2021 -- S 0308

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2021

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY – CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

     Introduced By: Senators Archambault, McCaffrey, Coyne, DiMario, and Burke

     Date Introduced: February 18, 2021

     Referred To: Senate Judiciary

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Sections 4-1-2, 4-1-3 and 4-1-5 of the General Laws in Chapter 4-1 entitled

"Cruelty to Animals" are hereby amended to read as follows:

     4-1-2. Overwork, mistreatment, or failure to feed animals -- Shelter defined.

     (a) Whoever overdrives, overloads, drives when overloaded, overworks, tortures, torments,

deprives of necessary sustenance, cruelly beats, mutilates, or cruelly kills, or causes or procures to

be so overdriven, overloaded, driven when overloaded, overworked, tortured, tormented, deprived

of necessary sustenance, cruelly beaten, or mutilated, any animal, and whoever, having the charge

or custody of any animal, either as owner or otherwise, inflicts cruelty upon that animal, or willfully

fails to provide that animal with proper food, drink, shelter, or protection from the weather, shall,

for each offense, be imprisoned not exceeding eleven (11) months, or be fined not less than fifty

dollars ($50.00) nor exceeding five hundred dollars ($500), or both. If the offense described in this

section results in the death of the animal, the person shall be punished in the manner provided in §

4-1-5.

     (b) Any person who is convicted of, or who enters a plea of nolo contendere, to an offense

prohibited by subsection (a) of this section, and such offense was committed in the presence of a

minor, shall be punished in a manner prescribed in § 4-1-5(a). If the offense resulted in the death

of the animal, they shall be punished in a manner prescribed in § 4-1-5(b).

     (b)(c) Any person who has been previously convicted of an offense provided for in chapter

1 of title 4 shall, upon conviction of a second or subsequent violation within a ten-year (10) period,

be imprisoned for a period not exceeding six (6) years, or fined not less than five hundred dollars

($500) and not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), or both. In addition, every person

convicted under chapter 1 of title 4 of a second or subsequent offense shall be required to serve one

hundred (100) hours of community restitution. The community restitution penalty shall not be

suspended or deferred and is mandatory.

     (c)(d) Every owner, possessor, or person having charge of any animal may, upon

conviction of a violation of this section, be ordered to forfeit all rights to ownership of the animal

to the animal-control officer of the city or town in which the offense occurred or to a humane

society that owns and operates the shelter that provided the subject animal shelter subsequent to

any confiscation of that animal pursuant to this section.

     (d)(e) Shelter means a structure used to house any animal that will provide sufficient

protection from inclement elements for the health and well being of the animal.

     4-1-3. Unnecessary cruelty.

     (a) Every owner, possessor, or person having the charge or custody of any animal, who

cruelly drives or works that animal when unfit for labor, or cruelly abandons that animal, or who

carries that animal or who fails to provide that animal with adequate living conditions as defined

in § 4-1-1, or who engages in the hazardous accumulation of animals as defined in § 4-1-1, or

causes that animal, to be carried, in or upon any vehicle or otherwise, in a cruel or inhuman manner;

or willfully, intentionally, maliciously, recklessly, and/or knowingly authorizes or permits that

animal to be subjected to unnecessary torture, suffering, or cruelty of any kind; or who places, or

causes to have placed, on any animal any substance that may produce irritation or pain or that is

declared a hazardous substance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or by the state

department of health, shall be punished for each offense in the manner provided in § 4-1-2. If the

offense described in this section results in the death of the animal, the person shall be punished in

the manner provided in § 4-1-5. If any owner, possessor, or person having the charge or custody of

any animal is found guilty of or pleads nolo contendere to a violation of this section and said

violation involves the hazardous accumulation of animals, the court shall, in imposing a penalty

under this section, take into account whether the defendant's conduct could be considered to be the

result of a mental health disorder as defined in § 27-38.2-2.

     (b) Any person who is convicted of, or who enters a plea of nolo contendere, to an offense

prohibited by subsection (a) of this section, and such offense was committed in the presence of a

minor, shall be punished in a manner prescribed in § 4-1-5(a). If the offense resulted in the death

of the animal, they shall be punished in a manner prescribed in § 4-1-5(b).

     (b)(c) The substances proscribed by subsection (a) do not include any drug having curative

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and therapeutic effect for disease in animals and that is prepared and intended for veterinary use.

     (c)(d) University, college, or hospital research facilities licensed and/or inspected by the

U.S. Department of Agriculture or the U.S. Public Health Service of the Department of Health and

Human Services shall be exempt from the provisions of subsection (a) provided that they are in

good standing with the federal agency responsible for licensing or assurance of the facility.

     4-1-5. Malicious injury to or killing of animals.

     (a) Every person who cuts out the tongue or otherwise dismembers any animal maliciously;

or maliciously kills or wounds any animal; or maliciously administers poison to or exposes any

poisonous substance with intent that the poison shall be taken or swallowed by any animal; or who

maliciously exposes poisoned meat with intent that the poison meat is taken or swallowed by any

wild animal, shall be imprisoned not exceeding five (5) years or be fined not exceeding one

thousand dollars ($1,000), and shall, in the case of any animal of another, be liable to the owner of

this animal for triple damages, to be recovered by civil action. In addition, any person convicted

under this section is required to serve fifty (50) hours of community restitution. The community

restitution penalty shall not be suspended or deferred and is mandatory.

     (b) Any person who is convicted of, or who enters a plea of nolo contendere, to an offense

prohibited by subsection (a) of this section, and such offense was committed in the presence of a

minor, shall be imprisoned not exceeding seven (7) years and/or be fined not exceeding two

thousand dollars ($2,000).

     (b)(c) This section shall not apply to licensed hunters during hunting season or a licensed

business killing animals for human consumption.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY – CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

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     This act would increase penalties for animal cruelty. An individual convicted of animal

cruelty, when the action was committed in the presence of a minor, would be imprisoned for a term

not exceeding five (5) years or be fined in an amount not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000),

and would be liable to the owner for triple damages, to be recovered in a civil action. If an individual

were convicted of animal cruelty and the action was committed in the presence of a child and the

animal died, this act would increase the penalty to a term of imprisonment not exceeding seven (7)

years and/or a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000).

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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