| Passed by the House March 3, 2012 Yeas 95 ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate February 28, 2012 Yeas 49 ________________________________________ President of the Senate | I, Barbara Baker, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2191 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Chief Clerk | |
| Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
| State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2012 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 01/31/12.
AN ACT Relating to police dogs; amending RCW 16.08.040 and 9A.76.200; and prescribing penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 16.08.040 and 1941 c 77 s 1 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) The owner of any dog which shall bite any person while such
person is in or on a public place or lawfully in or on a private place
including the property of the owner of such dog, shall be liable for
such damages as may be suffered by the person bitten, regardless of the
former viciousness of such dog or the owner's knowledge of such
viciousness.
(2) This section does not apply to the lawful application of a
police dog, as defined in RCW 4.24.410.
Sec. 2 RCW 9A.76.200 and 2003 c 269 s 1 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) A person is guilty of harming a police dog, accelerant
detection dog, or police horse, if he or she maliciously injures,
disables, shoots, or kills by any means any dog or horse that the
person knows or has reason to know to be a police dog or accelerant
detection dog, as defined in RCW 4.24.410, or police horse, as defined
in subsection (2) of this section, whether or not the dog or horse is
actually engaged in police or accelerant detection work at the time of
the injury.
(2) "Police horse" means any horse used or kept for use by a law
enforcement officer in discharging any legal duty or power of his or
her office.
(3) Harming a police dog, accelerant detection dog, or police horse
is a class C felony.
(4)(a) In addition to the criminal penalty provided in this section
for harming a police dog:
(i) The court may impose a civil penalty of up to five thousand
dollars for harming a police dog.
(ii) The court shall impose a civil penalty of at least five
thousand dollars and may increase the penalty up to a maximum of ten
thousand dollars for killing a police dog.
(b) Moneys collected must be distributed to the jurisdiction that
owns the police dog.