Permission was given to forward this post to specific groups. PLEASE do not forward futher unless you email Ms. McGee for permission. Thank you. WA: Summary of bills introduced so far in legislative session Posted by: "Sylvie McGee" sylviemcgee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Tue Jan 12, 2010 11:47 pm (PST) I wrote this summary for Timberland Valley Dog Fanciers' Association, for which I'm the legislative liaison and thought some members of this group might be interested in it as well. Lots of action, much of it a carry over from last year. Well, the session started this week, and there are already several dog-related bills introduced - some of them problematic. 1. Probably most tro ubling, House Bill 1936 is the companion bill to Senate Bill 5651 that we fought and got amended last year. But we ultimately lost on it. It passed into law - this is the limit law on keeping intact dogs that is the ground on which the proposed county regulations are being built. House Bill 1936 has been reintroduced from last year, and is the *original* version of the bill. So it includes the following provisions, which we managed to get blocked last year - so presumably we will need to fight it out again....<sigh> - A lower limit on dogs - 25 versus the 50 in current law. - Adds a requirement for working smoke alarms in "housing facilities and primary enclosures", and refers to sprinkler systems, although it doesn't specifically require sprinkler systems. - Adds specific language about temperatures that must be maintained in kennels (not under 50 degrees, nor over 85 degrees) - current law says that shelter must prote ct "from extreme temperatures and weather conditions that may be uncomfortable or hazardous to the dogs"; - Adds very specific language about the construction of flooring, while current law states that "floors are constructed in a manner that protects the dogs' feet and legs from injury". The House bill would specify width of slats, or use of poured concrete. - Requires veterinary exams of breeding dogs at least once a year, and of bitches at least once a year OR prior to each breeding attempt. - Limits bitches to a single litter per year. - Requires that ear cropping, tail docking, debarking and surgical births be conducted under anesthesia and by a licensed veterinarian. - Adds warrantless searches - since any animal control officer or other authorized public health or safety official can investigate "upon his own motion". 2. House Bill 2202 was read once last year, and referred to the Judiciary Committee, wh ere it died without a hearing. It has been reintroduced this year. In brief, it requires the department of agriculture to adopt and maintain rules that set a vaccination schedule for dogs under 12 months, and the process and schedule for treating dogs under 12 months for worms and parasites, and a timeline for separating a dog under 12 months from its mother or litter. *Any* breeder who sells a dog under 12 months of age would be subject to complying with these regulations. It also requires the department of agriculture to provide a way for anyone to report sellers who are suspected of violating the requirements, and to investigate those allegations. This is a fairly scary bill, since there is a lot of diversity of opinion and practice about vaccination schedules and worming protocols by legitimate and thoughtful breeders. 3. House Bill 2387 has been reintroduced from last year. It was originally introduced in la te April, referred to the Judiciary committee, and stayed there - but that may be because it was introduced so late in the game. This is an anti-tethering bill. It makes it illegal to "leave a dog outside and unattended by use of a restraint such as a tether, chain, rope, cord or other device used to tie an animal to a running cable or pulley system or to a stationary object" for more than an hour each day unless the owner is in the company of the animal; for any length of time in adverse weather; in a manner that keeps the animal out of shelter in whether below 40 degrees or above 85 degrees or during rain, hail, sleet or snow; in a location within 100 yards of a school. It also requires that any tethering be attached to a harness or fixed length collar. Penalties are: $100 first offense, $250 second offense; $500 for any third or subsequent offense. The bill also requires that "a dog owner who keeps the owner's dog in an enclosure for the majority of the day" (i.e. kennels their dogs) must comply with the housing and enclosure requirements of SB5651. In this section, essentially the law applies the requirements passed to address large- scale breeders to any dog owner who kennels their dog. 4. Engrossed Senate Bill 5200, Senate Bill 5870, and Senate Bill 6291 all got hung up in wrangling between the House and Senate last year over which version of the bill would be passed. They all address an old agricultural law requiring (1) an owner to kill his dog if notified the dog has killed a domestic animal; and (2) requiring a sheriff's deputy to kill dogs found running loose between August and March. ESB5200 has been made eligible for a third reading (at which point a vote is generally taken) as of two days ago. It will, if I'm getting it right (it's confusing, because there have been a bunch of competing bills and wrangling between House and Senate) repeal t he old law entirely. 5. In some good news, Substitute House Bill 1831 has been reintroduced this year, after dying in the House Rules Committee last year as the session wound down. If passed, the bill will protect the rights of residents of unincorporated rural counties to continue to own and possess their pets and livestock if their area is annexed. It applies to "rural counties", which it defines has having fewer than 100 persons per square mile. The right to own their pets beyond the new jurisdiction's limits applies only to the pets actually owned at the time of annexation. 6. Substitute Senate Bill 5063 has been reintroduced this year, after dying in the Senate Rules committee last year. This would allow cemeteries to allow burial of pets with their owners in plots owned by the pet owners. It would not require cemeteries to offer this service, but would allow it. 7. Senate Bill 5329 and House Bill 1406 (co mpanion bills) have also been reintroduced this year. They both died in committee last year. These bills would impose a fee, paid by pet food distributors, that would be used to fund a *voluntary* spay-neuter fund. Proceeds would pay for spay/ neuter of companion animals belonging to low income individuals, and for spay/ neuter of feral/free-roaming cats. The fee in the bill comes to about 3 cents/ pound of food. 8. Finally, on a lighter note, Senate Bill 5192 has also been reintroduced - it states simply that the holder of a beer, wine, spirits or tavern license may allow well-behaved, leashed dogs accompanied by their owners on the premises during business hours. So if this one passes, no matter what happens in the rest of the session, we can take our dogs with us to celebrate or to drown our sorrows, as the case may be. Sylvie McGee sylviemcgee @comcast.net ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2009. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. 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