a))
Rhode Island is one of roughly **17 states** whose law requires any person, not only designated professionals, to report suspected child abuse (HHS Children's Bureau, Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect, May 2023). Section 40-11-3(a) requires any person with reasonable cause to know or suspect that a child has been abused or neglected (or has been a victim of sexual abuse by another child) to transfer that information to DCYF or its agent within **24 hours**. Clergy are covered as members of the general public.
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Privilege no defense to the duty; the clergy-confession privilege at § 9-17-23 is not expressly named (§ 40-11-11)
The privilege-abrogation section sweeps in spousal communications and **any professional-client relationship**, carving out only attorney-client, and it bars invoking privilege as grounds for failure to report, failure to cooperate, or exclusion of evidence. Combined with the all-person duty, that means clergy cannot use privilege to excuse a report. One limit is worth stating precisely, though: § 40-11-11 is keyed to a 'professional person and his or her patient or client,' and while it names the health-care privilege at § 9-17-24 in one clause, it never names § 9-17-23, the clergy-confession privilege, whose holder is a person confessing rather than a patient or client. Rhode Island's override reaches the confessional by interpretation rather than by express abrogation, so an amendment naming § 9-17-23 would settle the question for testimony and admissibility.
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Penalty for knowing failure to report (§ 40-11-6.1)
Knowing failure to perform any act required by Chapter 40-11, including the § 40-11-3 reporting duty, is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500, imprisonment of up to one year, or both, and exposes the non-reporter to civil liability for damages proximately caused by the failure. The penalty applies equally to clergy by operation of the all-person duty.
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March 2026 AG investigation: what the text alone didn't surface
The Attorney General's 284-page investigative report, released March 4, 2026 after a multi-year review of 250,000+ pages of records produced by the Diocese, identified **75 credibly accused clergy and 300+ victims** dating to 1950. The text of § 40-11-3 has required this reporting since long before any of those disclosures; surfacing the scale required external prosecutorial investigation. The report's recommendations propose clarifying the statute to **explicitly enumerate clergy and religious-organization employees** with supervisory responsibility over children. This is additive clarity, not a corrective override.
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Civil SOL revival window enacted (2026)
In June 2026 Rhode Island enacted a civil statute-of-limitations revival window (H7200 and its Senate companion S2616), signed into law on June 11, 2026. The law opens a **two-year window**, from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2028, for survivors to bring previously time-barred claims against the institutions and supervisors that enabled or covered up child sexual abuse. It is the civil-accountability half of the reform package recommended by the March 2026 Attorney General report, moving Rhode Island from strong reporting text toward an actual remedy for survivors.
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Section 02What's needed

What it takes to close the gap.

From Rhode Island's law as it stands today to the standard UCO is working toward, every adult who learns a child is being harmed has to report it:

On reporting, Rhode Island has almost nothing left to do: § 40-11-3(a) binds any person, clergy included, to report to DCYF in 24 hours, and § 40-11-11 bars privilege as a defense to that duty. The civil-accountability piece is now law too: a June 2026 statute-of-limitations revival window (H7200) lets survivors sue institutions through June 30, 2028, and the near-term work is making sure survivors use it before it closes and defending it if it is challenged. Two smaller things remain. First, the reporting-expansion companion H8093A passed the House 73-0 but died in Senate Judiciary at the June 11, 2026 sine die adjournment, so it must be reintroduced in the 2027 session. Second, a quieter, evidence-side clarification is worth making: § 40-11-11 already bars privilege as a defense to reporting, but it is written around a 'professional person and his or her patient or client' and does not expressly name § 9-17-23, the clergy-confession privilege, whose holder is a person confessing rather than a patient or client. Naming § 9-17-23 in the abrogation statute would put beyond argument that the same confession cannot be shielded from testimony in the case the report begins.

Section 03How you can help

Concrete ways to support reform in Rhode Island.

Donate

Donate.

Donations fund Rhode Island-specific research and coalition outreach as advocates work to bring the reporting-expansion bill back in 2027 and survivors begin using the new revival window.

Mission supportDonate→

Section 04Timeline

How Rhode Island got here.

1950-2011
Decades of hidden abuse
The conduct later documented by the AG spans more than 60 years, from 1950 to 2011, through every revision of § 40-11-3. The text required reporting; the institutions did not.
2026-03
AG report released
Attorney General Peter Neronha releases the 284-page Diocese of Providence report after a multi-year review of 250,000+ pages of records produced by the Diocese, identifying 75 credibly accused clergy and 300+ victims. The recommendations propose statutory clarifications and a civil SOL revival window.
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2026-04
House passes the reform package
On April 7, 2026, the House passes H8093A (mandatory-reporting expansion) 73-0 and H7200 (civil SOL revival window). Both bills move to the Senate.
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2026-05
Senate prepares advisory-opinion vote
Senate Judiciary signals it will vote on a resolution asking the Rhode Island Supreme Court for an advisory opinion on the revival window's constitutionality, rather than voting on the bill. The House sponsor and survivors say the maneuver is designed to stop the bill from coming to a floor vote.
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2026-06
SOL revival window signed into law
Despite the advisory-opinion maneuver, the Senate passed substitute versions of the civil SOL revival bills (H7200 and its Senate companion S2616) on June 3, 2026; the House concurred on June 8, and the Governor signed them into law on June 11, opening a revival window from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2028 for previously time-barred claims against institutions that enabled or covered up abuse. The Senate companion to the mandatory-reporting expansion (S3106) was held for further study and did not advance, and the House version (H8093A), though it passed 73-0, was never taken up by the Senate and died when the General Assembly adjourned sine die on June 11, 2026.
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Section 05Background

Public-record sources UCO is tracking.

Always verify against the underlying statute or filing before quoting.

Rhode Island General Assembly
R.I. Gen. Laws § 40-11-3 — Duty to report
Principal statute. Subsection (a) requires any person with reasonable cause to know or suspect child abuse or neglect to transfer the information to DCYF or its agent within 24 hours, the all-person framing.
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Child Welfare Information Gateway (HHS Children's Bureau)· May 2023
Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect (State Statutes Series)
Cross-state comparative reference. Footnote 26 lists 17 states, Rhode Island among them, whose statutes require any person to report suspected child abuse. Footnote 27 places Rhode Island among the 13 of those that also enumerate specific professionals; only Indiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Wyoming require all persons without enumerating any professions.
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Rhode Island General Assembly
R.I. Gen. Laws § 40-11-11 — Abrogation of privileged communications
Operative privilege-abrogation section. Abrogates spousal privilege and any professional-client privilege except attorney-client; bars privilege as grounds for failure to report or to cooperate. Clergy-penitent is not preserved.
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Rhode Island General Assembly
R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-17-23 — Confessions to clergy (evidentiary privilege)
The clergy-confession evidentiary privilege: in every civil and criminal cause, no member of the clergy is competent to testify about a confession made in a professional character in the course of discipline enjoined by the church, without the confessant's consent. Its holder is a person confessing, not a 'patient or client,' so the § 40-11-11 privilege override, keyed to a professional and a patient or client and expressly notwithstanding only § 9-17-24, reaches § 9-17-23 by interpretation rather than by name.
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Child Welfare Information Gateway (HHS Children's Bureau)· May 2023
Clergy as Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect — Rhode Island
Federal HHS state-by-state catalog. Confirms the all-person framing under § 40-11-3 and the privilege override under § 40-11-11. Authoritative federal cross-reference for both the statusBucket and privilegePosture classifications.
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Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General· March 4, 2026
Report on Child Sexual Abuse in the Diocese of Providence — Recommendations
AG Peter Neronha's 284-page investigative report. Identifies 75 credibly accused clergy and 300+ victims dating to 1950; the recommendations page proposes statutory clarifications and a civil SOL revival window, the source of the 2026 House reform package.
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Rhode Island Current· May 11, 2026
Senate to mull asking RI Supreme Court for opinion on clergy abuse lawsuit revival bill
Coverage of the active Senate procedural posture: Senate Judiciary preparing a resolution asking the Rhode Island Supreme Court for an advisory opinion on the SOL revival window's constitutionality, rather than voting on the bill. House sponsor and survivors say the move is designed to stop the bill from coming to a floor vote.
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Rhode Island Current· April 7, 2026
House OKs legislation that could open RI's Catholic Church to lawsuits
Coverage of the House passage of H8093A and H7200 on April 7, 2026 (H8093A passed 73-0), confirming both the vote count and the structure of the reform package.
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Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General· 2026-03-04
Attorney General Neronha Publishes Comprehensive Report on Child Sexual Abuse in Diocese of Providence
Official AG press release confirming the March 4, 2026 release date, 75 credibly accused clergy, and that investigators reviewed over 250,000 pages of records produced by the Diocese. The 284-page report length is confirmed by multiple independent news outlets (America Magazine, OSV News, Catholic Review).
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BillTrack50· 2026
Rhode Island H7200 Bill Summary (2026 Regular Session)
Confirms H7200 would create a revival window effective July 1, 2026 with a June 30, 2028 deadline for bringing revived childhood-sexual-abuse actions previously barred by limitations.
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Other states

Last reviewed July 22, 2026 · by Unheard Child Org research teamHow we track this