---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- ASSAULTS (Makes assault and battery upon delivery persons a felony and mandates a maximum sentence of imprisonment of 3 years. Persons convicted of such an assault and battery while using a dangerous weapon, the minimum sentence is imprisonment for 5 years.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- ASSAULTS (Makes assault and battery upon delivery persons a felony and mandates a maximum sentence of imprisonment of 3 years. Persons convicted of such an assault and battery while using a dangerous weapon, the minimum sentence is imprisonment for 5 years.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 5854"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5854 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal Offense", "Correctional Institutions", "Criminal Procedure"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Canario", "Hull", "Morin"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 12
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2017-03-03"
last_action: "2017-10-05"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8f1bed15-95db-4c4c-ad9c-90f617db47c9"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "6af3be489173c7304dbd85f5c4d4d5d534f6df74063d7a816105af77f347e5bb"
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 5854 (2017) — AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- ASSAULTS (Makes assault and battery upon delivery persons a felony and mandates a maximum sentence of imprisonment of 3 years. Persons convicted of such an assault and battery while using a dangerous weapon, the minimum sentence is imprisonment for 5 years.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5854** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText17/HouseText17/H5854.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **52–13** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Canario — primary (person)
- Hull — primary (person)
- Morin — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-03-03** 03/03/2017 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary `referral-committee, introduction`
- **2017-03-31** 03/31/2017 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/05/2017)
- **2017-04-05** 04/05/2017 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2017-06-28** 06/28/2017 Scheduled for consideration (06/28/2017)
- **2017-06-28** 06/28/2017 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-06-28** 06/28/2017 Placed on House Calendar (06/28/2017)
- **2017-06-28** 06/28/2017 House read and passed `passage`
- **2017-06-29** 06/29/2017 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/30/2017)
- **2017-09-14** 09/14/2017 Placed on Senate Calendar (09/19/2017)
- **2017-09-19** 09/19/2017 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2017-10-03** 10/03/2017 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2017-10-05** 10/05/2017 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/8f1bed15-95db-4c4c-ad9c-90f617db47c9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).