Bill Text: AZ SB1227 | 2016 | Fifty-second Legislature 2nd Regular | Engrossed
Bill Title: Animal cruelty; sentencing; bond
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 9-3)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-03-02 - Senate Committee of the Whole action: Do Pass Amended [SB1227 Detail]
Download: Arizona-2016-SB1227-Engrossed.html
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Senate Engrossed |
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State of Arizona Senate Fifty-second Legislature Second Regular Session 2016
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SENATE BILL 1227 |
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AN ACT
amending sections 13‑2910 and 13‑4281, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to animal cruelty.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 13-2910, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
13-2910. Cruelty to animals; interference with working or service animal; classification; definitions
A. A person commits cruelty to animals if the person does any of the following:
1. Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly subjects any animal under the person's custody or control to cruel neglect or abandonment.
2. Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly fails to provide medical attention necessary to prevent protracted suffering to any animal under the person's custody or control.
3. Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly inflicts unnecessary physical injury to any animal.
4. Recklessly subjects any animal to cruel mistreatment.
5. Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly kills any animal under the custody or control of another person without either legal privilege or consent of the owner.
6. Recklessly interferes with, kills or harms a working or service animal without either legal privilege or consent of the owner.
7. Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly leaves an animal unattended and confined in a motor vehicle and physical injury to or death of the animal is likely to result.
8. Intentionally or knowingly subjects any animal under the person's custody or control to cruel neglect or abandonment that results in serious physical injury to the animal.
9. Intentionally or knowingly subjects any animal to cruel mistreatment.
10. Intentionally or knowingly interferes with, kills or harms a working or service animal without either legal privilege or consent of the owner.
11. Intentionally or knowingly allows any dog that is under the person's custody or control to interfere with, kill or cause physical injury to a service animal.
12. Recklessly allows any dog that is under the person's custody or control to interfere with, kill or cause physical injury to a service animal.
13. Intentionally or knowingly obtains or exerts unauthorized control over a service animal with the intent to deprive the service animal handler of the service animal.
B. It is a defense to subsection A of this section if:
1. Any person exposes poison to be taken by a dog that has killed or wounded livestock or poison to be taken by predatory animals on premises owned, leased or controlled by the person for the purpose of protecting the person or the person's livestock or poultry, the treated property is kept posted by the person who authorized or performed the treatment until the poison has been removed and the poison is removed by the person exposing the poison after the threat to the person or the person's livestock or poultry has ceased to exist. The posting required shall provide adequate warning to persons who enter the property by the point or points of normal entry. The warning notice that is posted shall be readable at a distance of fifty feet, shall contain a poison statement and symbol and shall state the word "danger" or "warning".
2. Any person uses poisons in and immediately around buildings owned, leased or controlled by the person for the purpose of controlling wild and domestic rodents as otherwise allowed by the laws of the state, excluding any fur‑bearing animals as defined in section 17‑101.
C. This section does not prohibit or restrict:
1. The taking of wildlife or other activities permitted by or pursuant to title 17.
2. Activities permitted by or pursuant to title 3.
3. Activities regulated by the Arizona game and fish department or the Arizona department of agriculture.
D. A peace officer, animal control enforcement agent or animal control enforcement deputy may use reasonable force to open a vehicle to rescue an animal if the animal is left in the vehicle as prescribed in subsection A, paragraph 7 of this section.
E. A person who is convicted of a violation of subsection A, paragraph 6 or 10 of this section is liable as follows:
1. If the working or service animal was killed or disabled, to the owner or agency that owns the working or service animal and that employs the handler or to the owner or handler for the replacement and training costs of the working or service animal and for any veterinary bills.
2. To the owner or agency that owns a working or service animal for the salary of the handler for the period of time that the handler's services are lost to the owner or agency.
3. To the owner for the owner's contractual losses with the agency.
F. An incorporated city or town or a county may adopt an ordinance with misdemeanor provisions at least as stringent as the misdemeanor provisions of this section, except that any ordinance adopted shall not prohibit or restrict any activity involving a dog, whether the dog is restrained or not, if the activity is directly related to the business of shepherding or herding livestock and the activity is necessary for the safety of a human, the dog or livestock or is permitted by or pursuant to title 3.
G. A person who violates subsection A, paragraph 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 12 of this section is guilty of a class 1 misdemeanor. A person who commits a second or subsequent violation of subsection A, paragraph 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 12 of this section or who violates subsection A, paragraph 8, 9, 10, 11 or 13 of this section is guilty of a class 6 felony.
H. For the purposes of this section:
1. "Animal" means a mammal, bird, reptile or amphibian.
2. "Cruel mistreatment" means to torture or otherwise inflict unnecessary serious physical injury on an animal or to kill an animal in a manner that causes protracted suffering to the animal.
3. "Cruel neglect" means to fail to provide an animal with necessary food that is sufficient in quantity to meet the needs of the animal and is fit for consumption by the animal, water that is suitable for drinking and in sufficient quantity to meet the needs of the animal or shelter that is appropriate for the animal and the weather conditions where the animal is kept.
4. "Handler" means a law enforcement officer or any other person who has successfully completed a course of training prescribed by the person's agency or the service animal owner and who used a specially trained animal under the direction of the person's agency or the service animal owner.
5. "Service animal" means an animal that has completed a formal training program, that assists its owner in one or more daily living tasks that are associated with a productive lifestyle and that is trained to not pose a danger to the health and safety of the general public.
6. "Working animal" means a horse or dog that is used by a law enforcement agency, that is specially trained for law enforcement work and that is under the control of a handler.
Sec. 2. Section 13-4281, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
13-4281. Animal seizure; notification; forfeiture; bond; hearing; exceptions
A. A peace officer, county enforcement agent or animal control officer who lawfully seizes an animal pursuant to section 13‑2910 shall affix a notice of seizure in a conspicuous place where the animal was found or personally deliver the notice of seizure to the owner or keeper of the animal, if known or ascertainable after reasonable investigation. The officer or agent shall file proof of service with the court. If it is determined that the suffering of the animal does not require humane destruction, the notice shall include the following:
1. The name, business address and telephone number of the person providing the notice.
2. A description of the seized animal.
3. The authority and purpose for the seizure, including the time, place and circumstance under which the animal was seized.
4. A statement that in order to receive a postseizure hearing the owner or person authorized to keep the animal, or the owner or person's agent, shall request the hearing by signing and returning to the court an enclosed declaration of ownership or right to keep the animal within ten days, including weekends and holidays, after the date of the notice.
5. A statement that the owner is responsible for the cost of care for an animal that was properly seized and that the owner is required to post a bond in the amount of twenty‑five two hundred fifty dollars per animal with the court to defray the cost of care.
6. A warning that if the owner fails to post a bond within ten days after the seizure, the animal will be deemed abandoned and become the property of the seizing agency.
B. On receipt of a declaration of ownership and postseizure hearing request, the justice of the peace or city magistrate shall set a hearing date within fifteen business days. At the hearing, the seizing agency shall have the burden of establishing by a preponderance of evidence that the animal was subjected to cruel mistreatment, cruel neglect or abandonment in violation of section 13‑2910 or will suffer needlessly if humane destruction is delayed. On this finding, the court may terminate the owner's rights in the animal and transfer the rights to the seizing agency or a designated animal care agency and shall forfeit the bond to pay the expenses incurred for the housing, care and treatment of the animal. If at the conclusion of the hearing the animal is not forfeited under this section, the court shall order the bond exonerated and returned to the owner.
C. If the owner or person authorized to keep the animal fails to post bond as prescribed by subsection A, paragraph 5 of this section, fails to request a hearing or fails to attend a scheduled hearing, the animal is deemed abandoned and all rights of the owner in the animal are transferred to the seizing agency.
D. This section does not apply to any of the following:
1. Activities permitted by or pursuant to title 3.
2. The seizure of an equine pursuant to section 3‑1721.
3. A city, town or county that adopts or has adopted an ordinance or resolution providing for bonding and forfeiture of an animal that has suffered cruel mistreatment or cruel neglect if the ordinance or resolution imposes requirements that are equal to or more stringent than this section.
