Legislature(2003 - 2004)
05/06/2004 08:16 AM Senate JUD
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HB 275-ANIMALS AND CRUELTY TO ANIMALS CHAIR SEEKINS noted that at the last meeting, members discussed some provisions that were troublesome. He said over time, he has worked with people from the equine industry, veterinarians, and animal advocates to find a way to adequately protect animals without being "extremist." He said in his proposal, Section 1 addresses the minimal standards necessary for animals. He noted that because Alaska has a very small number of veterinarians, the bill requires reasonable medical care to the extent available and necessary. He added that his proposal also says that the final determination of whether the standards of care are met shall be based on the professional opinion of a licensed veterinarian. He noted the department can adopt regulations to implement Section 1 and that the bill is too open-ended in that the department would set other standards for health and safety. He said he believes his proposal contains a compatible definition of the minimum standard of care. SENATOR FRENCH asked why the sanitation portion of the bill was left out of Chair Seekins' proposal. CHAIR SEEKINS said his proposal addresses a reasonable sanitation level and that no standard environment applies to all animals. He said his proposal is designed to provide reasonable guidelines and allows a veterinarian would make the final determination as to what is a proper environment. SENATOR OGAN expressed concern that some people believe animals should have the same protections as humans. He explained: I mean honestly, my daughter was on a tour in Kachemak Bay for school. She was a chaperone for younger kids, and the people that were giving the tour that hosted the place where they stayed...were out there talking about how the starfish murder the clams.... That's how they described it to these kids and my daughter's going they what? They murder the clams? I mean honestly, there are some people out there that are, as far as animal rights, an animal doesn't have a right to murder another animal to continue to live, you know, God or the natural order or whatever your belief is set it up that way. So that's what I'm worried about. Those are my concerns with these kind of bills. Like I said, I have friends that have open-ranged horses over in Kachemak Bay. It's a tough way for a horse to make it through the winter. Some of them might not have. I know there's one of them, a living legend in our neighborhood that had a big old chunk out of its rear end from where a bear got a hold of it in the spring when it was born. So it's all pretty subjective. One person's standard of good care will be another person's level of outrage. Those are some of my problems with putting some of these things in statute. CHAIR SEEKINS agreed with Senator Ogan and said according to his veterinarian, his horses are the healthiest in Alaska, although others might not believe they are appropriately cared for. He then explained the second section of his proposal [Sec. 03.55.110] pertains to animal cruelty. He explained: If you did believe here that there was some cruelty that was taking place to an animal, it says you can bring that complaint with a public or private animal control agency or organization - the department, which is here the Department of Environmental Conservation, or with a peace officer.... So, let's say it's the Alaska Equine Rescue. They take a look at the animal and they think in their opinion there is no problem there. They may just not refer it. If they think there is a problem there, they may refer it to a peace officer. That peace officer then has the process of - the availability of being able to go through the process, to get a search warrant and to go out and take a look. That is - when they get there, they have several options. They can say well, I don't think this warrants further investigation or if they do think it warrants further investigation they could actually place the animal or the animals into protective custody. And then at that point, when that police officer felt that that was necessary, they'd have to request an immediate inspection and decision by a licensed veterinarian and that placement into protective custody is in the immediate best interest of the animal. If no veterinarian is available to perform an inspection, then that police officer must communicate with a veterinarian who has, after hearing a description of the animal and its environment, decided it is in the immediate best interest of the animal that it be placed into protective custody. If the police officer is not able to communicate with a veterinarian, before the officer may take the animal the officer must decide it is in the immediate best interest of the animal to be placed into protective custody. CHAIR SEEKINS said the word "seize" has been replaced by protective custody, which he believes is the intent of most people. He said, regarding where the animal would go, it could be placed in the custody of Alaska Equine Rescue, the ASPCA, or any organization that is willing to care for the animal during the interim. CHAIR SEEKINS described Sec. 03.55.130 to say that if, once the animal is taken into protective custody, it appears the best course of action is to destroy the animal, the police officer would have to make contact with a veterinarian but, if contact is not possible, the police officer would have to make that decision. SENATOR FRENCH asked if that section is identical to Sec. 03.55.130 in the original bill. CHAIR SEEKINS said he thought so but said he changed the terms to "protective custody" and "destroy." He said the proposal provides that the court could make some decisions regarding adoption and destruction. He noted the most difficult part of the proposal for him was to get consensus on what constitutes cruelty to animals in the first degree. He noted that, for example, some people want to prepare a dog or cat for human consumption. Because that topic gets into cultural discussions, that section was removed. Instead the bill defines cruelty as knowingly inflicting physical pain or prolonged suffering on an animal, using a decompression chamber to kill, using poison to kill, or failing to care for an animal, which results in the animal's death. He noted that scientific research accepted by government standards would not apply. SENATOR OGAN expressed concern that the definition is too broad in that a person could be charged with animal cruelty in the second degree if that person left his dog outside and it was hit by a car. CHAIR SEEKINS said he had the most difficulty getting agreement on the definition of animal cruelty in the second degree. He said he believes the current animal cruelty law needs to be expanded, especially in light of recent animal atrocities, without including accepted practices in the state. He suggested adopting the content of his proposal up to Sec. 11.61.142, Cruelty to animals in the second degree, which could be addressed next session. He said in effect, that would provide a definition for minimum standards of care and would allow for protective custody. SENATOR OGAN moved to adopt a conceptual amendment [Amendment 1], which is the proposal offered by Chair Seekins, and includes the material on pages 1 through 5, up to Sec. 11.61.142. SENATOR OGAN clarified that the conceptual amendment would replace the contents of CSHB 275(FIN). SENATOR FRENCH commented that CSHB 275(FIN) passed the House after a lot of hard work. He expressed concern that he was under the impression the committee planned to remove one definition of animal cruelty in the first degree and address steel jaw leg holds, snares, and the problem of securing animals in the back of pick-up trucks. He believes everything else in the bill has been well thought through so he was asking what options he was being offered. CHAIR SEEKINS clarified that Amendment 1 would establish a new committee substitute. SENATOR FRENCH objected because he believed the bill before the committee could be fine-tuned in a short time. He asked to hear from the sponsor or staff about the proposed committee substitute. TAPE 04-65, SIDE B MS. SHARALYN WRIGHT, staff to Representative Chenault, told members she has received 113 telephone calls about this bill since the last Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. The callers want to see the bill passed as it is, however, because session is nearing its end, the sponsor is willing to accept whatever the committee passes out. SENATOR FRENCH asked Ms. Wright to articulate further on the phone calls she has received. MS. WRIGHT explained that HB 275 has morphed from a one-page bill to being combined with Representative Crawford's bill. The House Judiciary Committee then spent 20 hours on the bill, during which it took public testimony. Animal control officers statewide scrutinized it. She added, "If I could say that most of our communications came from Anchorage or Fairbanks or the Mat-Su, I would tell you that but it isn't. Everybody everywhere is concerned about the Karen Botley (ph) case - the most egregious cases that we've had that are just a reflection of a civilization that just shouldn't be and for these folks to be able to continue to go on and abuse animals in this way, it's just not correct." MS. WRIGHT said she was unable to get a sectional analysis of Chair Seekins' proposal [Amendment 1] but Representative Chenault's intent was to deal with the worst cases. He has worked on this legislation for four years. SENATOR FRENCH asked if Chair Seekins' proposal deals with the worst cases. MS. WRIGHT said it probably does. She maintained, "I think it was for your information but if this is actually what the bill does, we're going to take it and run with it. I'm not here to object." SENATOR OGAN said he is appalled by animal cruelty cases like everyone else and believes the proposed committee substitute deals with those cases. He said in reality, only the worst cases will be prosecuted. He is concerned however, that in reaction to the worst cases, people will attempt to fix the situation by "making it so that farmers cannot farm or dog mushers cannot mush and there are those out there that don't want farmers to farm or dog mushers to mush." He believes the proposed committee substitute provides a good balance. CHAIR SEEKINS took public testimony. MS. SALLY CLAMPITT, Alaska Equestrians, thanked members for taking this issue on at this late date and for their willingness to leave the basics of the bill intact. She expressed concern that Amendment 1 increases the defenses of cruelty statute to include some of the disciplines of riding and training practices. She noted that training practices were put in the defenses of cruelty statute in 1998. She was not sure of the need to defend a couple of disciplines of riding and training practices as opposed to the condition of the animal or the acts committed. She recommended that those provisions be removed. She questioned why rodeos were included and said one person could consider a lot of training practices cruel while another would find those same practices acceptable. CHAIR SEEKINS pointed out that training practices were included in the version of the bill that was referred to the committee. MS. CLAMPITT repeated that was put into statute in 1998 and was slipped in at the very end. CHAIR SEEKINS said he believes the proposed CS covers the egregious situations and he does "not want to love it to death and kill the whole thing." MS. CLAMPITT agreed with that approach. CHAIR SEEKINS announced that without objection, Senator Ogan's motion to adopt Amendment 1 was adopted. SENATOR OGAN moved SCS CSHB 275(JUD) and its attached fiscal notes from committee with individual recommendations.
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