---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- CRUELTY TO ANIMALS"
description: "Increases imprisonment penalties and adds mandatory community service for violations of § 4-1-9."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 559"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 559 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Appollonio", "Bissaillon", "Burke", "Ciccone", "Dimitri", "Murray", "Patalano", "Tikoian", "Urso", "Vargas"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 17
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2025-02-26"
last_action: "2025-06-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d37a0c26-ed54-4afd-a7e2-eb47b9f9f22a"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "4594c17b0555e5fb7e53a9e047802a7e9394a5e526ca4afadab54d6b719aca6f"
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 SB 559 (2025) — AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY -- CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

Increases imprisonment penalties and adds mandatory community service for violations of § 4-1-9.

## Version chain

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

1. **559 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/SenateText25/S0559A.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **34–0** (pass) · upper
- PASSAGE — **73–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **35–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Appollonio — primary (person)
- Bissaillon — primary (person)
- Burke — primary (person)
- Ciccone — primary (person)
- Dimitri — primary (person)
- Murray — primary (person)
- Patalano — primary (person)
- Tikoian — primary (person)
- Urso — primary (person)
- Vargas — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-26** 02/26/2025 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2025-04-04** 04/04/2025 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/10/2025)
- **2025-04-10** 04/10/2025 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2025-05-23** 05/23/2025 Scheduled for consideration (05/27/2025)
- **2025-05-27** 05/27/2025 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-05-27** 05/27/2025 Placed on Senate Calendar (05/29/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-05-29** 05/29/2025 Senate passed as amended (floor amendment) `passage`
- **2025-06-14** 06/14/2025 Referred to House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2025-06-14** 06/14/2025 Scheduled for consideration (06/16/2025)
- **2025-06-14** 06/14/2025 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2025-06-16** 06/16/2025 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-06-16** 06/16/2025 Placed on House Calendar (06/18/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-06-18** 06/18/2025 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2025-06-18** 06/18/2025 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/20/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-06-20** 06/20/2025 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2025-06-23** 06/23/2025 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-06-27** 06/27/2025 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/d37a0c26-ed54-4afd-a7e2-eb47b9f9f22a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).