87R1869 KKR-D
By: King of Parker H.B. No. 1083
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to termination of the ownership interest in an animal
impounded by an animal shelter.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 823.002, Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 823.002. EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN COUNTIES, CLINICS, AND
FACILITIES. Except as provided by Section 823.010, this [This]
chapter does not apply to:
(1) a county having a population of less than 75,000;
(2) a veterinary medicine clinic; or
(3) a livestock commission facility.
SECTION 2. Chapter 823, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Section 823.010 to read as follows:
Sec. 823.010. TERMINATION OF OWNERSHIP INTEREST IN
IMPOUNDED ANIMAL. (a) In this section, "animal rescue
organization" means a nonprofit charitable organization
established primarily to rescue animals and find adoptive homes for
the animals.
(b) Subject to Subsection (c), a person's ownership
interest in an impounded animal held in an animal shelter operated
in this state terminates on the date that:
(1) another person adopts the animal from the shelter;
or
(2) the shelter transfers the animal to an animal
rescue organization.
(c) An animal shelter may offer an animal for adoption or
transfer the animal as provided by Subsection (b)(2) only after the
shelter has complied with any applicable holding period set in an
ordinance or rule adopted by the governing body of the municipality
or county in which the shelter is located as authorized by Section
826.033.
SECTION 3. Section 823.010, Health and Safety Code, as
added by this Act, applies only to the termination of ownership
interest in an animal adopted from an animal shelter or transferred
from an animal shelter to an animal rescue organization on or after
the effective date of this Act. An adoption or transfer that occurs
before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
effect immediately before that date, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.