---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE--COURTS -- ABUSIVE LITIGATION (Prohibits abusive litigation context of domestic violence or stalking and allow the court to dismiss a case upon finding, by preponderance of the evidence, that the person who filed the case is abusing the system.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE--COURTS -- ABUSIVE LITIGATION (Prohibits abusive litigation context of domestic violence or stalking and allow the court to dismiss a case upon finding, by preponderance of the evidence, that the person who filed the case is abusing the system.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 5883"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5883 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil Procedure", "Courts", "Criminal Procedure", "Domestic Relations", "Victims of Crime"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Caldwell", "Casimiro", "Craven", "Dawson", "Diaz", "Donovan", "Felix", "Kazarian", "McEntee", "Spears"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2023-03-01"
last_action: "2023-06-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a93c4a7a-97f8-4e4a-9342-4e0fb1a1a94f"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "ce6241b31ce5347817ac2927239768d8bc4f3622eb6d12cd0b76502d3f04cf0c"
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 5883 (2023) — AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE--COURTS -- ABUSIVE LITIGATION (Prohibits abusive litigation context of domestic violence or stalking and allow the court to dismiss a case upon finding, by preponderance of the evidence, that the person who filed the case is abusing the system.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5883 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText23/HouseText23/H5883A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **66–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Caldwell — primary (person)
- Casimiro — primary (person)
- Craven — primary (person)
- Dawson — primary (person)
- Diaz — primary (person)
- Donovan — primary (person)
- Felix — primary (person)
- Kazarian — primary (person)
- McEntee — primary (person)
- Spears — 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`
- **2023-03-03** 03/03/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration
- **2023-03-07** 03/07/2023 Committee postponed at request of sponsor (03/09/2023)
- **2023-05-12** 05/12/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (05/16/2023)
- **2023-05-16** 05/16/2023 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2023-06-10** 06/10/2023 Scheduled for consideration (06/12/2023)
- **2023-06-11** 06/11/2023 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2023-06-12** 06/12/2023 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-06-12** 06/12/2023 Placed on House Calendar (06/13/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-13** 06/13/2023 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2023-06-13** 06/13/2023 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/14/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-14** 06/14/2023 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2023-06-15** 06/15/2023 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-20** 06/20/2023 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/a93c4a7a-97f8-4e4a-9342-4e0fb1a1a94f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).