---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO DOMESTIC RELATIONS -- DOMESTIC ABUSE PREVENTION (Expands family court jurisdiction to enter protective orders to provide for the safety and welfare of household pets in domestic abuse situations.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO DOMESTIC RELATIONS -- DOMESTIC ABUSE PREVENTION (Expands family court jurisdiction to enter protective orders to provide for the safety and welfare of household pets in domestic abuse situations.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 5023"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5023 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Animals", "Courts", "Domestic Relations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hawkins", "Mendez", "O'Brien", "Williams"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2019-01-04"
last_action: "2019-06-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6904c2a8-b856-4775-81d1-1374adf8da69"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "24e69e76d2170b74bd6b4ba78489aa103d05f4fb847d6e971c06dd7576d8a2bf"
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 5023 (2019) — AN ACT RELATING TO DOMESTIC RELATIONS -- DOMESTIC ABUSE PREVENTION (Expands family court jurisdiction to enter protective orders to provide for the safety and welfare of household pets in domestic abuse situations.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5023** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText19/HouseText19/H5023.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **65–3** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Hawkins — primary (person)
- Mendez — primary (person)
- O'Brien — primary (person)
- Williams — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-01-04** 01/04/2019 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2019-02-08** 02/08/2019 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (02/13/2019)
- **2019-02-13** 02/13/2019 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2019-05-31** 05/31/2019 Scheduled for consideration (06/04/2019)
- **2019-06-04** 06/04/2019 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-06-07** 06/07/2019 Placed on House Calendar (06/13/2019)
- **2019-06-13** 06/13/2019 House read and passed `passage`
- **2019-06-13** 06/13/2019 Referred to Senate Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-14** 06/14/2019 Scheduled for consideration (06/18/2019)
- **2019-06-18** 06/18/2019 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-06-20** 06/20/2019 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/25/2019)
- **2019-06-25** 06/25/2019 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2019-06-26** 06/26/2019 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-06-28** 06/28/2019 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/6904c2a8-b856-4775-81d1-1374adf8da69`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).