2020 -- H 7299 | |
======== | |
LC003957 | |
======== | |
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2020 | |
____________ | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- CRUELTY TO ANIMALS | |
| |
Introduced By: Representatives O'Brien, Vella-Wilkinson, McEntee, Amore, and Morin | |
Date Introduced: January 24, 2020 | |
Referred To: House Judiciary | |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: | |
1 | SECTION 1. Section 4-1-3 of the General Laws in Chapter 4-1 entitled "Cruelty to |
2 | Animals" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
3 | 4-1-3. Unnecessary cruelty. |
4 | (a) Every owner, possessor, or person having the charge or custody of any animal, who |
5 | cruelly drives or works that animal when unfit for labor, or cruelly abandons that animal, or who |
6 | carries that animal or who fails to provide that animal with adequate living conditions as defined |
7 | in § 4-1-1, or who engages in the hazardous accumulation of animals as defined in § 4-1-1, or |
8 | causes that animal, to be carried, in or upon any vehicle or otherwise, in a cruel or inhuman |
9 | manner; or willfully, intentionally, maliciously, recklessly, and/or knowingly authorizes or |
10 | permits that animal to be subjected to unnecessary torture, suffering, or cruelty of any kind; or |
11 | who places, or causes to have placed, on any animal any substance that may produce irritation or |
12 | pain or that is declared a hazardous substance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or by |
13 | the state department of health, shall be punished for each offense in the manner provided in § 4-1- |
14 | 2. If the offense described in this section results in the death of the animal, the person shall be |
15 | punished in the manner provided in § 4-1-5. If any owner, possessor, or person having the charge |
16 | or custody of any animal is found guilty of or pleads nolo contendere to a violation of this section |
17 | and said violation involves the hazardous accumulation of animals, the court shall, in imposing a |
18 | penalty under this section, take into account whether the defendant's conduct could be considered |
19 | to be the result of a mental health disorder as defined in § 27-38.2-2. |
| |
1 | (b) The substances proscribed by subsection (a) do not include any drug having curative |
2 | and therapeutic effect for disease in animals and that is prepared and intended for veterinary use. |
3 | (c) University, college, or hospital research facilities licensed and/or inspected by the |
4 | U.S. Department of Agriculture or the U.S. Public Health Service of the Department of Health |
5 | and Human Services shall be exempt from the provisions of subsection (a) provided that they are |
6 | in good standing with the federal agency responsible for licensing or assurance of the facility. |
7 | (d) A person convicted under subsection (a) of this section shall not harbor, own, possess, |
8 | exercise control over, adopt, or foster an animal for any length of time that the court deems |
9 | reasonable for the protection of all animals; provided, however that the length of time shall not be |
10 | less than five (5) years. Any person found in violation of this section may, in addition to any other |
11 | punishment provided by law, be fined in an amount not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) |
12 | for each animal held in unlawful ownership or possession. Any animal involved in a violation |
13 | described in this subsection shall be forfeited to the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of |
14 | Cruelty to Animals pursuant to § 4-1-22. |
15 | SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
======== | |
LC003957 | |
======== | |
| LC003957 - Page 2 of 3 |
EXPLANATION | |
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL | |
OF | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- CRUELTY TO ANIMALS | |
*** | |
1 | This act would prohibit a person convicted of unnecessary cruelty on an animal from |
2 | owning or exercising control of an animal for a time not less than five (5) years, and subject to a |
3 | fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000) if in violation of this act. Any animal involved in the |
4 | violation of this act would be forfeited. |
5 | This act would take effect upon passage. |
======== | |
LC003957 | |
======== | |
| LC003957 - Page 3 of 3 |