---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY - CRUELTY TO ANIMALS (Owners of animals in RISPCA custody to pay for animal's care or animal may be forfeited.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY - CRUELTY TO ANIMALS (Owners of animals in RISPCA custody to pay for animal's care or animal may be forfeited.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 8303"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 8303 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Baginski", "Corvese", "Craven", "Hull", "McEntee", "Noret", "O'Brien", "Phillips", "Slater", "Solomon"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2022-06-01"
last_action: "2022-06-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/17c5d6b6-be1b-40c0-9c0c-f586d6cf5f56"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "d026f348456f23a2d74fa1046fc4c79e455bd663a15750fef0fe1e172d6613c3"
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 8303 (2022) — AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY - CRUELTY TO ANIMALS (Owners of animals in RISPCA custody to pay for animal's care or animal may be forfeited.)

## Version chain

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

1. **8303** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText22/HouseText22/H8303.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **61–9** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Baginski — primary (person)
- Corvese — primary (person)
- Craven — primary (person)
- Hull — primary (person)
- McEntee — primary (person)
- Noret — primary (person)
- O'Brien — primary (person)
- Phillips — primary (person)
- Slater — primary (person)
- Solomon — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-06-01** 06/01/2022 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-06-07** 06/07/2022 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (06/09/2022)
- **2022-06-09** 06/09/2022 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2022-06-20** 06/20/2022 Scheduled for consideration (06/22/2022)
- **2022-06-22** 06/22/2022 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-06-22** 06/22/2022 Placed on House Calendar (06/23/2022) `reading-3`
- **2022-06-23** 06/23/2022 House read and passed `passage`
- **2022-06-23** 06/23/2022 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/23/2022) `reading-3`
- **2022-06-23** 06/23/2022 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2022-06-24** 06/24/2022 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2022-06-30** 06/30/2022 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/17c5d6b6-be1b-40c0-9c0c-f586d6cf5f56`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).