---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- DOGS (Appoints an animal control officer to the rabies control board.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- DOGS (Appoints an animal control officer to the rabies control board.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 5540"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5540 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Animals", "Dept. of Environmental Management", "Health & Safety", "Public Officers", "Municipal Employees"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ackerman", "Marszalkowski", "Shekarchi"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2017-02-16"
last_action: "2017-06-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5d9524fe-8c0b-4083-b0eb-88c52e49983b"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "7219bb25fc7df9d5929e375e9fe63bf0290e9a80f937bda52850068a84c11fb9"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ri"]
---

# Rhode Island HB 5540 (2017) — AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- DOGS (Appoints an animal control officer to the rabies control board.)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **5540** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText17/HouseText17/H5540.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **63–6** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Ackerman — primary (person)
- Marszalkowski — primary (person)
- Shekarchi — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-02-16** 02/16/2017 Introduced, referred to House Environment and Natural Resources `referral-committee, introduction`
- **2017-02-24** 02/24/2017 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/02/2017)
- **2017-03-02** 03/02/2017 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2017-03-10** 03/10/2017 Scheduled for consideration (03/16/2017)
- **2017-03-16** 03/16/2017 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-03-17** 03/17/2017 Placed on House Calendar (03/22/2017)
- **2017-03-22** 03/22/2017 House read and passed `passage`
- **2017-05-30** 05/30/2017 Referred to Senate Environment and Agriculture `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-02** 06/02/2017 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (06/07/2017)
- **2017-06-07** 06/07/2017 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-06-13** 06/13/2017 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/14/2017)
- **2017-06-14** 06/14/2017 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2017-06-14** 06/14/2017 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2017-06-19** 06/19/2017 Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5d9524fe-8c0b-4083-b0eb-88c52e49983b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).