FINAL BILL REPORT

SSB 5827

                              C 359 L 89

BYSenate Committee on Agriculture (originally sponsored by Senators Barr and Moore)

Providing pet identification and certification procedures to minimize theft.

Senate Committee on Agriculture

House Committe on Agriculture & Rural Development

SYNOPSIS AS ENACTED

BACKGROUND:

Existing state law provides that the theft or killing of a dog with the intent to deprive the owner of it is a gross misdemeanor subject to up to one year's confinement in the county jail and a fine of no more than $1,000.  There is no similar criminal penalty for other domestic pets.  There have been recent accounts of persons stealing pets, particularly dogs, and selling them to biomedical research institutions or to dealers who sell them to such institutions.  Although federal law provides some regulation of such dealers and procedures with regard to biomedical research on animals, there is little state or federal law that specifically addresses measures to prevent or penalize theft of pets for this purpose.

SUMMARY:

Pet animal, research institutions, and USDA licensed dealers are defined.  Existing criminal statutes with regard to theft and killing of dogs are expanded to all pet animals, and the $1,000 limit on the criminal fine is deleted.  The receiving with intent to sell, sale, or transfer of stolen or fraudulently obtained pet animals to research institutions by a USDA licensed dealer is a class C felony with a minimum fine of $1,000 for each animal.  A person other than a USDA licensed dealer who commits the same offense is guilty of a gross misdemeanor with a minimum fine of $500 for the first offense, and a class C felony with a minimum $1,000 fine for second and subsequent offenses.  An individual other than a USDA licensed dealer who receives with intent to sell, sells, or transfers a stolen or fraudulently obtained pet animal to a person known to have sold such animals to research institutions is guilty of a class C felony with a minimum fine of $1,000 for each animal.

The lawful activities of humane societies, animal control agencies, or animal shelters are exempt.

A new section is added to the RCW chapter on cruelty to animals.  All persons who sell animals to research institutions must sign certifications, under penalty of perjury, as to their ownership of the animal or their legal right to sell or transfer them.  Such certifications are not required for animals obtained from sources outside the United States.  All research institutions are required to maintain for two years files on dogs and cats sold or transferred to them, with specific information including source and identifying characteristics, and with photographs.  Such files are to be made available to inquiring citizens.  Institutions must adopt written policies as to the nonuse of pet animals in research, and must assure their rapid return to their true owners under those policies.

Violations of the act are an unfair or deceptive practice under the Consumer Protection Act (CPA).  Penalties imposed against research institutions under the CPA are limited to monetary penalties not to exceed $2,500.  The provisions of the act are not intended to otherwise interfere with the operation of statutes pertaining to cruelty to animals, higher education or biomedical research, or other theft statutes.

VOTES ON FINAL PASSAGE:

     Senate   47    0

     House 97  0 (House amended)

     Senate          (Senate refused to concur)

     House           (House refused to recede)

Free Conference Committee

     House 97  0

     Senate   45    0

EFFECTIVE:May 12, 1989