It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 19-26-10 of the General Laws in Chapter 19-26 entitled "Pawnbrokers" is hereby amended to read as follows:

{ADD 19-26-10. Sale of unredeemed articles. -- ADD} No pawnbroker shall sell or dispose of any property, pawned with him or her, within three (3) months after the maturity of the loan thereon {ADD if not of a perishable nature; and, if perishable, for at least one (1) month after said date. For the purposes of this section, perishable shall mean any item(s) or good(s) subject to speedy decay and/or in which their value will be diminished if not put to their intended use within a short period of time. ADD} All such sales shall be made in this state. All sales of articles received in pawn by any pawnbroker shall be at public auction to the highest bidder, except any article less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) in value may be sold at private sale, and a record of the articles sold and the sale prices shall be made, at the time of the sale, in the book required to be kept by the pawnbroker by section 19-26-5. Notice of the sale at public auction shall be published at least six (6) days previous thereto in one of the public newspapers, published in English, in the city or town where the business is carried on, or if no such newspaper is published in the city or town, then in some newspaper published in the county in which the city or town is located. The notice shall specify the time and place at which the sale is to take place and by whom it is to be conducted, and shall contain the same number and the same description of the articles or goods to be sold as is contained in the memorandum delivered to the pawnor as required by section 19-26-5. The borrower, or any person entitled to the property pledged, may, at any time prior to the sale, pay or tender to the pawnbroker the amount loaned and the interest thereon, together with the proportionate cost of advertising the sale, if any, and such payment or tender shall have the effect to reinvest the pawnor or the person entitled thereto with the title and right of possession to the property pawned free of such pledge.

SECTION 2 This act shall take effect upon passage.