Sen. Urso’s legislation aiding animal welfare efforts to be heard in committee Thursday
STATE HOUSE — Two bills sponsored by Sen. Lori Urso to protect animals from cruelty and neglect by modernizing Rhode Island’s animal welfare laws and removing roadblocks to protecting mistreated animals will be heard in committee Thursday.
“When talking to animal advocates in my community, they consistently identified two major legal issues preventing them from protecting animals from cruelty, neglect and abuse to the best of their ability,” said Senator Urso (D-Dist. 8, Pawtucket).
“The first was that animal abusers only lose their ownership rights to an animal after the court process has resulted in a conviction. Often animal cruelty charges are part of a larger case, which can stretch the process out for years. This prevents a shelter from placing that animal into a loving home, even if one is waiting, until this lengthy process has concluded, leaving shelters overcrowded and animals waiting in less-than-ideal conditions.
And the second was that some of the fines and penalties associated with animal cruelty offenses had not increased in years and were no longer a deterrent to offenders, including unscrupulous breeders who considered the fines simply the cost of doing business.”
The bills are scheduled to be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, April 10, at the rise of the Senate, sometime after 4:30 p.m. in Room 313 on the third floor of the State House.
Senator Urso’s first bill (2025-S 0551) would allow an animal control officer to take immediate possession of a neglected, abused or abandoned animal. The owner of the animal would be notified within 48 hours of a court hearing to determine if the animal would be permanently rehomed. Upon the finding of cruelty, injury or neglect of the animal by the owner, the owner’s rights would be terminated, allowing the animal to be moved into a loving home without waiting for a criminal conviction.
The bill would also increase the maximum fines for maliciously wounding, killing, poisoning or attempting to poison any animal from $1,000 to $5,000.
“I want to thank Senator Urso for answering the call and putting in the work to improve our outdated laws that fail to address the needs of our most vulnerable animals and the people who care for them,” said Devan Gary, executive director of the Pawtucket Animal Shelter.
“These two bills will have a vast positive impact on the wellbeing of Rhode Island animals, create a stronger community relationship with those working in the field and open the door to actively and seriously resolving long-term issues that should be a thing of the past.”
Devan went on to describe a time when the Pawtucket shelter had over 20 dogs who were the victims of obvious abuse who had loving homes ready to take them but had to stay months in the shelter waiting for the court process to resolve, the exact situation Senator Urso’s bill is designed to prevent.
“Historically, when agencies seize animals in cases of abuse, these animals often languish in shelters, sometimes for years, while their cases are resolved in court. This has ripple effects across the state when it comes to animal welfare. It exacerbates staffing and space shortages in shelters and, most unfortunately, it can lead to behavioral issues for these animals from being held in shelters too long,” said Earl Newman, who worked for eight years as a humane law enforcement special agent for the Rhode Island Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
“Senator Urso’s common-sense modification to the existing statue would get animals out of shelters and into homes faster, while still preserving due process for owners who are accused of abuse.”
The second bill (2025-S 0550) would increase the range of fines for offenses related to attempts to steal, kill, wound or poison a dog and increase those fines upon repeat violations. It would also add intentional overfeeding to the list of violations of legal care of dogs and increase fines and punishment for repeat offenses.
“The primary challenge that we face and that will be addressed by Senate Bill 0550 is the lack of deterrence for repeat offenders. We often find animal abuse and hoarding are committed by people who were previously investigated or arrested for similar crimes in the state.
This bill establishes significantly more substantial penalties that will hopefully discourage anyone from reoffending after an initial conviction. Furthermore, the establishment of an advisory task force will help to keep our laws up to date with current practices and concerns of the animal control community,” said Lt. Joseph Skahan, police liaison for the Pawtucket Animal Shelter.
The bill would also create an animal care task force made up of representatives from the 28 Rhode Island animal shelters to identify statewide areas of improvement, review local ordinances and state laws for conflicts and weaknesses and provide legislative recommendations to state and municipal governments in Rhode Island.
SENATOR LORI URSO
Those wishing to submit written testimony for Senator Urso’s bill must email it to SenateJudiciary@rilegislature.gov prior to 3 p.m., Thursday, April 10, in order for it to be provided to the members of the committee at the hearing and to be included in the meeting records.
The meeting will be televised live by Capitol Television, which can be seen on Cox channel 61, on i3Broadband channel 15 and on Verizon channel 34. It will be live streamed at capitoltvri.cablecast.tv.