---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- CHILDREN (Transfers jurisdiction of child endangerment offenses from the family court to the superior court.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- CHILDREN (Transfers jurisdiction of child endangerment offenses from the family court to the superior court.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 5897"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5897 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Children and Families", "Courts", "Criminal Offense", "Domestic Relations", "Judiciary"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["DeSimone", "Diaz", "Edwards", "Felix", "Hull", "Kennedy", "Slater"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2023-03-01"
last_action: "2023-06-14"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/16b9a139-da97-4d92-81a3-323779cce842"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "855f201bbc0887640660546866093d0966cd737f457affe40ee607362edae2da"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ri"]
---

# Rhode Island HB 5897 (2023) — AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- CHILDREN (Transfers jurisdiction of child endangerment offenses from the family court to the superior court.)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **5897** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText23/HouseText23/H5897.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **67–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- DeSimone — primary (person)
- Diaz — primary (person)
- Edwards — primary (person)
- Felix — primary (person)
- Hull — primary (person)
- Kennedy — primary (person)
- Slater — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-03-01** 03/01/2023 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-17** 03/17/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/22/2023)
- **2023-03-22** 03/22/2023 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2023-04-14** 04/14/2023 Scheduled for consideration (04/20/2023)
- **2023-04-20** 04/20/2023 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-04-28** 04/28/2023 Placed on House Calendar (05/02/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-05-02** 05/02/2023 House read and passed `passage`
- **2023-05-15** 05/15/2023 Referred to Senate Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2023-05-26** 05/26/2023 Scheduled for consideration (05/30/2023)
- **2023-05-30** 05/30/2023 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-06-07** 06/07/2023 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/13/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-08** 06/08/2023 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2023-06-08** 06/08/2023 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-14** 06/14/2023 Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/16b9a139-da97-4d92-81a3-323779cce842`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).