House Bill 2310 amends existing law by changing how assault in the fourth degree (RCW 9A.36.041) is classified in certain circumstances and by updating the sentencing guidelines table (RCW 9.94A.515). The bill makes specified fourth-degree assaults into a class C felony rather than a gross misdemeanor when the offense and the defendant’s prior convictions meet particular domestic-violence timing and relationship criteria, and it establishes that for assaults occurring on or after the section’s effective date a finding of sexual motivation under RCW 9.94A.835 will elevate the offense to a class C felony if the person has two or more qualifying prior adult convictions within ten years for listed sex offenses, prior fourth-degree assaults with sexual-motivation findings, or comparable offenses from other jurisdictions. This is a reclassification/penalty change and creates an aggravating factor (sexual motivation and prior sex-offense history) that can increase the offense level. The bill also amends the statutory sentencing table in RCW 9.94A.515 to add entries identifying these elevated fourth-degree assault offenses by seriousness level, and the document excerpts show many offenses and RCW citations organized across seriousness levels. The bill text defines "family or household members" for one subsection and references existing statutory definitions for "intimate partner" and "sex offense." The provisions use prior-conviction lookback periods of ten years and specify different date ranges for which prior domestic-violence convictions are relevant. The provided excerpts are incomplete. The effective date for the subsection that applies the sexual-motivation elevation is not specified in the excerpts, the Table 2 listing appears cut off and continues beyond the material provided, and no sentencing ranges beyond the classification as a class C felony, no fiscal notes, and no final legislative disposition are included. It is also unclear from the second excerpt how that list is being used in the bill because that chunk is a standalone list without an explicit header or purpose in the provided text.

If enacted, more people accused of fourth-degree assault will face felony charges instead of gross misdemeanor charges when the assault is tied to proved domestic violence or a finding of sexual motivation and the defendant has two or more qualifying prior adult convictions within ten years. That change will make prosecutors more likely to file felony counts, increase the exposure and legal risk for people with relevant prior convictions, and push more cases into the felony court and corrections systems—likely changing plea negotiations, charging decisions, and resource needs for prosecutors, defenders, judges, and corrections officials. The bill also places these enhanced assault offenses into the state sentencing guidelines table and lists many other crimes by seriousness level, which will affect how sentencing ranges are applied and how offenses are classified for sentencing purposes. The excerpt does not show the section’s effective date for the sexual-motivation rule or any fiscal estimates, so the timing and the budget or prison-bed impacts remain unclear from the provided text.