Bill Text: HI SB8 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Veterinary Medicine; Criminal Penalties; Pet Animals
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2013-04-25 - Received notice of discharge of conferees (Hse. Com. No. 741). [SB8 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2013-SB8-Amended.html
STAND. COM. REP. NO. 532
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: S.B. No. 8
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. 8, S.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO VETERINARY MEDICINE,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose and intent of this measure is to:
(1) Prohibit the owner of a pet animal and the owner's employees from performing any surgical procedure, including but not limited to surgical birth, ear cropping, tail docking, dewclaw removal, and debarking on the pet animal without being licensed as a veterinarian;
(2) Establish that intentionally or knowingly performing any surgical procedure, including but not limited to surgical birth, ear cropping, tail docking, dewclaw removal, and debarking, on a pet animal by any person not licensed as a veterinarian is a class C felony; and
(3) Specify that accepted veterinary practices and cropping or docking as customarily practiced shall not be considered cruelty to animals in the first degree if performed by a veterinarian licensed under chapter 471, Hawaii Revised Statutes.
Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiian Humane Society, The Humane Society of the United States, Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association, West Hawaii Humane Society, and fifty-seven individuals. Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by eight individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Board of Veterinary Examiners; Last Resort Dog Rescue, LLC; and two individuals.
Your Committee finds that surgical procedures, including surgical birth, ear cropping, tail docking, dewclaw removal, and debarking, are extremely painful to a pet animal if performed improperly by someone other than a licensed veterinarian. Serious infection, shock, and even death of a pet animal can result when these procedures are performed by non-veterinarians.
Your Committee further finds that pet animals that undergo these surgical procedures require proper pre- and post-operative care and anesthesia to reduce complications, blood loss, and distress. This measure therefore promotes the humane treatment of pet animals by ensuring that pet animals undergoing surgical procedures will do so under the care of an appropriately licensed veterinarian.
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. 8, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,
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____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair |
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