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H 7748Civil Procedure

Courts and Civil Procedure - Courts - District Court

This bill moves the town of North Kingstown from the Third District Court jurisdiction to the Fourth District Court jurisdiction.

Signed into law69 Yea0 Nay6 Not voting
Population
Affected
8
Email Legislator
Introduced Feb 12, 2026Committee House Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

This legislation reorganizes the District Court divisions in Rhode Island by moving the town of North Kingstown from the Third Division to the Fourth Division. Currently, North Kingstown is grouped with towns like Warwick and Coventry. Under this new law, it will be grouped with Washington County towns such as Narragansett, South Kingstown, and Westerly. Consequently, legal matters and appeals originating in North Kingstown will be transmitted to the Washington County Superior Court instead of the Kent County Superior Court.

For younger readers

Rhode Island has different court locations for different parts of the state to help organize legal cases. Right now, the town of North Kingstown is in a group called the "Third Division." This bill moves North Kingstown into a different group called the "Fourth Division." It is like moving a student from one classroom to another classroom down the hall. This means that if people in North Kingstown need to go to court, they will go to a different building than they did before.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
North Kingstown ResidentsAttorneysCourt Administration StaffNorth Kingstown Police DepartmentJudges
Impacted communities
North Kingstown

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
Amount unknown
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Aligns judicial jurisdiction with geographic reality, potentially reducing travel times for residents who live closer to the Washington County courthouse than the Kent County courthouse.
  • May help balance the caseload between the Third and Fourth Divisions, preventing an overburdened court system from delaying justice for defendants and litigants.
  • Ensures that North Kingstown is grouped with socio-economically similar communities in South County, potentially leading to more context-aware judicial proceedings.
  • Could create transportation barriers for low-income residents if the Fourth Division courthouse is less accessible by public transit than the Third Division location.
  • Disrupts established routines for local legal aid organizations and social workers who may have to navigate a different court bureaucracy.
  • May cause confusion among residents accustomed to the previous court location, potentially leading to missed hearings or procedural errors for those without legal representation.
For Conservatives
  • Promotes logical government organization by aligning the town's court jurisdiction with its traditional geographic association with Washington County.
  • Increases administrative efficiency by streamlining the definition of court divisions, ensuring resources are allocated appropriately based on town groupings.
  • Clarifies jurisdictional boundaries for local law enforcement agencies, ensuring orderly processing of arrests and summonses.
  • Represents unnecessary bureaucratic shuffling that consumes legislative time and administrative resources for a minor jurisdictional change.
  • Incurs costs to taxpayers for updating administrative records, computer systems, and official forms to reflect the transfer of the town.
  • Potentially inconveniences local business owners and police departments who must adapt their operational procedures to interact with a new court division.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 2 additions · 2 deletions

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 8-8-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 8-8 entitled "District Court" is hereby amended to read as follows: 8-8-2. Divisions.

(a) For the distribution of court business, the state is divided into four (4) divisions as follows:

(1) Second division. The second division consists of the city of Newport and the towns of Jamestown, Little Compton, Middletown, Portsmouth, and Tiverton. Appeals and transfers in cases arising in the enumerated cities and towns of the second division shall be transmitted by the clerk of the Second Division District Court to the clerk of the Newport County Superior Court.

(2) Third division. The third division consists of the city of Warwick and the city of Cranston and the towns of Coventry, East Greenwich, Foster, Glocester, Johnston, Lincoln, North Kingstown, North Providence, North Smithfield, Scituate, Smithfield, West Greenwich and West Warwick. Appeals and transfers in cases arising in the enumerated cities and towns of the third division shall be transmitted by the clerk of the Third Division District Court to the clerk of the Kent County Superior Court.

(3) Fourth division. The fourth division consists of the towns of Charlestown, Exeter, Hopkinton, Narragansett, New Shoreham, North Kingstown, Richmond, South Kingstown, and Westerly. Appeals and transfers in cases arising in the enumerated cities and towns of the fourth division shall be transmitted by the clerk of the Fourth Division District Court to the clerk of the Washington County Superior Court.

(4) Sixth division. The sixth division consists of the cities of Central Falls, East Providence, Providence, Pawtucket, Woonsocket and the towns of Barrington, Bristol, Burrillville, Cumberland and Warren. Appeals and transfers in cases arising in the enumerated cities and towns of the sixth division shall be transmitted by the clerk of the Sixth Division District Court to the clerk of the Providence County Superior Court.

(b) In each division the place or places for holding court shall be designated by the chief judge.

(c) The district court shall have a seal for each of its divisions, which shall contain the words, “District court of the State of Rhode Island, division.”

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect two (2) months after passage.