BILL REQ. #:  S-4199.2 

READ FIRST TIME 01/21/08.   

     AN ACT Relating to animal emergency operations; adding new sections to chapter 38.52 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 38.52 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The Washington state military department's emergency management division, in cooperation with the state department of agriculture and county and local governments, shall prepare, as part of the state comprehensive emergency management plan, animal emergency operations guidance for local jurisdictions that provides for the evacuation, transportation, and temporary sheltering of pets and service animals as defined in RCW 70.84.021 during a major disaster or an emergency.
     (2) The division, in developing the guidance, shall consider:
     (a) Allowing owners of service animals to be evacuated, transported, and sheltered with or near their service animals;
     (b) Establishing a sufficient number of evacuation shelters equipped to temporarily shelter pets and service animals in close proximity to a human sheltering facility;
     (c) Allowing owners and their pets to be evacuated together, whenever possible, provided that human life is not endangered;
     (d) Transporting pets or service animals, in cages or carriers that safely and securely confine the animals, in an impending major disaster or emergency provided that such transportation does not endanger human life;
     (e) Recommending that animal shelters, humane societies, veterinary offices, boarding kennels, breeders, grooming facilities, animal testing facilities, and any other entity that normally houses pets or service animals create evacuation plans for the animals housed at their facilities;
     (f) Recommending guidance for holding periods for pets or service animals that are sheltered during a major disaster or an emergency; and
     (g) Encouraging local jurisdictions to create an educational campaign for owners of pets or service animals that will encourage owners to plan for and incorporate their animals in the owners' personal plans in the event of a major disaster or an emergency.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 38.52 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The state department of agriculture, in cooperation with the state military department's emergency management division and county and local governments, shall prepare, as part of the state comprehensive emergency management plan, livestock emergency operations guidance as defined in RCW 16.57.010.
     (2) The state department of agriculture, in developing the guidance, shall consider:
     (a) Methods for providing adequate food and water for livestock during a major disaster or an emergency;
     (b) Methods for providing livestock with adequate shelter or protection from harsh weather conditions during a major disaster or an emergency;
     (c) Encouraging local jurisdictions to create and promote an educational campaign for owners of livestock that will encourage owners to plan for and incorporate their livestock in the owners' personal plans in the event of a major disaster or an emergency.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   The code reviser shall alphabetize and renumber the definitions in RCW 38.52.010.