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H 8433Civil Procedure

Courts and Civil Procedure - Procedure Generally - Writs, Summons and Process

This bill restricts the delivery of official court documents strictly to state sheriffs and certified constables, excluding town sergeants.

Held for study
Population
Affected
15
Email Legislator
Introduced Apr 10, 2026Committee House Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

This bill changes who is allowed to deliver official court documents, like summonses and writs, in Rhode Island. It restricts this authority exclusively to the state division of sheriffs and certified constables. Specifically, it removes the ability of town sergeants to serve these legal documents. It also repeals a specific law that previously allowed the town sergeant of New Shoreham (Block Island) to serve civil and criminal process documents.

For younger readers

When people need to go to court, someone has to hand them official papers telling them to show up. This bill changes who is allowed to deliver those papers. From now on, only state sheriffs and specially trained people called certified constables can hand out these papers. It stops local town officers, called town sergeants, from doing this job, including on Block Island.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Town sergeantsCertified constablesState sheriffsDefendants in civil suitsAttorneys and legal professionals
Impacted communities
New Shoreham, All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Standardizes the process of serving legal documents statewide, ensuring that only properly trained and certified professionals handle sensitive judicial matters.
  • Reduces the potential for local corruption or abuse of power by removing court process duties from local town sergeants who may lack state-level oversight.
  • Promotes systemic reform in the justice system by centralizing accountability within the state division of sheriffs and certified constables.
  • May create delays in serving legal documents in remote or isolated communities, such as New Shoreham, by removing local town sergeants from the process.
  • Centralizing power to state sheriffs could reduce community-based policing and local familiarity, which can sometimes de-escalate stressful legal encounters.
  • Could increase costs for individuals navigating the legal system if certified constables and state sheriffs require travel stipends or higher fees to reach remote areas.
For Conservatives
  • Enhances the rule of law by ensuring only strictly regulated, certified state officers handle the execution of legal and court documents.
  • Eliminates outdated, hyper-local jurisdictional rules, streamlining the legal code and making the justice system more uniform across the state.
  • Reduces potential liability for small towns by removing the requirement for town sergeants to carry government bonds for serving civil and criminal processes.
  • Strips local control from municipalities by transferring authority away from town sergeants to state-level bureaucrats and sheriffs.
  • Creates a state monopoly on serving legal documents, which could reduce competition and efficiency compared to allowing local officers to perform the duty.
  • Imposes a one-size-fits-all state mandate that ignores the unique logistical needs of isolated communities like Block Island.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 12 additions · 20 deletions

SECTION 1. Chapter 9-5 of the General Laws entitled "Writs, Summons and Process" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: 9-5-10.7. Service of process. All writs, executions, and summonses for process shall be directed for service to the division of sheriffs, or to a certified constable authorized pursuant to § 9-5-10.1. No other individual shall be authorized to serve any writ, execution or summons for process within the state.

SECTION 2. Sections 9-5-6, 9-5-7 and 9-5-10 of the General Laws in Chapter 9-5 entitled "Writs, Summons and Process" are hereby amended to read as follows: 9-5-6. Writs and process operating throughout state — Officers to whom directed. All writs, executions, and process shall run throughout the state and shall be directed for service to the division of sheriffs, or to a certified constable, but if any deputy sheriff is a party to the action or suit, the process shall be directed to the town sergeant or a certified constable and may be served by any one of them not a party to the action or suit. 9-5-7. Direction of writs for arrest or execution against the body. All writs whatsoever commanding the arrest of a defendant, or executions running against the body of a defendant, shall be directed for service to the division of sheriffs or to a certified constable authorized pursuant to § 9-5-10.1, or if the writ is to be served in the town of New Shoreham, it may be directed to the town sergeant of the town, subject to the provisions of § 9-5- 8, and no writ of arrest shall be served by any other officer. 9-5-10. Direction and return of district courts writs and summonses.

(a) Writs and summonses issued by a district court shall be made returnable to the court at the place and on the day and hour provided by law, to be named in the writs and summonses, and shall, except as otherwise specifically provided, be directed to the division of sheriffs, or to the town sergeants, or to a certified constable authorized pursuant to § 9-5-10.1, for in state service. In case any person upon whom it is necessary to make service of any writ, summons, or execution issued by a district court is, or has estate, in any other county than the one in which the action is brought, the writ, summons, or execution may also be directed to and served by the like officer of such other county.

(b) For out-of-state service of writs and summonses issued by a district court, the writ, summons, or execution shall be directed to and served by the sheriff, certified constable, or like officer duly authorized and licensed under that state.

SECTION 3. Section 9-5-8 of the General Laws in Chapter 9-5 entitled "Writs, Summons and Process" is hereby repealed. 9-5-8. Power of New Shoreham town sergeant — Bond. The town sergeant of the town of New Shoreham is hereby authorized and empowered to serve any writ and civil or criminal process in the town of New Shoreham and the waters adjacent thereto within the jurisdiction of the state, the ad damnum of which does not exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), as fully and effectually as a member of the division of sheriffs; provided, that the town sergeant of New Shoreham give bond, with two (2) sufficient sureties, to the general treasurer in the sum of two thousand dollars ($2,000). In case any person is injured by the breach of the bond, he or she may sue upon the bond in like manner as he or she might do upon a sheriff’s bond in a like case under the provisions of §§ 42-29-12 and 42-29-13.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon passage.