S-1750

AN ACT Relating to acts committed against animal facilities; amending RCW 9.08.065; adding new sections to chapter 9.08 RCW; prescribing penalties; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. There has been an increasing number of illegal acts committed against animal production and research facilities involving injury or loss of life to animals or humans, criminal trespass, and damage to property. These actions not only abridge the property rights of the owners, operators, and employees of the facility, they may also damage the public interest by jeopardizing crucial animal production or agricultural, scientific, or biomedical research. These actions may also threaten the public safety by exposing communities to public health concerns and creating traffic hazards. These actions substantially disrupt or damage research and result in the potential loss of physical and intellectual property. Therefore, it is in the interest of the people of the state of Washington to protect the welfare of humans and animals, as well as the productive use of private or public funds, to require regulation to prevent unauthorized possession, alteration, destruction, or transportation of research records, test data, research materials, equipment, and research and agricultural production animals.

Sec. 2. RCW 9.08.065 and 1989 c 359 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) As used in this chapter:

(a) "Animal" means every living creature, domestic or wild, but does not include man.

(b) "Animal facility" means any facility engaging in legal agricultural production or scientific research involving the use of animals including, but not limited to: Any organization with a primary purpose of representing the production, processing, promoting, or marketing of livestock or livestock products; any person licensed to practice veterinary medicine; and any organization with a primary purpose of representing any such person, organization, or institution. "Animal facility" shall include the owners, operators, or employees of any animal facility and any premises where animals are located.

(2) As used in RCW 9.08.070:

((~~(1)~~)) (a) "Pet animal" means a tamed or domesticated animal legally retained by a person and kept as a companion. "Pet animal" does not include livestock raised for commercial purposes.

((~~(2)~~)) (b) "Research institution" means a facility licensed by the United States department of agriculture to use animals in biomedical or product research.

((~~(3)~~)) (c) "U.S.D.A. licensed dealer" means a person who is licensed or required to be licensed by the United States department of agriculture to commercially buy, receive, sell, negotiate for sale, or transport animals.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. It shall be unlawful for any person:

(1) To release, steal, or otherwise intentionally cause the death, injury, or loss of any animal of, at, or from an animal facility and not authorized by that facility;

(2) To damage, vandalize, or steal any property in, of, or on an animal facility;

(3) To obtain access to an animal facility, or the property of an animal facility, for the purpose of performing acts not authorized by that facility;

(4) To enter into an animal facility or the property of an animal facility with an intent to destroy, alter, duplicate, or obtain unauthorized possession of records, data, materials, equipment, or animals;

(5) To steal, obtain control of, or exert control over records, data, material, equipment, animals of any animal facility, or the property of an animal facility, for the purpose of depriving the rightful owner or animal facility of the records, material, data, equipment, or animals or for the purpose of concealing, abandoning, or destroying such records, material, data, equipment, or animals;

(6) To enter or remain on an animal facility, or the property of an animal facility, with the intent to commit an act prohibited under this section; or

(7) To interfere with or harass an owner, operator, or employee of an animal facility.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1)(a) Any person who violates any provision of section 3 of this act shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor for each such violation, unless the loss, cost, theft, or damage to an animal facility and its property exceeds two hundred fifty dollars in value.

(b) If the loss, cost, theft, or damage to an animal facility and its property exceeds two hundred fifty dollars in value but does not exceed one thousand five hundred dollars in value, the person is guilty of a class C felony.

(c) If the loss, cost, theft, or damage to an animal facility and its property exceeds one thousand five hundred dollars in value, the person is guilty of a class B felony.

(2) A person who, with the intent that any violation of any provision of section 3 of this act be committed, agrees with another to the commission of the violation and commits an act in furtherance of this agreement is guilty of the same class of felony as provided in this section for that violation.

(3)(a) The court shall conduct a hearing to determine the cost of replacing materials, data, equipment, animals, and records that may have been damaged, destroyed, lost, stolen, or cannot be returned, and the reasonable cost of repeating any experimentation that may have been interrupted or invalidated as a result of a violation of section 3 of this act.

(b) Any persons convicted of such violation shall be ordered jointly and severally to make restitution within thirty days of such order to the owners, operators, or employees, or any combination thereof, of the animal facility in the full amount of the cost determined under this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Nothing in sections 1 and 3 through 5 of this act and RCW 9.08.065 shall preclude any animal facility injured in its business or property by a violation of sections 1 and 3 through 5 of this act and RCW 9.08.065 from seeking appropriate relief under any other provision of law or remedy including the issuance of a permanent injunction against any person who violates any provision of sections 1 and 3 through 5 of this act and RCW 9.08.065. The animal facility owners, operators, or employees may petition the court to permanently enjoin such person from violating sections 1 and 3 through 5 of this act and RCW 9.08.065 and the court shall provide such relief.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Sections 1 and 3 through 5 of this act are each added to chapter 9.08 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect immediately.