OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sSB-1069
AN ACT CONCERNING REVISIONS TO CERTAIN DOMESTIC
ANIMAL RELATED STATUTES.
Primary Analyst: MR 4/12/23
Contributing Analyst(s): BP
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 24 $ FY 25 $
Resources of the General Fund GF - See Below See Below See Below
Judicial Dept. (Probation) GF - See Below See Below See Below
Department of Agriculture GF - Revenue
Gain
See Below See Below
Department of Agriculture Animal
Population
Control -
Potential Cost
See Below See Below
Department of Agriculture GF – Potential
Revenue Loss
See Below See Below
Note: GF=General Fund
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
This bill makes numerous changes in the domestic animal statutes,
administered by the Department of Agriculture (DoAg), and results in
the fiscal impacts described below.
Section 3 reduces the charges for maintaining a breeding kennel
facility after a license has been revoked and for failing to comply with
breeding kennel facility licensing requirements, from a class B
misdemeanor to a class D misdemeanor. This results in a potential
savings to the Judicial Department and a potential revenue loss from
fines. The average marginal cost for supervision in the community is 2023SB-01069-R000556-FN.docx Page 2 of 3
less than $800
1
each year.
Section 5 allows consumers to bring civil action against licensees for
alleged failures to comply which does not result in any fiscal impact to
the state or municipalities. The court system disposes of over 250,000
cases annually and the number of cases is not anticipated to be great
enough to need additional resources.
Additionally, Section 5 results in a potential minimal revenue loss to
the state beginning in FY 24 to the extent fines are not collected from
those who violate the "pet lemon law." It allows a consumer to bring a
lawsuit in court for enforcement action if a pet shop fails to reimburse a
consumer under the existing "pet lemon law," and it removes the
statutory fine of up to $500 for a licensee who violates the law.
Section 8 may result in a revenue gain, beginning in FY 23, since it
increases the fine, from up to $100 to $250, for anyone who violates a
rabies order issued by DoAg. The total amount of any additional
revenue ($150 per fine) is dependent on the number of rabies orders
found to be in violation.
Section 10 may result in a revenue gain to DoAg beginning in FY 23
as it expands the applicability of the general penalty to a violation of any
regulation concerning domestic animals, not just regulations pertaining
to restraining or destroying dogs or cats. It also expands the group of
individuals who may be charged with violations of the general penalty.
(The penalty is a fine of at least $250, up to 30 days in prison, or both.)
Section 11 may result in increased costs to the animal population
control account administered by DoAg, starting in FY 24, as it requires
the agency to establish a biennial reimbursement rate for payments
made to veterinarians that is 75% of market rate. Currently, the
1
Probation marginal cost is based on services provided by private providers and only
includes costs that increase with each additional participant. This does not include a
cost for additional supervision by a probation officer unless a new offense is
anticipated to result in enough additional offenders to require additional probation
officers. 2023SB-01069-R000556-FN.docx Page 3 of 3
reimbursement rate is up to 75% of the market rate or fee charged by
veterinarians as of October 31, 2021, with no provision for adjustments.
It is expected that as market rates increase, so would costs from this
account, to comply with this requirement. The available cash balance in
the APCA is currently $676,935.
Section 13, which repeals the $0.10 allocation from each dog license
fee to UConn for canine disease research, has no fiscal impact as it
codifies current practice. No payments have been made for this purpose
for the past two fiscal years.
The bill makes other minor, technical, and conforming changes that
have no fiscal impact.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to the number of violations, and the
actual reimbursement rates set by veterinarians.