Page 1 of 330 The Monthly National Legislation Report 7/5/2010 ...

The Monthly National Legislation Reporthttp://mnlreport.typepad.com/Page 106 of 3307/5/2010 No fee for this service is specifiedThe ordinance does not require the microchip be enrolled with a national registry. The implantation of the chip does not help recover the animal, only enrollment with a national registry will provide theowner’s contact informationPet Stores are required to provide the following information to Department of Detention and Enforcement The name and residence address of the buyerThe address of the location where the dog or cat will reside, if not the same as the buyer’s addressThe breed and approximate ageA description, including principal colorsFailure to provide this information shall be grounds for non-renewal of, or disciplinary action against, a business license It is unreasonable to require a business to violate their customer’s privacy in this mannerSince many shoppers may not reside within the city, it will create burdensome paperwork that in many cases will be uselessMay cause shoppers to choose pet stores that are not within the Las Vegas City limits, costing those stores businessWill increase costs for stores when they have to sterilize any animals that may be over 4 months of age May in fact deter these stores from selling older animalsThe Silver State Kennel Club is working with the city council to address their concerns with the ordinance. Legislative Liaison Ken Sondej who can be reached at 4winds@viawest.net is coordinating speakers forthe committee meeting. You can also contact the AKC Government Relations Department at doglaw@akc.org for additional information. Thank you your attention to this important issue.Washoe County – (10/11/09) - Mitch Schneider, the new manager of Washoe County Regional Animal Services, would like to see widespread microchipping, perhaps backed by law. TheAmerican Humane Society released a 192-page independent evaluation of Washoe animal control, and one of its recommendations was to institute cat licensing in the county. "I do support aone-time microchipping and licensing of cats," Schneider said, "but I prefer to call it registering." Schneider envisions cat microchipping and registration being voluntary but strongly pushedat first. Then, like with seat-belt laws that started out voluntary but now are required, he sees a steady progression toward an actual ordinance requiring it as benefits such as taxpayersavings reveal themselves. He predicts the cost of registration at $5 to cover staff time.NEW HAMPSHIRE(10/31/09) - Dear Members & Friends,Attached you will find the 2009 Final NH Legislative Report. As you can see, this year was a good one for NH pets and their owners. Dog Owners of the Granite State (DOGS) with thehelp of their lobbyist, Yvonne Nanasi, worked successfully to ensure that the views and opinions of pet owners and breeders were listened to in Concord. We are proud that our legislatorsare willing to protect their constituents against proposed radical laws that would negatively impact pet and animal owners in our state. This year many of our members joined Yvonne inConcord to testify or sign in “For” or “Against” several bills. Our members were steadfast in their commitment against bad animal legislation. We not only went to Concord in person, wemade more phone calls and sent more letters and emails to our legislators than ever before. 2009 has been a year of Legislative Awakening for many pet owners in our state. DOGS haskept our members informed with weekly emails. We have provided suggestions and specifics about what they could do to help us, demo letters, points for or against a bill and carpools wereprovided whenever possible to anyone that asked. We were also invited to and attended several kennel club meetings to talk about legislation. In 2009 DOGS reinstated its NH non-profitcorporation status. Our volunteer Board of Directors has worked hard to make DOGS successful. In late 2008 DOGS was desperate for donations to be able to re-hire Yvonne as ourlobbyist for 2009. Yvonne has been helping us fight bad animal legislation for 2 years at a greatly reduced rate. We would like to hire her back for the 2010 legislative session and onceagain we need your help. In 2008 our individual members came together and sent checks for $25 or more and several Kennel Clubs donated generously. Every dollar sent was personallyacknowledged by our former secretary Marion Hopkins. Marion resigned her long-standing position with DOGS in early 2009 when she felt that DOGS was back on it’s feet and could carryon without her. I would like to thank Marion for her many years of dedication to DOGS, we miss her.This year DOGS has been busy working on more exposure and education. Our club accepted a private donation of website hosting where we set up a website for our members. Theweb address is www.nhdogs.org. Our site provides legislative updates, NH laws and current local animal articles from cruelty cases to changes in town animal legislation. We also own thewebsite name nhpetsonline.com which is developing slowly. We hope to use this site to provide education such as general pet info, health, training etc. This site is in the early stages ofdevelopment. DOGS is interested in volunteers to help us with ideas, construction and upkeep for this website. Contact us at dogs@nhdogs.org if you would like to help. This year we spenta little on bumper sticker magnets – I Own A Dog (or Cat) & I VOTE! You can purchase one of these magnets through our website using pay pal. With this final legislative report and DOGSupdate we must once again ask for your donations. No donation is too small and all donations will be acknowledged and gratefully accepted to help us with 2010 legislation. All donationswill be used to hire Yvonne as our lobbyist, to purchase fundraising items and to help with the minimal costs of running this non-profit. Yvonne attends every hearing and fights for our rights.It is not always possible for our members to go to Concord on a daily or weekly basis. We must have a presence in Concord to fight bad bills or we will quickly lose our rights to animalownership as some states have already. Kennel Clubs and pet related establishments that donate will be offered a link to their website at nhdogs.org. We invite anyone to feel free to add alink to our website.In closing, DOGS extends our most sincere Thanks for your continued support of our organization. Our success and the freedom to be pet owners in NH depend on you.Warm Regards,Joyce ArivellaPresident, Dog Owners of the Granite StateDog Owners of the Granite State (DOGS) 2009 NH Legislation Summary ReportDuring the 2009 NH Legislative Session, DOGS earmarked some 20 bills that would impact ownership, breeding, training and working with dogs and other companion animals. Due to theinvolvement of our members voicing their concerns to legislators, all of the bills had favorable outcomes. The final dispositions of the major bills that we were involved in are summarizedbelow.DOGS is a NH non-profit organization and an American Kennel Club affiliated federation that represents NH dog and other companion animal owners. Our members are involved in allaspects of pet ownership. To become a supporting member of DOGS’ programs and our legislative advocacy efforts contact Joyce Arivella, DOGS President, at DOGS@NHdogs.orghttp://nhdogs.org/New Laws – Legislation Enacted in 2009Bill # Summary Status DOGS’ CommentsHB148HB247HB345Requires an annual veterinarianstatement for exemption from rabiesvaccination and declares that an officialhealth certificate is prima facieevidence of transfer of a dog, cat, orferret.Changes the law pertaining to domesticanimal cruelty complaints. Instead ofthe state veterinarian, the first on siteresponder, will be the local lawenforcement agency, animal controlofficer, state police, or sheriff, withjurisdiction over where the animal iskept.Allowing licensed physical therapistswho are graduates of a relevantcertificate program and with proof ofmalpractice coverage to practice onSigned into law bythe Governor.Effective 9/29/09.Chapter Law 296Signed into law bythe Governor.Effective 8/21/09.Chapter Law 123Signed into law bythe Governor.Effective 1/1/10.Chapter Law 311The Senate Wildlife Committee chosenot to incorporate DOGS’ amendmentinto the bill. DOGS is working with theState Vet to introduce a bill nextsession that incorporates the clarifyinglanguage into the transferrequirements.DOGS supported this bill that wasrequested by the State Veterinarian.The State Vet’s office has jurisdictionover the investigation of a complaintbut the first responder will includesomeone with law enforcementtraining.DOGS supported the bill. It was theresult of a collaboration of the stateveterinarians’ and the physicaltherapists’ associations.