Votes at a glance: House approves consumer protection and animal-welfare bills

PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island House of Representatives on Feb. 27 approved two bills in short form on the chamber calendar: House Bill 5215, a consumer-protection measure about gym membership cancellations, and House Bill 5025, an animal-welfare measure clarifying that trapping and releasing unowned feral cats for spay-or-neuter is not abandonment. Both measures passed with unanimous recorded votes on the day’s calendar.

House Bill 5215, presented on the floor as sponsored by Representative Phillips and handled by the committee chair, would require a health club that takes automatic deductions from a customer’s bank account or credit card to cease those deductions within 30 calendar days of receiving a consumer’s written notice canceling membership. The bill’s floor presenter reported no opposition and said the bill had passed the House unanimously in 2023 and 2024. The clerk recorded the roll call as 68–0 in favor.

House Bill 5025, presented by Chairwoman McEntee on behalf of Representative Edwards, would provide that trapping and subsequent release of any unowned, feral, or free-roaming cat for the purposes of spaying or neutering would not be considered abandonment. The bill drew committee testimony, the presenter told the chamber, and the clerk recorded the vote as 68–0 in favor.

Both measures were moved and seconded on the floor and recorded by the clerk without additional floor debate. The transcript includes the authors and presenters named on the calendar and shows clerks recording unanimous tallies for both bills.