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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 21
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 3370
Referred to Committee on ENVIRONMENT
Introduced by:
(ENV)
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E REPORT OF THE TASK FORCE ON THE
HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS IN MUNICIPAL ANIMAL
SHELTERS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 3 of public act 14-205 is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 2
(a) There is established a task force to study the humane treatment 3
of animals in municipal and regional shelters and other matters 4
concerning the operation of such municipal and regional shelters. The 5
task force shall consider: (1) Recommendations for the establishment of 6
standards for the humane treatment of animals in such shelters; (2) 7
existing education and training standards for animal control officers 8
on current license laws; (3) rules and regulations regarding and 9
penalties for abuse; (4) the development of a system to track persons 10
who have been convicted of animal abuse in order to prevent such 11
persons from acquiring animals from shelters in other municipalities 12
or states; (5) the establishment of standards for such shelters to use 13
when evaluating potential adopters for such animals; (6) the 14
establishment of rules and responsibilities for volunteer groups that 15
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work with such shelters and animal control officers; and (7) the 16
creation of a framework to coordinate the efforts of local humane 17
organizations with volunteer groups, foster groups and municipal and 18
regional animal shelters. 19
(b) In addition to the Commissioner of Agriculture or the 20
commissioner's designee, the task force shall consist of the following 21
members: 22
(1) Two appointed by the speaker of the House of Representatives, 23
one of whom shall be a member of a local animal welfare advocacy 24
organization and one whom shall be a sworn officer of a municipal 25
police department; 26
(2) Two appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate, one 27
of whom shall be an animal control officer and one who shall be a 28
representative of the judicial branch; 29
(3) One appointed by the majority leader of the House of 30
Representatives, who shall be a chief elected official from a town with 31
a population of more than twenty-five thousand persons; 32
(4) One appointed by the majority leader of the Senate, who shall be 33
a licensed veterinarian; 34
(5) One appointed by the minority leader of the House of 35
Representatives, who shall be a person who volunteers to work with 36
municipal animal shelters and animal control officers; 37
(6) One appointed by the minority leader of the Senate, who shall be 38
a chief elected official from a town with a population of twenty-five 39
thousand persons or less; 40
(7) One appointed jointly by the speaker of the House of 41
Representatives and the president pro tempore of the Senate, who shall 42
be a member of the General Assembly; and 43
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(8) One appointed jointly by the minority leader of the House of 44
Representatives and the minority leader of the Senate, who shall be a 45
member of the General Assembly. 46
(c) Any member of the task force appointed pursuant to subsection 47
(b) of this section may be a member of the General Assembly. 48
(d) All appointments to the task force shall be made not later than 49
thirty days after the effective date of this section. Any vacancy shall be 50
filled by the appointing authority. 51
(e) The speaker of the House of Representatives and the president 52
pro tempore of the Senate shall select the chairpersons of the task force 53
from among the members of the task force. Such chairpersons shall 54
schedule the first meeting of the task force, which shall be held not 55
later than sixty days after the effective date of this section. 56
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 2-15 of the general statutes, 57
no member of the task force shall receive mileage reimbursement or a 58
transportation allowance for traveling to or from a meeting of the task 59
force. 60
(f) The administrative staff of the joint standing committee of the 61
General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to local 62
governments shall serve as administrative staff of the task force. 63
(g) Not later than January 1, [2015] 2020, the task force shall submit 64
a report on its findings and recommendations to the joint standing 65
committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters 66
relating to local governments and the environment, in accordance with 67
the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes. The task force 68
shall terminate on the date that it submits such report or January 1, 69
[2015] 2020, whichever is [later] earlier. 70
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage PA 14-205, Sec. 3
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Statement of Purpose:
To extend the work of the task force on the humane treatment of
animals in municipal and regional shelters to January 1, 2020.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]
Co-Sponsors: SEN. LOONEY, 11th Dist.
S.B. 21