R.I. Gen. Laws
Rhode Island General Laws

R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-20.9-5 (2026)

Regulation of smoking in schools

✓ current as of July 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section RI-LEGwebserver.rilegislature.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

(a) The governing body of each school in Rhode Island shall be responsible for the development of enforcement procedures to prohibit tobacco product usage and electronic nicotine-delivery system usage by any person utilizing school facilities. All facilities used by a school, whether owned, leased, or rented, shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter. Enforcement procedures shall be promulgated and conspicuously posted in each building.

(b) This chapter shall not modify, or be used as a basis for modifying, school policies or regulations in effect prior to the passage of this chapter if the existing policies or regulations prohibit tobacco product usage and electronic nicotine-delivery system usage in the school.

(c) All school areas where tobacco product usage is prohibited shall be clearly marked with “nonsmoking area” signs with bold block lettering at least three inches (3″) high stating “Tobacco-Free School — Tobacco Use Prohibited.” All school areas where electronic nicotine-delivery system usage is prohibited shall be clearly marked with “nonsmoking area” signs with bold block lettering at least three inches (3″) high stating “E-Cigarettes and Vapor Devices Prohibited.” There shall be at least one “nonsmoking area” sign, in conformance with the above, at every building entrance and in other areas as designated by the governing body. Signs shall also be posted in every school bus and every school vehicle. Signs as detailed above shall be provided, without charge, by the department of health.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 1 case, 2020–2020 · leading case: K&W Auto., LLC v. Town of Barrington (R.I. 2020).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
K&W Auto., LLC v. Town of Barrington (R.I. 2020). · cites it 2× “10-4, as well as directing the local governing bodies of each school to develop procedures to enforce a prohibition on the use of tobacco products and electronic cigarettes by any person utilizing school facilities and to provide smoking cessation programs for school employees,…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.