Bill Text: NY S04081 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended

---

Bill Title: Relates to the inspection of property that has been vacated for abandoned animals; requires property owners and lessors to inspect such property within three days and to immediately notify the appropriate authorities when such person finds an animal which appears to be abandoned.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-05-10 - referred to agriculture [S04081 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S04081-Amended.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         4081--A

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    February 2, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen. HINCHEY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Agriculture  --  committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee

        AN  ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to requir-
          ing property owners and lessors of certain properties that  have  been
          vacated to inspect such property for abandoned animals

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Section 373 of the agriculture and markets law  is  amended
     2  by adding a new subdivision 2-a to read as follows:
     3    2-a.  a.  Notwithstanding sections thirteen hundred seven and nineteen
     4  hundred seventy-one of the real property actions and proceedings law  or
     5  any other provision of law to the contrary, the property owner or lessor
     6  of  property  that has been vacated as a result of an eviction, property
     7  foreclosure, forfeiture or default on a mortgage,  trust  deed  or  land
     8  sales  contract,  or  abandonment,  or  such  property owner or lessor's
     9  designee, shall, not more than three days after a property  owner  or  a
    10  lessor  knew  or  should  have  known  that a property has been vacated,
    11  inspect the property for the presence of abandoned animals. If the prop-
    12  erty owner, lessor, or designee encounters an animal which appears to be
    13  abandoned on such property, such owner, lessor, or designee shall  imme-
    14  diately  notify the dog control officer, the police, or agent or officer
    15  of a duly incorporated society for the prevention of cruelty to  animals
    16  about  such encounter, for the purpose of promptly retrieving or provid-
    17  ing necessary care for such animal at the property until the animal  can
    18  be  retrieved. The property owner, lessor, or designee who encounters an
    19  abandoned animal pursuant to this paragraph  shall  not  be  deemed  the
    20  owner, possessor or person having charge or custody of the animal.
    21    b.  A  property  owner  or  lessor, or such property owner or lessor's
    22  designee, who fails to comply with the requirements of  paragraph  a  of

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02881-02-1
        S. 4081--A                          2

     1  this  subdivision  shall  be subject to a civil penalty of not more than
     2  five hundred dollars for a first offense and not more than one  thousand
     3  dollars  for  a  second  offense and each subsequent offense thereafter.
     4  Funds collected pursuant to this subdivision shall be deposited into the
     5  animal  population  control fund established pursuant to section ninety-
     6  seven-xx of the state finance law.
     7    c. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or restrict  in
     8  any way agents or officers of societies for the prevention of cruelty to
     9  animals  or  the police from enforcing provisions of this article or any
    10  other law relating to abandonment of animals or the  inhumane  treatment
    11  of or cruelty to animals.
    12    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.