HB 1615-FN - AS INTRODUCED
2016 SESSION
\t16-2670
\t08/05
HOUSE BILL\t1615-FN
AN ACT\tregulating the transfer of dogs from out of state.
SPONSORS:\tRep. Haefner, Hills. 37; Rep. Gardner, Straf. 15; Rep. Sad, Ches. 1; Sen. Watters, Dist 4
COMMITTEE:\tEnvironment and Agriculture
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ANALYSIS
\tThis bill:
\tI. Defines animal importers.
\tII. Requires animal importers to be registered with the department of agriculture, markets, and food.
\tIII. Defines transfer event and requires animal importers to notify the department of agriculture, markets, and food of such transfer events.
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Explanation:\tMatter added to current law appears in bold italics.
\t\tMatter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
\t\tMatter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
\t16-2670
\t08/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Sixteen
AN ACT\tregulating the transfer of dogs from out of state.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
\t1 New Section; Registration Required. Amend RSA 437 by inserting after section 1 the following new section:
\t437:1-a Animal Importers; Registration Required.
\t\tI. No person, firm, corporation or other entity shall import a cat or dog into this state with the intent of transferring ownership of the cat or dog unless such person is registered as an animal importer with the department.
\t\tII. A person who violates this section shall be guilty of a violation and fined up to $500 per animal.
\t2 Definitions; Animal Importer. RSA 437:2 is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:
\t437:2 Definitions. In this chapter:
\t\tI. "Animal importer" means a person who brings any cat or dog into the state from any other state or sovereign entity for the purpose of offering the cat or dog for transfer in exchange for a fee, a voluntary monetary contribution, service, or other consideration. Animal importer shall include any animal shelter facility.
\t\tII. "Animal shelter facility'' means a facility, including the building and the immediate surrounding area, which is used to house or contain animals and which is owned, operated and maintained by a duly incorporated humane society, animal welfare society, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals or other nonprofit organization devoted to the welfare, protection and humane treatment of animals, and also a public pound for the housing of strays or a pound operated by any person, excluding veterinarians, who contracts with a municipality to serve that function.
\t\tIII. "Broker'' means any individual or entity acting as agent or intermediary in negotiating or transferring dogs, cats, or ferrets when transfer to the final owner occurs in New Hampshire.
\t\tIV. "Commercial kennel'' means any person, business, corporation, or other entity that transfers 10 or more litters or 50 or more puppies in any 12-month period.
\t\tV. "Department'' means the state department of agriculture, markets, and food.
\t\tVI. "Pet shop'' means any establishment licensed to keep, maintain, and transfer certain live animals, birds, and fish at retail to the public.
\t\tVII. "Transfer'' means transfer of ownership of live animals, birds, or fish from any person, firm, corporation, or other entity to a member of the public.
\t\tVIII. "Transfer event" means an event at a location open to the public or arranged through previous communication or agreement at which an animal importer transfers cats and/or dogs to new owner.
\t3 New Sections; Animal Importer Registration. Amend RSA 437 by inserting after section 3 the following new sections:
\t437:3-a Animal Importer Registration.
\t\tI. Registrations shall be valid each year from January 1 to December 31. Each new registration shall expire on December 31 next following the date of the first registration. Application for registrations shall be made annually in writing to the department accompanied by a fee of $250. Each registration shall be subject to revocation at any time if the commissioner finds that the animal importer is unable to comply with the requirements set forth in paragraphs II and III.
\t\tII. The commissioner shall adopt rules under RSA 541-A relative to the requirements to be met by a person registering as an animal importer. Such requirements shall include:
\t\t\t(a) The name, mailing address, business address, telephone number, and Internet address of the animal importer.
\t\t\t(b) If the animal importer's business address is located outside of New Hampshire, the name, mailing address, business address, telephone number, and electronic mail address of an in-state representative of the animal importer for service of process.
\t\t\t(c) The total number of cats and dogs brought into the state by the animal importer in the preceding calendar year.
\t\t\t(d) The state or country of origin of each cat or dog brought into the state by the animal importer.
\t\tIII. The commissioner shall adopt rules under 541-A relative to a standard of care to be provided to imported animals by animal importers. Such standards shall include providing appropriate shelter, making sufficient food and water available, and other requirements for the health, safety, and humane treatment of the cats and dogs in an animal importer's care.
\t\tIV. The commissioner may inspect any animal importer's records or place of business or the condition or health of any cat or dog in the animal importer's possession in order to determine whether or not the animal importer is in compliance with the requirements set forth in paragraphs II and III.
\t437:3-b Animal Importer; Notice of Transfer Event.
\t\tI. Any animal importer who intends to offer for transfer any cat or dog at a location that is open to the public, including a parking lot or shopping center, shall provide notice of such transfer event in writing to the department at least 10 days prior to such event. The notice shall state the date of the transfer event, the exact location thereof, and the anticipated number of cats and dogs expected to be offered for transfer at the transfer event.
\t\tII. Any person who fails to provide the notice required in paragraph I shall be guilty of a violation and fined up to $100 per offense.
\t3 Cross Reference Change. Amend the introductory paragraph of RSA 437:10, III to read as follows:
\t\tIII. Animal shelter facilities, as defined in [RSA 437:2, I] RSA 437:2, II, are exempt from the requirements of this section relative to transferring dogs, cats, and ferrets except that:
\t4 Cross Reference Change. Amend RSA 437:22, I to read as follows:
\t\tI. It shall be unlawful for any agent acting on behalf of an animal shelter facility as defined in [RSA 437:2, I] RSA 437:2, II, or an animal care center as defined in RSA 437:18, III, to give, release, sell, trade or transfer with or without a fee any live animal brought, caught, detained, obtained or procured by any means, to any association, corporation, individual, educational institution, laboratory, medical facility, or anyone else, for the purpose of experimentation or vivisection.
\t5 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2017.
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t16-2670
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t12/11/15
HB 1615-FN- FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT\tregulating the transfer of dogs from out of state.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Judicial Branch and Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food state this bill, as introduced, may increase state revenue and expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2017 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on county and local revenue or expenditures.
METHODOLOGY:
The Judicial Branch states proposed RSA 437:1-a, II makes it a violation level offense for an animal importer to import a dog or a cat into New Hampshire with intent to transfer ownership of the animal without being registered as an animal importer with the Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food. Proposed RSA 437:3-b, II makes it a violation level offense for an animal importer to transfer a dog or cat at a public location without notifying the Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food within at least ten days in advance. The Branch has no information on which to estimate how many additional violation level offenses will result from the proposed bill. The Branch indicates the cost of an average violation level offense in the district division of the circuit court will be $48 in FY 2017 and $51 in FY 2018. These amounts do not consider the cost of any appeals that may be taken following trial. The Branch states the cost figures for violation level offenses are based on studies of judicial and clerical weighted caseload times for processing the average violation level offense. The Branch indicates the studies are now more than ten years old, and changes have occurred during that time period with respect to how cases are processed.
The Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food states the requirements in this bill are new and the Department would need additional staff and resources to perform the required work. The Department makes the following assumptions concerning the bill:
•\tThe Department has no information on the number of entities importing animals with “intent or transferring ownership, but based on data on dogs imported from other states in the year 2014, assumes 459 would be a reasonable estimate of the number of entities subject to registration. The registrations would be in addition to any current licensing requirements.
•\tAdministrative staff. The estimated annual labor requirement for each registration would be between a minimum of 20 minutes and a maximum of 2 hours per registration. This would include: receiving forms and processing the registration, updating the database/list of registrants, filing records, and issuing annual renewal notices. (Minimum: 459 x 20 minutes = 153 hours/year) (Maximum: 459 x 2 hours = 918 hours/year)
•\tAdministrative staff. Each registrant would host four transfer events per month, with each requiring approximately 5 minutes of staff time to receive the notice, document the event and file the notice. (459 x 4 events x 12 months x 5 minutes = 110,160 minutes or 1,836 hours/year)
•\tAdministrative staff. 10 inquiries per month, each requiring 15 minutes of interaction. (10 x 15 x 12 = 1,800 minutes or 30 hours/year)
•\tField staff. On average, five complaints would be received each month with each requiring 2.5 hours of field staff time to investigate and report. 20% of the complaints or one complaint each month would require an additional 3 hours of staff time to resolve. (5 complaints x 12 months x 2.5 hours = 150 hours/year) (1 complaint x 12 months x 3 hours = 36 hours/year)
•\tState Veterinarian Time. Based on recent experience with other administrative rules, the State Veterinarian would spend approximately 200 hours to develop, draft, and shepherd rules through the rulemaking process in FY 2017.
•\tRevenue. 459 registrants would each pay a $250 annual registration fee to support the program.
Based on these assumptions, the department estimated the fiscal impact of the bill as follows:
| FY 2017 | FY 2018 | FY 2019 | FY 2020 |
Estimated Revenue |
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459 Registrants @ $250 Annual Registration | $114,750 | $114,750 | $114,750 | $114,750 |
Estimated Costs |
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|
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|
Administrative Assistant, Labor Grade 15 |
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|
|
|
(153 + 1,836 + 30 = 2,019 hours = 1.1 FTE) | ($40,000) | ($71,000) | ($73,000) | ($74,000) |
Field Staff, Labor Grade 16, Step 6 |
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|
|
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(150 + 36 = 186 hours = 0.11 FTE) | ($3,900) | ($6,900) | ($7,200) | ($7,400) |
State Veterinarian Time |
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(200 hours in FY 2017) | ($14,942) | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Total Expenditures | ($58,842) | ($77,900) | ($80,200) | ($81,400) |
Revenue minus Expenditures | $55,908 | $36,850 | $34,550 | $33,350 |
In addition, for each complaint that proceeds to an administrative hearing, the Department estimates that 40-50 hours of the State Veterinarian’s time and 10 hours legal staff time will be required. The Department indicates that Maine’s small animal program consists of 7-1/2 staff and note the estimated staff costs above could be underestimated.
This bill does not make an appropriation or establish new positions.