H-1377.2 _______________________________________________
HOUSE BILL 1807
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State of Washington 57th Legislature 2001 Regular Session
By Representatives Romero, Van Luven, McDermott and McIntire
Read first time 02/05/2001. Referred to Committee on Criminal Justice & Corrections.
AN ACT Relating to limiting exemptions from animal cruelty in the second degree; amending RCW 16.52.185; and adding a new section to chapter 16.52 RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1. RCW 16.52.185 and 1994 c 261 s 22 are each amended to read as follows:
((Nothing in)) Except
as provided in section 2 of this act, this chapter ((applies)) does
not apply to accepted husbandry practices used in the commercial raising or
slaughtering of livestock or poultry, or products thereof or to the use of
animals in the normal and usual course of rodeo events or to the customary use
or exhibiting of animals in normal and usual events at fairs as defined in RCW
15.76.120.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 16.52 RCW to read as follows:
An action that constitutes animal cruelty in the second degree and that causes, at any one time, the death of three or more laying hens that constitute three or more percent of the laying hens in a facility is not an accepted husbandry practice used in the commercial raising of poultry or products thereof. The director of the department of agriculture shall establish a program for conducting inspections of facilities in which one hundred or more laying hens are kept and has the authority to conduct such inspections. The director shall develop and maintain a list of facilities to be inspected from information the department of agriculture receives from persons licensed under chapter 69.25 RCW. The director of the department of agriculture shall conduct inspections under the program designed to identify instances in which, in the opinion of the director, a violation or violations of this chapter have caused the death of three percent or more of the laying hens in such a facility at any one time. To the degree practicable, the inspections shall be unannounced. If the director finds evidence of such an excessive mortality rate as a result of one or more violations of this chapter, he or she shall record evidence of the violations and report the violations to the prosecuting attorney of the county in which the violation has occurred. This section may not be construed as providing exclusive authority to the director of the department of agriculture to investigate such a violation of this chapter regarding laying hens.
As used in this section: "Laying hen" means a female chicken kept for commercial egg production; "director of the department of agriculture" means the director or the director's representative; and "at any one time" means that the carcasses of the three or more laying hens constituting three or more percent of the laying hens in a facility are present at the time an inspection is conducted of the facility.
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