Bill Text: HI SB6 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Animal Cruelty; Trapping

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-07-02 - Act 208, 6/26/2013 (Gov. Msg. No. 1311). [SB6 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-SB6-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 495

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 6

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 6 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMAL CRUELTY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to prohibit the use of certain cruel or lethal methods for the control of animals.  Specifically, this measure:

 

     (1)  Requires dogs or cats that are captured or killed in a snare or trap to be reported to a county animal control officer;

 

     (2)  Establishes an animal cruelty offense for the use of steel-jawed leg-hold traps or the use of snares, conibear, and foot- or leg-hold traps in residential or other prohibited areas;

 

     (3)  Establishes the offense as a misdemeanor; and

 

     (4)  Provides exemptions for activities carried out by state and federal agencies.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiian Humane Society, West Hawaii Humane Society, Hawaii Island Humane Society, The Humane Society of the United States, The Nature Conservancy, Wild Bird Rehab Haven, Hui Pono Holoholona, Equine 808 Horse Rescue, and twenty-two private individuals.  Animal Rights Hawaii submitted comments.

 

     Your Committee finds that this measure allows for the use of appropriate tools to control feral animals, such as pigs, goats, sheep, deer, and wild cattle, where there is a potential for these animals to damage natural resource areas.  At the same time, this measure establishes reasonable additional protections for pet animals in residential areas, where they are most likely to be inadvertently caught if certain animal control tools are employed.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Amending section 1 to include that one of the purposes is to require the reporting of dogs and cats that are captured or killed in a snare or trap;

 

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

 

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 6, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 6, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

 

		____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair