It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 11-5-5 of the General Laws in Chapter 11-5 entitled "Assaults" is hereby amended to read as follows:

{ADD 11-5-5. Assault of police officers and other officials. -- ADD} Any person who shall {ADD make an assault or battery or both by ADD} knowingly and wilfully {ADD either (a) ADD} {DEL strike DEL} {ADD striking or (b) spraying with a noxious chemical, commonly used as a personal defense weapon including Mace and an oleoresin capsicum product or like products, ADD} a uniformed member of the state police or metropolitan park police, conservation officers, state properties patrol officer, state government case worker or investigator, judge of the supreme, superior, family or district court, sheriff, deputy sheriff, city or town police officer or firefighter, member of the Rhode Island State Marshals of the department of corrections, member of the capitol police, members of campus security force of state colleges and universities, Rhode Island Public Transit Authority bus driver, or on-duty plainclothes member of the town, city or state police force, investigators of the Department of the Attorney General appointed pursuant to section 42-9-8.1, or member of the railroad police after proper identification is displayed, or uniformed dog officer, or out-of-state police officer called into Rhode Island under a cooperative agreement to provide mutual aid at the request of the state of Rhode Island pursuant to chapter 37 of title 42, causing bodily injury while the officer or official is engaged in the performance of his or her duty, shall be deemed to have committed a felony, and shall be imprisoned not exceeding three (3) years or fined not exceeding fifteen hundred dollars ($1,500) or both.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.