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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | 2025 -- H 5128 |
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| 6 | 6 | | ======== |
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| 7 | 7 | | LC000118 |
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| 8 | 8 | | ======== |
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| 9 | 9 | | S T A T E O F R H O D E I S L A N D |
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| 10 | 10 | | IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 11 | 11 | | JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2025 |
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| 12 | 12 | | ____________ |
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| 13 | 13 | | |
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| 14 | 14 | | A N A C T |
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| 15 | 15 | | RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- CRUELTY TO ANIMALS |
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| 16 | 16 | | Introduced By: Representatives Bennett, Potter, Edwards, Spears, McGaw, Solomon, |
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| 17 | 17 | | Giraldo, O'Brien, Noret, and McEntee |
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| 18 | 18 | | Date Introduced: January 22, 2025 |
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| 19 | 19 | | Referred To: House Judiciary |
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| 20 | 20 | | |
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| 21 | 21 | | |
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| 22 | 22 | | It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
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| 23 | 23 | | SECTION 1. Section 4-1-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 4-1 entitled "Cruelty to 1 |
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| 24 | 24 | | Animals" is hereby amended to read as follows: 2 |
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| 25 | 25 | | 4-1-2. Overwork, mistreatment, or failure to feed animals — Shelter defined. 3 |
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| 26 | 26 | | (a) Whoever overdrives, overloads, drives when overloaded, overworks, tortures, torments, 4 |
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| 27 | 27 | | deprives of necessary sustenance, cruelly beats, mutilates, or cruelly kills, or causes or procures to 5 |
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| 28 | 28 | | be so overdriven, overloaded, driven when overloaded, overworked, tortured, tormented, deprived 6 |
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| 29 | 29 | | of necessary sustenance, cruelly beaten, or mutilated, any animal, and whoever, having the charge 7 |
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| 30 | 30 | | or custody of any animal, either as owner or otherwise, inflicts cruelty upon that animal, or willfully 8 |
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| 31 | 31 | | fails to provide that animal with proper food, drink, shelter, or protection from the weather, shall, 9 |
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| 32 | 32 | | for each offense, be imprisoned not exceeding eleven (11) months, or be fined not less than fifty 10 |
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| 33 | 33 | | dollars ($50.00) nor exceeding five hundred dollars ($500), or both. Provided further, that any 11 |
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| 34 | 34 | | offense included under this statute which would result in death, if violated, shall, for each offense, 12 |
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| 35 | 35 | | be punishable by imprisonment not exceeding three (3) years, or be fined not less than one thousand 13 |
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| 36 | 36 | | dollars ($1,000) or both. If the offense described in this section results in the death of the animal, 14 |
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| 37 | 37 | | the person shall be punished in the manner provided in § 4-1-5. 15 |
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| 38 | 38 | | (b) Any person who has been previously convicted of an offense provided for in chapter 1 16 |
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| 39 | 39 | | of title 4 shall, upon conviction of a second or subsequent violation within a ten-year (10) period, 17 |
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| 40 | 40 | | be imprisoned for a period not exceeding six (6) years, or fined not less than five hundred dollars 18 |
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| 41 | 41 | | ($500) and not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), or both. In addition, every person 19 |
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| 42 | 42 | | |
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| 43 | 43 | | |
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| 44 | 44 | | LC000118 - Page 2 of 3 |
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| 45 | 45 | | convicted under chapter 1 of title 4 of a second or subsequent offense shall be required to serve one 1 |
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| 46 | 46 | | hundred (100) hours of community restitution. The community restitution penalty shall not be 2 |
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| 47 | 47 | | suspended or deferred and is mandatory. 3 |
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| 48 | 48 | | (c) Every owner, possessor, or person having charge of any animal may, upon conviction 4 |
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| 49 | 49 | | of a violation of this section, be ordered to forfeit all rights to ownership of the animal to the animal-5 |
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| 50 | 50 | | control officer of the city or town in which the offense occurred or to a humane society that owns 6 |
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| 51 | 51 | | and operates the shelter that provided the subject animal shelter subsequent to any confiscation of 7 |
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| 52 | 52 | | that animal pursuant to this section. 8 |
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| 53 | 53 | | (d) Shelter means a structure used to house any animal that will provide sufficient 9 |
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| 54 | 54 | | protection from inclement elements for the health and well being of the animal. 10 |
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| 55 | 55 | | SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. 11 |
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| 56 | 56 | | ======== |
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| 57 | 57 | | LC000118 |
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| 58 | 58 | | ======== |
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| 59 | 59 | | |
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| 60 | 60 | | |
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| 61 | 61 | | LC000118 - Page 3 of 3 |
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| 62 | 62 | | EXPLANATION |
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| 63 | 63 | | BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL |
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| 64 | 64 | | OF |
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| 65 | 65 | | A N A C T |
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| 66 | 66 | | RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- CRUELTY TO ANIMALS |
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| 67 | 67 | | *** |
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| 68 | 68 | | This act would make any offense under this statute that could result in the death of an 1 |
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| 69 | 69 | | animal punishable by up to three (3) years in prison, a fine of at least one thousand dollars ($1,000) 2 |
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| 70 | 70 | | or both, for each offense. 3 |
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| 71 | 71 | | This act would take effect upon passage. 4 |
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| 73 | 73 | | LC000118 |
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| 74 | 74 | | ======== |
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