---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE--COURTS -- SUPERIOR COURT"
description: "Establishes a separate domestic violence calendar within the superior court to handle felony domestic violence cases."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 8547"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 8547 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Caldwell", "Craven", "McEntee"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 12
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2026-05-13"
last_action: "2026-06-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/98796a83-44db-480b-bff6-a8e824cfac7b"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "4ac7696098f0c194dccf1ffa9850b402675507305d025f966e7d725f88b77875"
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 8547 (2026) — AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE--COURTS -- SUPERIOR COURT

Establishes a separate domestic violence calendar within the superior court to handle felony domestic violence cases.

## Version chain

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

1. **8547 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/HouseText26/H8547A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **66–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Caldwell — primary (person)
- Craven — primary (person)
- McEntee — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-05-13** 05/13/2026 Introduced, referred to House Finance `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2026-05-15** 05/15/2026 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (05/19/2026)
- **2026-05-19** 05/19/2026 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2026-06-03** 06/03/2026 Scheduled for consideration (06/05/2026)
- **2026-06-04** 06/04/2026 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2026-06-05** 06/05/2026 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-06-06** 06/06/2026 Placed on House Calendar (06/08/2026) `reading-3`
- **2026-06-08** 06/08/2026 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2026-06-11** 06/11/2026 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/11/2026) `reading-3`
- **2026-06-11** 06/11/2026 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2026-06-18** 06/18/2026 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-06-23** 06/23/2026 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/98796a83-44db-480b-bff6-a8e824cfac7b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).