By: Hartnett (Senate Sponsor - Rodriguez) H.B. No. 963
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 16, 2011;
May 16, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
Justice; May 21, 2011, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 5, Nays 1; May 21, 2011, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the costs associated with proceedings regarding cruelly
treated animals.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 821.021, Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 821.021. DEFINITIONS [DEFINITION]. In this
subchapter:
(1) "Cruelly [, "cruelly] treated" includes tortured,
seriously overworked, unreasonably abandoned, unreasonably
deprived of necessary food, care, or shelter, cruelly confined, or
caused to fight with another animal.
(2) "Nonprofit animal welfare organization" means a
nonprofit organization that has as its purpose:
(A) the prevention of cruelty to animals; or
(B) the sheltering of, caring for, and providing
homes for lost, stray, and abandoned animals.
(3) "Owner" includes a person who owns or has custody
or control of an animal.
SECTION 2. Section 821.023, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsections (d) and (e) and adding Subsections
(e-1), (e-2), (e-3), and (e-4) to read as follows:
(d) If the court finds that the animal's owner has cruelly
treated the animal, the owner shall be divested of ownership of the
animal, and the court shall:
(1) order a public sale of the animal by auction;
(2) order the animal given to a municipal or county
animal shelter or a nonprofit animal welfare organization [shelter,
pound, or society for the protection of animals]; or
(3) order the animal humanely destroyed if the court
decides that the best interests of the animal or that the public
health and safety would be served by doing so.
(e) After a [A] court [that] finds that an animal's owner
has cruelly treated the animal, the court shall order the owner to
pay all court costs, including:
(1) the administrative costs of:
(A) [(1)] investigation;
(B) [(2)] expert witnesses; and
(C) [(3) housing and caring for the animal
during its impoundment;
[(4)] conducting any public sale ordered by the
court; and
(2) the costs incurred by a municipal or county animal
shelter or a nonprofit animal welfare organization in:
(A) housing and caring for the animal during its
impoundment; and
(B) [(5)] humanely destroying the animal if
destruction is ordered by the court.
(e-1) After a court finds that an animal's owner has cruelly
treated the animal, the court shall determine the estimated costs
likely to be incurred by a municipal or county animal shelter or a
nonprofit animal welfare organization to house and care for the
impounded animal during the appeal process.
(e-2) After making the determination under Subsection
(e-1), the court at the time of entering the judgment shall set the
amount of bond for an appeal equal to the sum of:
(1) the amount of the court costs ordered under
Subsection (e); and
(2) the amount of the estimated costs determined under
Subsection (e-1).
(e-3) A court may not require a person to provide a bond in
an amount greater than or in addition to the amount determined by
the court under Subsection (e-2) to perfect an appeal under Section
821.025.
(e-4) Notwithstanding any other law, the amount of court
costs that a court may order under Subsection (e) and the amount of
bond that a court determines under Subsection (e-2) are excluded in
determining the court's jurisdiction under Subtitle A, Title 2,
Government Code.
SECTION 3. Section 821.024(c), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(c) If the officer is unable to sell the animal at auction,
the officer may cause the animal to be humanely destroyed or may
give the animal to a municipal or county animal shelter or a
nonprofit animal welfare organization [shelter, pound, or society
for the protection of animals].
SECTION 4. Section 821.025, Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 821.025. APPEAL. (a) An owner divested of ownership
of an animal under Section 821.023 may appeal the order to a county
court or county court at law in the county in which the justice or
municipal court is located.
(b) As a condition of perfecting an appeal, not later than
the 10th calendar day after the date the order is issued, the owner
must file a notice of appeal and a cash bond or surety [an appeal]
bond in an amount set [determined] by the court under Section
821.023(e-2) [from which the appeal is taken to be adequate to cover
the estimated expenses incurred in housing and caring for the
impounded animal during the appeal process].
(c) Not later than the fifth calendar day after the date the
notice of appeal and [appeal] bond is filed, the court from which
the appeal is taken shall deliver a copy of the clerk's record
[court's transcript] to the clerk of the county court or county
court at law to which the appeal is made.
(d) Not later than the 10th calendar day after the date the
county court or county court at law, as appropriate, receives a copy
of the clerk's record [transcript], the court shall consider the
matter de novo and dispose of the appeal. A party to the appeal is
entitled to a jury trial on request.
(e) The decision of the county court or county court at law
under this section is final and may not be further appealed.
(f) Notwithstanding Section 30.00014, Government Code, or
any other law, a person filing an appeal from a municipal court
under Subsection (a) is not required to file a motion for a new
trial to perfect an appeal.
(g) Notwithstanding any other law, a county court or a
county court at law has jurisdiction to hear an appeal filed under
this section.
(h) [(b)] While an appeal under this section is pending, the
animal may not be:
(1) sold or given away as provided by Sections 821.023
and 821.024; or
(2) destroyed, except under circumstances which would
require the humane destruction of the animal to prevent undue pain
to or suffering of the animal.
SECTION 5. Subchapter B, Chapter 821, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 821.026 to read as follows:
Sec. 821.026. CONFLICT OF LAWS. In the event of a conflict
between this subchapter and another provision of any other law
relating to an appeal of a disposition regarding a cruelly treated
animal, including the bond required for that appeal, this
subchapter controls.
SECTION 6. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a proceeding commenced under Section 821.023, Health and Safety
Code, on or after the effective date of this Act. A proceeding
commenced before the effective date of this Act is covered by the
law in effect at the time the proceeding is commenced, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
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