Rhode Island SR-22 Insurance: Who Needs a Filing and for How Long

Rhode Island took the SR-22 out of its law. Until January 1, 2019, § 31-47-12(c) let the DMV, a court or the traffic tribunal require proof of financial security "to be demonstrated by use of standard form SR 22"; P.L. 2018, ch. 180 and 201 struck those words. The DMV's Financial Responsibility office says it plainly: "Financial Responsibility (SR-22) is no longer required by the State of Rhode Island." What survives is chapter 31-32, proof of financial responsibility for the future, filed on the state's own certificate rather than the national form.

Your insurer files it with the DMV's Financial Responsibility office in Cranston; § 31-32-21 describes it only as the written certificate of an insurance carrier authorized to do business in this state, certifying that a motor vehicle liability policy is in effect. It is canceled with an SR-26, the same cancellation form used elsewhere. Note the gap between statute and practice: § 31-32-4 still directs the DMV to require proof from drivers whose licenses are revoked or repeatedly suspended, but the DMV's published list of who must carry a GU-1338 covers only minors registering a vehicle in their own name and a set of business and plate types — leasing companies, dealer, transporter, in-transit and bailee plates, driving schools, auto body shops, school buses, taxis and other vehicles for hire, and fuel delivery vehicles.

Section 31-32-36 is the part that catches people out: wherever the General Laws call for three years of financial responsibility, read one year — except after a drunk-driving conviction or a refusal of a chemical test (§§ 31-27-2, 31-27-2.1), where § 31-32-4(d) keeps the full three years. Release at the end of the year is not automatic. Under § 31-32-35 the DMV consents to cancellation only if that year passed without a conviction that would itself support a suspension, and not while a damages action or an unsatisfied judgment is pending.

The first four come from chapter 31-32 and follow the driver. The last is the DMV's own filing requirement and follows the registration.

Section 31-32-25 makes the carrier that certified the policy file a notice of cancellation or termination with the DMV. For a GU-1338 that notice is the SR-26, and the DMV warns that if a new policy does not reach the Financial Responsibility office before the cancellation date, a reinstatement fee is charged. A later certified policy terminates the earlier one only on the effective date of its own certification, so a gap between the two is a real gap.

$150 to restore a suspended or revoked license under § 31-11-10, and $350 if the suspension came from a drunk-driving conviction, a chemical test refusal, or one of the more serious impaired-driving offenses in §§ 31-27-2.2 and 31-27-2.6. The DMV bills these as $153.50 and $353.50 — the extra $3.50 is a technology surcharge. Restoring a suspended registration is a separate $250 under § 31-8-4, billed as $253.50, per vehicle.