---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY - CRUELTY TO ANIMALS (Allows a pound or animal shelter to put an animal up for adoption after ten (10) days if it has a tag or after five (5) days if it has no tag.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY - CRUELTY TO ANIMALS (Allows a pound or animal shelter to put an animal up for adoption after ten (10) days if it has a tag or after five (5) days if it has no tag.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 563"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 563 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Animals", "Criminal Offense", "Adoption"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ciccone", "Goodwin", "Lombardi", "Lombardo", "Ruggerio"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 19
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-03-15"
last_action: "2017-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7542b111-5161-4d1d-8728-4511451b9121"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "d4d2dbf9ca6a3acc584d05fb97c96c37fd3b3419ad0ee129151d76d279e65510"
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 SB 563 (2017) — AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY - CRUELTY TO ANIMALS (Allows a pound or animal shelter to put an animal up for adoption after ten (10) days if it has a tag or after five (5) days if it has no tag.)

## Version chain

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

1. **563 SUB A as amended** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText17/SenateText17/S0563Aaa.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **35–2** (pass) · legislature
- In Concurrence — **29–4** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Ciccone — primary (person)
- Goodwin — primary (person)
- Lombardi — primary (person)
- Lombardo — primary (person)
- Ruggerio — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-03-15** 03/15/2017 Introduced, referred to Senate Environment and Agriculture `referral-committee, introduction`
- **2017-04-07** 04/07/2017 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/12/2017)
- **2017-04-12** 04/12/2017 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2017-04-21** 04/21/2017 Scheduled for consideration (04/26/2017)
- **2017-04-26** 04/26/2017 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-04-27** 04/27/2017 Placed on Senate Calendar (05/03/2017)
- **2017-05-03** 05/03/2017 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2017-05-04** 05/04/2017 Referred to House H.E.W. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-27** 06/27/2017 Scheduled for consideration
- **2017-06-27** 06/27/2017 Meeting postponed (06/27/2017)
- **2017-06-29** 06/29/2017 Scheduled for consideration (06/29/2017)
- **2017-06-29** 06/29/2017 Committee recommends passage of Sub A as amended `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-06-30** 06/30/2017 Placed on the House Consent Calendar (06/30/2017)
- **2017-09-15** 09/15/2017 Placed on House Calendar (09/19/2017)
- **2017-09-19** 09/19/2017 House passed Sub A as amended `passage`
- **2017-09-19** 09/19/2017 Placed on Senate Calendar (09/19/2017)
- **2017-09-19** 09/19/2017 Senate passed Sub A as amended in concurrence `passage`
- **2017-09-25** 09/25/2017 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2017-09-28** 09/28/2017 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/7542b111-5161-4d1d-8728-4511451b9121`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).