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

The Monthly National Legislation Reporthttp://mnlreport.typepad.com/Page 208 of 3307/5/2010are identified as "dangerous" based on stated, measurable actions; imposeappropriate penalties on irresponsible owners; and establish a well-definedmethod for dealing with dogs proven to be dangerous. If necessary, dogsproven to be "dangerous" may need to be humanely destroyed but the AKCstrongly opposes any legislation that determines a dog to be "dangerous"based on specific breeds or phenotypic classes of dogs.Granada - (5/4/09) - A Colorado lawmaker says he got tired of his colleagues passing bills that would hurt his rural constituents, like the one requiring ranchers to take care of wildcats or another requiring butchering animals to be kept in bigger pens.So last weekend state Rep. Wes McKinley invited fellow lawmakers to see part of the real West: the southeasternplains. A half dozen took him up on the offer, riding the range and helping with a cattle drive. "I told them if they're going to vote on western issues, they need to understand westernissues," said McKinley, a rancher and former outfitter from Walsh, an agricultural town of 4,000 about 220 miles southeast of Denver. The cat care bill passed the House Local GovernmentCommittee but died on the House floor. The animal care act requiring larger pens became law, but only after pregnant sows were given an exemption. "They didn't realize that sows eat theirbabies," McKinley said. McKinley, a Democrat, said many laws passed in Denver have unintended consequences on the range. "They wanted to pass a law saying you couldn't keep a veal calfin a pen so small he couldn't lay down and turn around," he told farmers and ranchers at a campfire meeting after the trail ride. "I asked them 'What's a veal calf?' and nobody knew. They said'Don't worry about it because there was no veal industry in Colorado.' I said this could be my favorite bill, because we passed a law on a subject they knew nothing about for something wecan't define," McKinley recalled.CONNECTICUTSB499 - (5/2/09) Amended - Call your Representatives as soon as possible!! You can also email or write, but phone calls are best. To find your legislator’s name, click here. To read theoriginal Committee Bill, click here. Bill explanation - What the bill does:1) Makes anyone who breeds 2 or more litters a year vet check each puppy or kitten prior to the initial offering of same for sale and have each animal vet checked AGAIN every 15 days afterthe initial vet check until sold2) Requires a 6 month guarantee, at the option of the BUYER, either a replacement or full refund in the dog or cat is diagnosed with an undefined congenital defect3) Requires the seller of dog or cat to file a “certificate of origin” to the Department of Agriculture within TWO days of sale or otherwise be subject to a $100.00 fine or imprisoned not morethan 30 days or both. Every DAY the seller is in violation constitutes a separate offense. UPDATE: (5/12/09 House Amendment) - click here to read amendment LCO #6866, To: Subst.Senate Bill 499Canaan - (5/23/09) - Connecticut and several other states are considering laws allowing their residents to create legally binding trusts, in which money could be allocated to care for theirpets when those owners die or become incapacitated. Unlike a will, trusts can go into effect before a person's death—and the courts or a trustee can step in to enforce the terms if a pet isneglected or the money is not spent properly.Hartford - (5/28/09) - Responding to February's chimpanzee attack in Stamford, lawmakers, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and the Department of Environmental Protection allcalled for a new law banning private ownership of dangerous wild animals in the state. But the bill has proven more controversial than initially intended and become bogged down with avariety of amendments that threaten its passage before the legislative session ends June 3. "I am concerned," state Sen. Edward Meyer, D-Guilford, a co-chairman of the legislature'sEnvironmental Committee, said Wednesday. "Here we are with less than a week left and the bill has not come up to the Senate" from the House of Representatives. As was previouslyreported, state Rep. Dick Roy, D-Milford, the House chairman of the Environment Committee, has for the past few weeks been fine-tuning the proposal to grandfather in two dozen smallmonkeys owned by various families, specify ferrets are domestic animals that can be kept as pets, and ensure the law does not mistakenly ban circuses from Connecticut. But about a dozenamendments -- some related directly to the proposal, others only tangentially linked to the legislation -- have been attached to the legislation by various lawmakers. "It's like a Christmas tree,"said state Rep. Diana Urban, D-North Stonington. Urban, a member of the Environmental Committee, is responsible for an amendment that would allow people who have animals deemedillegal by the legislation to keep them as long as they register the pet with the state DEP. The bill lists several types of cats, bears, primates, snakes, scorpions, tarantulas and more."Grandfather everybody and after that say, 'No more,' " Urban said. UPDATE: (5/31/09) - Legislation that would have banned a long list of wild and potentially dangerous animals as petshas failed in the General Assembly this year because lawmakers from Litchfield County want to protect a family-owned farm that has several elephants. But the state Department ofEnvironmental Protection hopes residents will voluntarily turn over questionable pets on July 25 at an "exotic animal amnesty day" at Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport.D.C.No report for Washington, DCDELAWARENo report for DelawareFLORIDAHB451 - Tallahassee - (5/25/09) - A bill that started as a mandatory spay/neuter proposal and was altered into a sterilization fundraising program has been dropped altogether byFlorida lawmakers. House Bill 451 initially was introduced Jan. 20 in the Florida House of Representatives and would have required all cats and dogs, with exceptions for show,breeding, service or racing dogs, to be sterilized by 4 months of age or within 30 days of ownership. On March 24, the committee adopted a "strike-all" amendment, removing allmandatory spay/neuter language and instead giving local lawmakers the option of using a $5 charge already collected on animal-control citations to help pay for low-costspay/neuter programs. March 25, the bill was transferred to the Military and Local Affairs Policy Committee, which withdrew the bill from consideration May 2. The bill's failurecoincides with the American Veterinary Medical Association's (AVMA) revision of its policy on cat and dog population control, which frowns on mandatory sterilization. "The AVMAdoes not support regulations or legislation mandating spay/neuter of privately owned, non-shelter dogs and cats," AVMA says in its revised policy. "Although spaying andneutering helps control dog and cat populations, mandatory approaches may contribute to pet owners avoiding licensing, rabies vaccination and veterinary care for their pets,and may have other unintended consequences."DeLand - (5/11/09) - DeLand is joining Volusia County in requiring pet owners to spay or neuter their dogs and cats. City officials hope the requirement will reduce the number of animalsthat end up being killed at shelters. DeLand’s new law must pass a second reading before it takes effect, but only Commissioner Charles Paiva opposed the ordinance on its first reading May4. The vote was 4-to-1.The new law would require pets to be sterilized by Sept. 30, but city officials said they will enforce it on a complaints-only basis. Paiva said he voted against the law because he is hesitant forthe city to exercise that level of control over people’s pets, and also because he doesn’t like the idea of putting a law on the books that the city doesn’t really intend to enforce. To encourage thepassage of spay-neuter laws, Volusia County has offered free use of the Pet Vet Cruiser through Sept. 30 to cities that adopt the ordinances. Since the county passed its mandatory sterilizationlaw in 2007, only two cities in Volusia County have followed suit. South Daytona and Holly Hill also require their residents to spay or neuter their pets. Seven types of animals can beexempted from the sterilization:• animals of registered breeds that compete in shows or other competitions• an animal whose owner is a member of a bona fide animal club that maintains and enforces a code of ethics for breeding• animals whose doctors pronounce them medically unfit for sterilization• animals used in law enforcement