---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- DOG ENFORCEMENT AND PENALTIES -- FOSTER (Authorizes the Foster town council to enact ordinances permitting the dog officer in the town to issue citations for the violation of dog ordinances.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- DOG ENFORCEMENT AND PENALTIES -- FOSTER (Authorizes the Foster town council to enact ordinances permitting the dog officer in the town to issue citations for the violation of dog ordinances.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 7257"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 7257 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Animals", "Foster"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chippendale"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2020-01-23"
last_action: "2020-06-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f8c66d0e-a939-4f15-a15d-8e52668d978e"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "280c3fe6f8ad957a471432fa546c1f03381ce1807c9eb0cf138d860e4195d37f"
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 7257 (2020) — AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- DOG ENFORCEMENT AND PENALTIES -- FOSTER (Authorizes the Foster town council to enact ordinances permitting the dog officer in the town to issue citations for the violation of dog ordinances.)

## Version chain

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

1. **7257** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText20/HouseText20/H7257.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **70–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Chippendale — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-23** 01/23/2020 Introduced, referred to House Municipal Government `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2020-02-14** 02/14/2020 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (02/27/2020)
- **2020-02-27** 02/27/2020 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2020-06-09** 06/09/2020 Scheduled for consideration (06/11/2020)
- **2020-06-11** 06/11/2020 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-06-15** 06/15/2020 Placed on the House Consent Calendar (06/17/2020)
- **2020-06-17** 06/17/2020 House read and passed `passage`
- **2020-06-17** 06/17/2020 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/18/2020)
- **2020-06-18** 06/18/2020 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2020-06-18** 06/18/2020 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2020-06-26** 06/26/2020 Effective without Governor's signature `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f8c66d0e-a939-4f15-a15d-8e52668d978e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).