---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- CRUELTY TO ANIMALS"
description: "Prohibits the declawing of cats by any surgical procedure to amputate or modify a portion of a cat's paw in order to remove the cat's claws. Does not apply to any procedure performed for a therapeutic purpose."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 5668"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5668 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["O'Brien"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 12
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2025-02-26"
last_action: "2025-06-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6f186c24-5fcb-4dfb-9d09-073247ce4509"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "8b12ac2d4f2930b8a1cebdb24b88720dff9043d92ccfb211585c644d9ced8431"
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 5668 (2025) — AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

Prohibits the declawing of cats by any surgical procedure to amputate or modify a portion of a cat's paw in order to remove the cat's claws. Does not apply to any procedure performed for a therapeutic purpose.

## Version chain

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

1. **5668 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/HouseText25/H5668A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **65–6** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- O'Brien — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-26** 02/26/2025 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2025-02-28** 02/28/2025 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/04/2025)
- **2025-03-04** 03/04/2025 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2025-06-06** 06/06/2025 Scheduled for consideration (06/12/2025)
- **2025-06-06** 06/06/2025 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2025-06-12** 06/12/2025 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-06-13** 06/13/2025 Placed on House Calendar (06/16/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-06-16** 06/16/2025 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2025-06-16** 06/16/2025 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/18/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-06-18** 06/18/2025 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2025-06-18** 06/18/2025 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-06-26** 06/26/2025 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/6f186c24-5fcb-4dfb-9d09-073247ce4509`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).