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

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The Monthly National Legislation Reporthttp://mnlreport.typepad.com/Page 274 of 3307/5/2010COUNTRIES OF OTHER INTERESTAUSTRALIASE Queensland - (1/29/09) - New cat registration requirements will do nothing to control the number of animals being dumped according to animal rescue services. From July 1, allsouth-east Queensland councils will be required to make owners register their cats with a microchip and identity collar, bringing registration for both cats and dogs into line. Pet shopswill also be required to microchip all dogs and cats before they are sold. The legislation is not retrospective, but any change of ownership of a cat or dog will require they bemicrochipped. But Coast animal rescue group 4Paws and the RSPCA both said the legislation did not go far enough, because people not de-sexing their pets was the major contributor tothe huge numbers of unwanted animals. 4Paws president Julie Penlington echoed RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty saying de-sexing of all household cats and dogs prior should bemandatory.Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)January 20, 2009Animal Laws & Legislation - January 20, 2009STATES - IN ALPHABETICAL ORDERALABAMA - 2009 Regular Legislative Session begins Feb. 3, 2009Gadsden - Humane Society of Etowah County has asked the Gadsden City Council to consider passing a law requiringmandatory spaying and neutering of dogs and cats. The proposed law as drafted would require all dogs or cats 4 months oldor older to be spayed or neutered. The ordinance exempts kennels licensed by the city's Revenue Department. People temporarily harboring an animal for 14 days or less would not berequired to have the animal spayed or neutered.Lawrence County - (1/14/09) - Angry citizens, hoping for immediate action from the Lawrence County Commission concerning dangerous and roaming dogs, left Monday’s meetingdisappointed. Rather than passing a resolution to adopt a state animal confinement law, commissioners opted not to act on the matter before gathering further information. The commissioninstead formed a committee to research the animal control issue further before taking any kind of action. The committee will be comprised of Commissioners Alma Whitlow, Bradley Crossand Mose Jones, as well as County Attorney Cecil Caine.ALASKA - 2009 Legislative Session began Jan 20, 2009 to Apr 19, 2009Anchorage - (1/15/09) - At a Public Safety Committee meeting Wednesday, the Anchorage Animal Control Advisory Board said the municipality's animal control laws need to be changed.The advisory board said that under current law, an aggressive animal can get away with repeated attacks on humans, as long as they don't cause significant physical injury. According toAnchorage municipal code, physical injury can mean anything -- scrapes, cuts or other similar injuries. But a serious physical injury is something that would be life threatening, a seriousdisfigurement, or something that impairs the victim's health or internal organs. The board recommended a stricter policy for animals that continually injure people, regardless if the injury isclassified as serious or not. The stricter policy could include euthanasia after repeated offenses. The Anchorage Assembly would have to approve any official changes in animal control law.ARIZONAUPDATE: Cottonwood - MSN proposal was voted downPima County - (1/4/09) - The yipping, the yapping, the bowwowing and the woof-woofing can start to wear on a person after a while. It wore on Catherine Sienko until she just couldn't takeit anymore. But when she called to file a complaint against her neighbor and his barking dogs, she didn't feel like she got much help from Pima County. After a yearlong battle, in which shewas forced to spend many hours unsuccessfully negotiating for her peace and quiet, the neighbor was fined $200. The barking continues. So she has started Quiet Pima County, anorganization whose aim is to change the way the county deals with barking-dog complaints. So far, the group has just a dozen members, but she's hoping its ranks will swell to hundreds ofhad-it-up-to-here activists who can get the county to change its ways. "We're being assaulted," she said. "We're being assaulted by noise. We're getting sick. We're getting high blood pressure.We're getting tinnitus. We can't sleep at night. We can't enjoy our patios in the evening." There were 615 complaints related to barking dogs in the last year.Phoenix - (1/11/09) - Legislative Ag Fest will be held January 21at the State Capitol. The goal is to reach as many state legislators as possible and show them how diverseagriculture is in Arizona and help them see we need their support. The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. For more information, contact Paul Brierley at 480.635.3612 or_paulbrierley@azfb.org_Phoenix - (1/16/09) - A measure before the Arizona Legislature would extend current state bans on dog fighting and cockfighting to other animals. Senate Bill 1115 would makeit a felony to train or be involved with animal fighting. It expands upon existing state law against dog fighting.Show Low - (1/18/09) - The Planning and Zoning Commission accepted a number of proposed revisions to Section 15 of the city code, the zoning ordinance, during its regular meetingTuesday. One such group of revisions belonged to requirements of home occupations. The revisions also includes a list of permitted and non-permitted businesses for home occupation, withother examples being decided on a case-by-case basis. The code allowed non-household animals in residential zones when the lot had a minimum size of 20,000 square feet. The code wouldallow one large animal (horses, cows), one small animal (sheep, goats) or 10 chickens, turkeys, rabbits and other animals of that sort for every 20,000 square feet on the lot. So, for example,a person could have one horse and 10 rabbits on a 40,000-square-foot lot. the household pets provision was already in Chapter 6 of the city code and therefore was separated from the nonhouseholdanimals portion of the zoning ordinance. "You can have three dogs and four horses on a two-acre (87,120 square feet) piece of property," he said.Since the household pets portion was removed from the zoning ordinance, the changes dealing with animals was mainly numbering of the sub-sections. Everything would remain in theordinance as it was before.
The Monthly National Legislation Reporthttp://mnlreport.typepad.com/Page 275 of 3307/5/2010ARKANSAS - The 87th General Assembly began Jan 12, 2009SB77 - AN ACT CONCERNING AGGRAVATED CRUELTY TO DOGS, CATS, AND HORSES AND RELATED OFFENSES AND CONCERNING ANIMAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICESSenate Committee on JudiciaryHelena-West Helena - (1/8/09) - Patrick Allen, Helena-West Helena code enforcement officer, addressed the city council Tuesday night about animal control ordinances for the city. Helena-West Helena is still without an animal shelter and has issues with enforcing leash laws and animal registration fees.Little Rock- (1/10/09) - Attorney General Dustin McDaniel is paring down his wish list for the legislative session that starts next week. He says he will focus on a handful of issues ratherthan several. In particular, McDaniel will focus on tougher penalities for animal cruelty and on an ethics bill. His bill that would make aggravated animal cruelty a felony on the first offensehas already won over the Arkansas Farm Bureau -- a group that opposed similar efforts in the past. McDaniel says the proposal also has the support of a majority of both the House and Senatejudiciary committees, which would likely be first to consider the measure. He's predicting easy passage of the animal cruelty bill. Additional article re: SB77 - click here.Maumelle - (1/7/09) - Almost half of the hour-long meeting was spent debating a subject that wasn’t even on the agenda — cats and dogs. During the initial public comment period,Maumelle resident Brandon Tolbert asked the council to change the animal nuisance ordinance to require animal control officers to remove dogs that were a nuisance rather than keeping thecurrent law which he said gives animal control officers discretionary judgment. After a lengthy discussion on the wording Tolbert offered that lasted almost 30 minutes, Ladner asked if thiswasn’t something that could be worked out at a more appropriate time, saying that public comments were supposed to be limited to three minutes. The council agreed, but not before cityattorney JaNan Davis warned them that dogs were considered a person’s property and the courts required due process before personal property can be taken.CALIFORNIA - 2009 Legislature began Jan. 5, 2009Alameda County - (1/9/09) - A new law took effect Jan. 1 which states that landlords and mortgage lenders must take charge of abandoned animals left behind on properties that have beenvacated following the termination of a rental agreement or property foreclosure. It requires them to notify an animal control office immediately, who will then retrieve and take possessionof the animal until it is deemed to be in a suitable condition to be returned to the owner. The bill also authorizes animal control officials to secure a lien upon the animal for the purpose ofrecovering the costs of its rescue.Hollister - (1/6/09) - The city recently updated several laws to coincide with state legislation such as code sections dealing with the vaccination period for dogs. The change deals with thevaccination period allowed for dogs over four months old. The prior ordinance required vaccinations to occur "not less than one year and not more than two years" after birth. The newwording changes it from two years to three.Lancaster - (1/15/09) - The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday (1/13/09) to grant the first of two required approvals for a new ordinance that will define “potentially dangerous”and “vicious” canines and establish new rules for their owners to follow. (Note: CA state law prohibits designation of specific breeds as “dangerous.” However, it does allow breed-specificspay/neuter). If enacted, the ordinance would require spaying or neutering for pit bulls and Rottweilers, including mixed-breed animals that exhibit the predominant physical characteristicsof those breeds. Exceptions could be made for dogs that are considered at risk of not surviving a spaying or neutering procedure, as well as for dogs registered with breed registries such asthe American Kennel Club. UPDATE: (1/16/09) - Next city council meeting: Jan. 27, 5 PM Lancaster City Hall Council Chambers, 44933 N. Fern Ave., Lancaster,California 93534 661-723-6000 To contact a member of the City Council:Phone: 661-723-6019Laguna Hills - since last year, the city has been looking into spay and neuter programs and is now recommending that a public education campaign and a license canvassing program becreated in the upcoming biennial budget to make it easier for pet owners in the city to license and alter their dogs. A canvassing program report recommends pet license outreachspay/neuter program not needed for now. The twelve-month canvassing program would run from January 2010 to December 2010Manteca - (1/14/09) - Those slamming two of the current council members — Mayor Willie Weatherford and John Harris — for the lack of a dog park in Manteca are barking up the wrongtree. They are conveniently leaving out one big detail: The entire council back then went along with the idea of the dog park and put it ahead of others only after the Manteca Dog OwnersGroup (DOGS) made the commitment to raise $60,000 toward its construction. The deal was simple. When the group raised the money, the city would build the park.Riverside County - (12/15/08) - Riverside County supervisors plan to introduce an ordinance today (12/16/08) to sterilize dogs whose owners let them run amok, roam unlicensed, bitepeople or otherwise violate state or local laws. The ordinance would also require all adult dogs and cats in the unincorporated county to be implanted with identifying microchips. Countyanimal-control officials say they hope the ordinance, if passed, will satisfy the opponents of a 2006 proposal to spay and neuter almost all dogs and cats in the unincorporated county. Underthe new proposal, spay and neuter requirements would apply only when pet owners show themselves to be irresponsible, officials said. The cities of San Bernardino and Los Angeles as well asLos Angeles County have adopted stricter rules that require sterilization of adult pets generally with the exception of guide dogs, purebred show animals and a few others. Supervisors areexpected to introduce the ordinance today. If it is approved, it would go to a public hearing and final vote probably in a month, Miller said. UPDATE -Ordinance approved 5-0, HEARING tobe held TUESDAY - 1/13/09 - 9:30 a.m. UPDATE - (1/14/09) - Dogs and cats whose owners let them run astray, go unlicensed, bite people or otherwise violate laws could facemandatory sterilization, Riverside County supervisors voted Tuesday. Also, pet owners must have their dogs and cats implanted with identifying microchips, supervisors decided. Theunanimous decision just before 7 p.m. followed more than five hours of comment from a packed and boisterous audience of opponents and supporters. Supervisors softened the newrules, adding an exemption from spay/neuter provisions for "recognized breeders" and creating a committee to define that. The new rules apply to all of unincorporated Riverside Countyand take effect in 30 days. UPDATE: (1/15/09) - The Riverside County Board of Supervisors is asking for people to consider joining a committee that will review an ordinance adoptedTuesday night (Jan. 13). The REVERSAL Ordinance Task Force will include a group of people that favored the ordinance as it was written, plus a group of individuals that opposed themicrochipping/spay & neuter ordinance. The ordinance, dubbed REVERSAL by Supervisor Jeff Stone, drew praise and criticism during a seven-hour public hearing on Tuesday. Supervisor’sStone acronym stands for: Reducing Euthanasia Vowing Everyone’s Responsibility to Save Animal Lives. Supervisor Roy Wilson said he supported the ordinance, but requested a committeebe formed so people can help amend whatever changes might be necessary to the law. Those interested in participating on the REVERSAL Ordinance task force are asked to contact theirrespective Supervisor via e-mail. UPDATE: (1/19/09) - A new ordinance requiring identifying microchips on almost all dogs and cats in unincorporated Riverside County takes effectMarch 1, but animal control officers will not cite or fine anyone until June, said Robert Miller, county director of Animal Services.Riverside - (1/7/09) - Some Riverside County residents are pretty steamed about a new anti-nuisance ordinance, approved by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, that will fine ownersof barking dogs up to $500. The new ordinance also affects the way dog-related complaints are handled by officials. Under current county law, when a resident in an unincorporatedcommunity complains about a barking, howling or otherwise noisy dog, an Animal Services officer investigates the matter, generally by visiting the location where the disturbance hasbeen reported. When the new rules take effect -- in 30 days -- noisy dogs' owners will receive a warning for a first complaint. If another complaint is made within a year of the first one,the matter goes to a hearing, during which an officer decides whether or not the dog is actually a nuisance. If so, an order is issued to the dog's owner and must be followed within 10days.Remedies might include obedience training, containing the animal within an enclosed space, such as a garage, restricting the amount of time the animal is allowed outside -- ordebarking the dog so it doesn't vocalize beyond a whisper.If the order is not followed within the 10 days allotted, a fine is incurred, beginning at $100 for the first violation. A second violation within a year racks up a $200 fine, and a $500 fine isimposed for each additional violation. For more information, check out the Riverside County Department of Animal Services.Ukiah - new ordinance regarding the status of the city's dogs would either lead to greater compassion for the animals or a "legal quagmire," depending on which side people get theirinformation from. By a 4-1 vote at its regular board meeting Dec. 17, the Ukiah City Council directed staff to draft an ordinance to be brought back for final approval at a later datemandating the change of the word "owner" to "guardian" in city code regarding canines. Councilmember Doug Crane said he could not stand behind the intentions of the actions because
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