TRENTON – Three bills for the four-legged were moved by the Assembly Monday in session.
The first bill has been the butt of Gov. Chris Christie’s jokes, and the subject of a conditional veto, but S2923 seems now poised to become law.
The bill creates a pilot program for required sterilization of stray and adopted animals, and revises various other sections of law addressing care, impoundment, and sterilization of stray, abandoned, and adopted animals.
The Pet Sterilization Pilot Program would operate in any county with significant animal overpopulation issues that is selected for the program by the Department of Health and Senior Services, with the county’s agreement to participate in the program. Every shelter, pound, and kennel in the county would be required to participate in the pilot program.
After two years, the DHSS commissioner is required to submit a written report to the governor and the Legislature on program implementation and recommendations on the feasibility of a statewide program.
In the original bill, the cost of required sterilization for adopted animals was to be borne by the adoptee.
Christie conditionally vetoed the bill in August mainly to protect a seven-day hold period before sheltered dogs and cats received can be offered for adoption, transferred, or euthanized in New Jersey. “(The bill) would change this standard, and permit these animals to be transferred or euthanized before seven days if the shelter determines that the age, health, or behavior of the animal warrants such action,” Christie wrote. “Unfortunately, this exception would create the potential that older or mildly injured animals could be euthanized immediately, and before a diligent search by an owner could locate a lost pet.”
Amended to the governor’s liking by bill sponsor state Sen. President Steve Sweeney, (D-3), of West Deptford, the bill found final passage Monday in the Assembly, 71-5-2. The bill now goes back to Christie’s desk for approval.
The second animal-related bill handled by the Assembly, A1633, adjusts domestic violence law by providing statutory authorization for courts to issue orders covering animals in situations where a person abuses or threatens to abuse an animal as part of a domestic dispute, modeled on a recently enacted Maine law.
A floor amendment for the bill was passed by the Assembly, prohibiting under animal-related restraining orders a person’s interference with a victim’s efforts to remove the animal and from knowingly coming within a specified distance of specified locations where the animal is regularly found.
The bill’s Senate counterpart, S540, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in September.
The third animal-related bill, S1797, allows students with disabilities to bring service animals to school. It passed unanimously, 78-0.
The bill was amended in June to allow school officials to inquire as to whether the service animal is required, unless the student’s disability and the work or task that the service animal will perform are “readily apparent.” An official may require: (1) certification from a veterinarian that the service animal is properly vaccinated and does not have a contagious disease that may harm students or staff; and (2) documentation that any license required by the municipality in which the student resides has been obtained for the service animal.
It also protects the school from liability for the care or supervision of the service animal, but requires reasonable accommodations for care and feeding of the service animal.
The amended bill will go back to the Senate for approval.
