---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO DOMESTIC RELATIONS - DIVORCE AND SEPARATION (Eliminates the waiting period for the granting of a complaint/divorce/separation following the filing of the complaint would shorten the waiting period for the filing of a final judgment for divorce following the hearing at which the divorce is granted.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO DOMESTIC RELATIONS - DIVORCE AND SEPARATION (Eliminates the waiting period for the granting of a complaint/divorce/separation following the filing of the complaint would shorten the waiting period for the filing of a final judgment for divorce following the hearing at which the divorce is granted.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 7894"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 7894 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Courts", "Domestic Relations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Knight", "McEntee", "O'Brien", "Solomon", "Ucci"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2018-02-28"
last_action: "2018-07-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/febd03f2-bbb9-472e-a09f-b0adecc16b17"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "83b617a22616a251c7a66e7c1a37b18c823e80b343b9b44dcec91d2dd63f8d15"
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 7894 (2018) — AN ACT RELATING TO DOMESTIC RELATIONS - DIVORCE AND SEPARATION (Eliminates the waiting period for the granting of a complaint/divorce/separation following the filing of the complaint would shorten the waiting period for the filing of a final judgment for divorce following the hearing at which the divorce is granted.)

## Version chain

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

1. **7894 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText18/HouseText18/H7894A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **72–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Knight — primary (person)
- McEntee — primary (person)
- O'Brien — primary (person)
- Solomon — primary (person)
- Ucci — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-02-28** 02/28/2018 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-03-30** 03/30/2018 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/04/2018)
- **2018-04-04** 04/04/2018 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2018-06-16** 06/16/2018 Scheduled for consideration (06/19/2018)
- **2018-06-19** 06/19/2018 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-06-19** 06/19/2018 Placed on House Calendar (06/20/2018)
- **2018-06-20** 06/20/2018 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2018-06-20** 06/20/2018 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/21/2018)
- **2018-06-21** 06/21/2018 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2018-07-02** 07/02/2018 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2018-07-02** 07/02/2018 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/febd03f2-bbb9-472e-a09f-b0adecc16b17`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).