GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1989

S	1 

SENATE BILL 278*

Short Title:  Animal Welfare Act/Revisions.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Senators Daniel; and Allran.
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Referred to:  Marine Resources & Wildlife.
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February 27, 1989

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO REVISE ANIMAL WELFARE AND CONTROL LAWS AND CREATE THE ANIMAL WELFARE ACT ENFORCEMENT FUND.
Whereas, the 1987 Session of the General Assembly authorized the Legislative Research Commission to study the effectiveness of the Animal Welfare Act; and
Whereas, the Animal Welfare Act Study Committee was specifically authorized to consider whether the act should apply to city and county animal shelters and whether central records containing information submitted to the Animal Welfare Section of the State Department of Agriculture should be maintained; and
Whereas, it was the consensus of the members of the Animal Welfare Act Study Committee that some city and county animal control facilities in the State are failing to meet the minimum standards established under the act for the humane care and treatment of confined animals; Now, therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 19A-23 reads as rewritten:
"§ 19A-23. Definitions.
For the purposes of this Article, the following terms, when used in the Article or the rules or orders made pursuant thereto, shall be construed respectively to mean:
(1)	‘Adequate feed' means the provision at suitable intervals, not to exceed 24 hours, of a quantity of wholesome foodstuff suitable for the species and age, sufficient to maintain a reasonable level of nutrition in each animal. Such foodstuff  shall be served in a sanitized receptacle, dish, or container.
(2)	‘Adequate water' means a constant access to a supply of clean, fresh, potable water provided in a sanitary manner or  provided at suitable intervals for the species and not to exceed 24 hours at any interval.
(3)	‘Ambient temperature' means the temperature surrounding the animal.
(4)	‘Animal' means any domestic dog (Canis familiaris), domestic cat (Felis domestica). 
(4a)	‘Animal control officer' means a city or county employee designated as animal control officer, dog warden, or other designation that may be used, whose responsibility includes the seizing, impounding, or keeping custody of animals.
	 (5)	‘Animal shelter' means a facility which is used to house or contain animals and which is under contract with, owned, operated, or maintained by a county, city, town, or other municipality, or by a duly incorporated humane society, animal welfare society, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, or other nonprofit organization devoted to the welfare, protection and humane treatment of animals.
(5a)	‘Boarding kennel' means a facility or establishment which regularly offers to the public the service of boarding dogs or cats or both for a fee. Such a facility or establishment may, in addition to providing shelter, food and water, offer grooming or other services for dogs and/or cats.
(6)	‘Commissioner' means the Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of North Carolina.
(7)	‘Dealer' means any person who in the regular course of business for compensation or profit buys, sells, exchanges, or donates animals to the general public, another dealer, pet shop, or research facility. 
(8)	‘Director' means the Director of the Animal Welfare Section of the Animal Health Division of the Department of Agriculture.
(9)	‘Euthanasia' means the humane destruction of an animal accomplished by a method that involves rapid unconsciousness and immediate death or by a method that involves anesthesia, produced by an agent which causes painless loss of consciousness, and death during such loss of consciousness.
(10)	‘Housing facility' means any room, building, or area used to contain a primary enclosure or enclosures.
(11)	‘Person' means any individual, partnership, firm, joint- stock company, corporation, association, trust, estate, or other legal entity.
(12)	‘Pet shop' means a person or establishment that acquires for the purposes of resale animals bred by others whether as owner, agent, or on consignment, and that sells, trades or offers to sell or trade such animals to the general public at retail or wholesale.
(13)	‘Primary enclosure' means any structure used to immediately restrict an animal or animals to a limited amount of space, such as a room, pen, cage compartment or hutch.
(14)	‘Public auction' means any place or location where dogs or cats are sold at auction to the highest bidder regardless of  whether such dogs or cats are offered as individuals, as a group, or by weight.
(15)	‘Research facility' means any place, laboratory, or institution at which scientific tests, experiments, or investigations involving the use of living animals are carried out, conducted, or attempted.
(16)	‘Sanitize' means to make physically clean and to remove and destroy to a practical minimum, agents injurious to health.”
Sec. 2.  G.S. 19A-24 reads as rewritten:
"§ 19A-24.  Powers of Board of Agriculture.
The Board of Agriculture may:
(1)	Establish standards for the care of animals at animal shelters, boarding kennels, pet shops, and public auctions.
(2)	Prescribe the manner in which animals may be transported to and from registered or licensed premises.
(3)	Require licensees and holders of certificates to keep records of the identity, confinement, and disposition of animals at their establishments on such forms as the Board may establish in order to standardize such record keeping.
(3a)	Require licensees and holders of certificates to submit records maintained pursuant to this Article to the Board on a periodic basis.  
(4)	Adopt rules to implement this Article, including federal regulations promulgated under Title 7, Chapter 54, of the United States Code.”
Sec. 3.  G.S. 19A-36 reads as rewritten:
"§ 19A-36. Penalty for violation of Article by animal control officer or dog warden.
Violation of any provision of this Article which relates to the seizing, impoundment, and custody of an animal by an animal control officer or a dog warden shall constitute a misdemeanor and the person convicted thereof shall be subject to a fine of not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) and not more than one hundred dollars ($100.00), and each animal handled in violation shall constitute a separate offense.”
Sec. 4.  Article 3 of Chapter 19A of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 19A-40. County Animal Control Facility; confinement and disposition of stray animals.
(a)	The governing body of each county shall maintain, cause to be maintained, or contract for the use of, an animal control facility that is operated in accordance with guidelines applicable to animal shelters, and shall require animals running at large without the tag required by G.S. 130A-190 or in violation of any local ordinance to be confined therein.  The governing body of each county need not own the facility required by this section, but may contract for its establishment with a private group or in conjunction with other local governing bodies, or may contract for the use of an existing facility with the governing body of another county or city.  The governing body shall make the facility accessible to the public at reasonable hours during the week.
	(b) All animals confined pursuant to this section shall be kept available for claim by their owner for a period of not less than 72 hours, excluding any day that the facility is not open to the public.
	(c) If the owner of an animal confined in the facility may be readily identified, the operator of the facility shall make a reasonable effort to notify the owner within 48 hours after the animal is confined.
(d)	This Article does not prohibit the destruction of a critically injured or critically ill animal for humane purposes.”
Sec. 5.  Article 3 of Chapter 19A of the General Statutes is amended by adding the following new sections to read:
"§ 19A-41.  Animal Welfare Act Enforcement Fund.
(a)	The Animal Welfare Act Enforcement Fund is established in the Animal Welfare Section of the Department of Agriculture.  The Department of Agriculture shall be responsible for receipt and disbursement of all funds in the Animal Welfare Act Enforcement Fund as provided in this section.
(b)	Moneys in the Animal Welfare Act Enforcement Fund shall be used annually for personnel and administrative costs incurred by the Animal Welfare Section of the Department of Agriculture in enforcing the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act.
(c)	Moneys in the Fund in excess of personnel and administrative costs shall be available to units of local government as assistance funding for compliance with the act on the terms and conditions set forth in G.S. 19A-41.1.
§ 19A-41.1. Animal Control Facility grants; eligible purpose; terms and conditions.
(a)	The Department of Agriculture shall make grants from the Animal Welfare Act Enforcement Fund to units of local government for new construction of animal control facilities, or for capital improvements of existing facilities to ensure compliance with the standards of the act.
(b)	The Commissioner or his designee shall set a priority on and approve applications for funds based on a review of the local government's existing facility needs, and the need for State funding to ensure the facility's compliance with the standards of the act.
(c)	The Commissioner of Agriculture or his designee, based on criteria to be established by the Board of Agriculture, shall distribute five thousand dollars ($5,000) in matching grant funds for each five thousand dollars ($5,000) allocated by the local unit of government either for new construction of an animal control facility or for capital improvements of an existing facility.  No unit of local government may receive more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in matching funds per year.
(d)	One or more units of local government may apply separately for funds under this section for a jointly utilized facility.
(e)	Funds may not be granted under this section for normal operating expenses of an animal control facility.”   
Sec. 6.  Chapter 130A of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 130A-185.1.  Rabies vaccination fee.
(a)	There is levied on every person who administers rabies vaccines a fee of fifty cents (50¢) per rabies vaccine administered to a dog or a cat in this State.
(b)	Every person who administers rabies vaccine to a dog or cat shall collect the fee levied by this section and shall state and charge the fee separately from the sales price of the vaccination and show the fee separately on the vaccinator's sales records.  The fee levied by this section shall be reflected on the rabies vaccination certificate required by G.S. 130A-189.  The fee shall be paid by the purchaser of the vaccination to the vaccinator as trustee for and on account of the State.  It is the intent of this section that the fee shall be added to the cost of the rabies vaccination when administered and be borne by and passed on to the customer, instead of being borne by the vaccinator.  
(c)	The Department shall collect and administer the fee levied by this section and shall design, print, and furnish to all vaccinators in the State the necessary forms for filing returns and instructions to ensure the full collection of the fee.
(d)	The fee levied under this section is due and payable to the Department in quarterly installments on or before the 15th day of the month following the end of the quarter in which the fee accrues.  Every vaccinator liable for the fee shall, on or before the date the fee is due, prepare and render a return on the form prescribed by the Department.  The return shall state the total number of rabies vaccines administered by the vaccinator in the preceding quarter.
(e)	The Department shall retain ten percent (10%) of the proceeds collected under this section for the administrative costs of collection and shall deposit, on a quarterly basis, the balance of the proceeds in the Animal Welfare Act Enforcement Fund in the Department of Agriculture.
(f)	The Department may adopt such rules as are necessary to implement the provisions of this section.
(g)	Penalties.
(1)	A person who fails or refuses to file the return required by this section shall pay a penalty of ten dollars ($10.00) for each day's omission.  In case of failure or refusal to file the return or pay the fee for a period of 30 days after the time required for filing the return or for paying the fee, there shall be an additional fee, as a penalty, of five percent (5%) of the fee due in addition to any other penalty, with an additional fee of five percent (5%) for each additional month or fraction thereof until the fee is paid.  The Department may, for good cause shown, compromise or forgive the penalties imposed by this subdivision.
(2)	Any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade a fee imposed under this section or who willfully fails to pay the fee or make and file a return shall, in addition to all other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), imprisonment not to exceed six months, or both."
Sec. 7.  Sections 5 and 6 of this act shall become effective January 1, 1990, and Section 6 applies to vaccinations administered on or after that date.  The remainder of this act is effective on October 1, 1991.