---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- CRUELTY TO ANIMALS (Requires persons entrusted with an animal's care to report cruelty thereto.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- CRUELTY TO ANIMALS (Requires persons entrusted with an animal's care to report cruelty thereto.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 7986"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 7986 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Animals", "Criminal Offense"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Almeida", "McEntee", "O'Brien", "Ucci", "Williams"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2018-03-22"
last_action: "2018-07-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/39fdf2c9-1368-460f-b9a3-b157934df039"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "1ac59239e8308978c391b6d2028a5afdf30b7a4ea23fd7a71dfafd014b384224"
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 7986 (2018) — AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- CRUELTY TO ANIMALS (Requires persons entrusted with an animal's care to report cruelty thereto.)

## Version chain

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

1. **7986** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText18/HouseText18/H7986.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **73–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Almeida — primary (person)
- McEntee — primary (person)
- O'Brien — primary (person)
- Ucci — primary (person)
- Williams — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-03-22** 03/22/2018 Introduced, referred to House H.E.W. `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-04-18** 04/18/2018 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/25/2018)
- **2018-04-25** 04/25/2018 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2018-06-08** 06/08/2018 Scheduled for consideration (06/13/2018)
- **2018-06-13** 06/13/2018 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-06-16** 06/16/2018 Placed on House Calendar (06/19/2018)
- **2018-06-19** 06/19/2018 House read and passed `passage`
- **2018-06-22** 06/22/2018 Referred to Senate Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-22** 06/22/2018 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (06/22/2018)
- **2018-06-23** 06/23/2018 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-06-23** 06/23/2018 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/23/2018)
- **2018-06-23** 06/23/2018 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2018-07-02** 07/02/2018 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2018-07-02** 07/02/2018 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/39fdf2c9-1368-460f-b9a3-b157934df039`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).