A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to clarify staffing standards for boarding kennels offering dog day care services.
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:
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(6)	"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of North Carolina.
(6a)	"Common area" means any area within a housing facility providing an open space where more than four dogs are free to exercise or play together.
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(10)	"Housing facility" means any room, building, or area used to contain primary enclosures or common areas.
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(13)	"Primary enclosure" means any structure used to immediately restrict four or fewer animals to a limited amount of space, such as a room, pen, cage compartment or hutch.
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SECTION 2.  G.S. 19A‑24(a)(1) reads as rewritten:
"(1)	Establish standards for the care of animals at animal shelters, boarding kennels, pet shops, and public auctions. A boarding kennel that offers dog day care services, and, as to each common area, (i) has a ratio of dogs to employees  within the housing facility of not more than 15 to one and (ii) has no more than 50 dogs in any common area at any time, shall not as to such day care services be subject to any regulations that impose further supervisory requirements on the number of dogs that are permitted within the common area or any primary enclosure beyond a requirement that at least one staffer be present in a common area at all times that five or more dogs are within the common area."
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective October 1, 2017.