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2020 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources
Subcommittee Companion Animals

Marsden (Chair), Favola, Pillion

Clerk: Patty Lung, Alec Fischbein
Staff: Scott Meacham, David Barry
Date of Meeting: January 16, 2020
Time and Place: 9am Subcommittee Rm 1 5th Floor Pocahontas Bldg.
Updated to remove SB 467 and add SB 669

S.B. 114

Patron: Marsden

Comprehensive animal care; enforceable under Virginia Consumer Protection Act. Subjects certain animal care statutes to enforcement under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act (§ 59.1-196 et seq.). These statutes relate to the misrepresentation of animals' conditions, the posting of information about dogs, and written notice of consumer remedies required to be provided by pet shops, pet dealers, and animal boarding establishments.

S.B. 303

Patron: Stanley

Import and sale of dogs from certain breeders; penalty. Prohibits any dealer or commercial dog breeder from importing for sale, selling, or offering for sale any dog bred by a person who has received certain citations pursuant to enforcement of the federal Animal Welfare Act. A violation is a Class 1 misdemeanor.

S.B. 337

Patron: Stuart

Animal Cruelty Conviction List established. Requires the Superintendent of State Police to establish and maintain by January 1, 2023 an Animal Cruelty Conviction List that shall be available to the public on the website of the Department of State Police. The list shall include the names of persons convicted of certain felony animal cruelty offenses on or after July 1, 2020. The bill requires persons convicted of any such offense to pay a fee of $50 per conviction to fund the maintenance of the list. The bill requires the State Police to remove a person from the list 15 years after his information is listed if he has no additional felony conviction of a relevant animal cruelty offense.

S.B. 669

Patron: Boysko

Animal testing; breeding. Prohibits any person from breeding a dog or cat for the express purpose of producing offspring for (i) use in research, experimentation, or testing that is not required pursuant to federal law or regulation or (ii) sale to a manufacturer, institution of higher learning, or contract testing facility outside the United States.

S.B. 742

Patron: McPike

Rental or lease of dog or cat prohibited; civil penalty. Prohibits the rental or lease of a dog or cat to a consumer, including by a purported sale of the animal in a manner that vests no equity in the consumer at the time of the purported sale. The bill prohibits the sale of a dog or cat in which the animal is subject to repossession upon default of the agreement and prohibits any financial institution from offering a loan for which the animal is subject to repossession upon default of the loan. The bill provides that the Attorney General may bring a civil action to enforce the bill's provisions and that a violator may be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $2,500. A pet shop, commercial dog breeder, dealer, or other business that violates the provisions of the bill also may have its business license, retail license, or local pet shop permit suspended or revoked after a hearing by the issuing authority. The bill exempts certain animals from its prohibitions, including purebred dogs leased for breeding; dogs or cats used in spectator events, motion pictures, racing, or other entertainment; and service dogs, guide or leader dogs, security dogs, law-enforcement dogs, military working dogs, and certified facility dogs. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2021.