HB 1201 2024
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to research animals; creating s. 2
828.067, F.S.; requiring research facilities to offer 3
certain dogs and cats for adoption to societies or 4
associations for the prevention of cruelty to animals 5
before euthanizing such dogs and cats; authorizing 6
research facilities to enter into collaborative 7
agreements with such societies and associations; 8
providing immunity from liability for research 9
facilities acting in good faith; requiring research 10
facilities to submit specified annual reports to the 11
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services 12
beginning on a specified date; providing penalties; 13
creating s. 828.068, F.S.; providing definitions; 14
requiring certain publicly funded institutions to make 15
an annual report concerning animal testing activities; 16
providing requirements for the report; providing an 17
effective date. 18
19
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 20
21
Section 1. Section 828.067, Florida Statutes, is created 22
to read: 23
828.067 Adoption of research dogs and cats. - 24
(1)(a) Before euthanizing a dog or cat that is no longer 25
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needed for laboratory research purposes, a research facility 26
located in the state shall offer the dog or cat for adoption to 27
any society or association for the prevention of cruelty to 28
animals, unless euthanizing the dog or cat is required for 29
health or safety reasons. 30
(b) A research facility may enter into a collaborative 31
agreement with a society or ass ociation for the prevention of 32
cruelty to animals for the purpose of carrying out the 33
provisions of this subsection. 34
(2) A research facility that offers a dog or cat to a 35
society or association for the prevention of cruelty to animals 36
pursuant to subsection (1) is immune from civil liability for or 37
resulting from the transfer of the dog or cat if the research 38
facility acted in good faith concerning the health and physical 39
condition of the dog or cat. 40
(3) Beginning January 31, 2025, and each January 31 41
thereafter, a research facility that uses dogs or cats for 42
laboratory research shall submit to the Department of 43
Agriculture and Consumer Services a report that includes the 44
following information for the preceding year: 45
(a) The total number of dogs and ca ts owned by the 46
facility. 47
(b) The total number of dogs and cats used for research 48
conducted at the facility. 49
(c) The total number of dogs and cats released by the 50
HB 1201 2024
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facility to a society or association for the prevention of 51
cruelty to animals for the pur pose of adoption. 52
(d) The name and address of each society or association 53
for the prevention of cruelty to animals to which a dog or cat 54
was released by the facility. 55
(4) A research facility that violates subsection (1) may 56
be ordered to pay a civil fi ne of up to $2,000 per violation in 57
an action to be brought by the state attorney of the county in 58
which the violation occurred. 59
Section 2. Section 828.068, Florida Statutes, is created 60
to read: 61
828.068 Reporting on animal testing. — 62
(1) As used in this section, the term: 63
(a) "Animal" means any live vertebrate nonhuman animal. 64
(b) "Animal testing facility" means a facility of a state 65
agency or institution of higher education that confines and uses 66
animals for research, education, or testing or ot her 67
experimental, scientific, or medical purposes. The term does not 68
include any facility exclusively engaging in agriculture ,as 69
defined in s. 570.02, or any agricultural education event. 70
(c) "Animal test method" means a process or procedure that 71
uses animals for research, education, testing, or experimental, 72
scientific, or biomedical purposes. 73
(d) "Contract testing facility" means any partnership, 74
corporation, association, or other legal relationship that 75
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conducts research, education, testing, or expe rimental, 76
scientific, or biomedical studies on behalf of another entity. 77
(2) Each publicly funded animal testing facility, contract 78
testing facility, or manufacturer that uses an animal test 79
method shall submit an annual report on or before January 31, 80
2025, and each January 31 thereafter, for the preceding year to 81
the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in a form 82
prescribed by the department. The annual report shall include 83
the following information: 84
(a) The total number of animals used for research, 85
education, testing, experimentation, scientific, or medical 86
purposes with such animals identified and grouped according to 87
species. 88
(b) The total number of animals per species used for each 89
of the following purposes: 90
1. Studies of a fundamen tal nature in science relating to 91
essential structures, functions, or disease processes. 92
2. Research and development of treatments, products, or 93
devices for human medicine and dentistry and for veterinary 94
medicine, excluding toxicological and other safet y evaluations 95
described in subparagraph 3. 96
3. Toxicological and other safety evaluations, including, 97
but not limited to, safety evaluations of products and devices 98
for human medicine, human dentistry, and veterinary medicine. 99
4. Quality control of prod ucts and devices for human or 100
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veterinary medicine. 101
5. Education and training of scientists or health care 102
providers. 103
6. Any other purpose not described in this paragraph, to 104
be specified by the person providing the information required by 105
this section. 106
(c) A detailed description of the methodology that was 107
used for obtaining the counts of animals under paragraphs (a) 108
and (b). 109
Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024. 110