Governor Jerry Brown has just signed hundreds of bills into California law. Among the list are several that attempt to make California a safer place for animals. Before April 15th, one bill that I am going to look into further is Assembly Bill 564. It allows taxpayers, on their tax return, to transfer a certain amount of money to the local municipal animal shelter's spay/neuter fund.
On the SFGate.com City Brights Blog, Ken White, President of the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA wrote this recap of new California laws...
Assembly Bill (AB) 1117 expands the ability of judges to keep animals away from their convicted abusers. Obviously, this is a very good thing.
Senate Bill (SB) 917 makes it unlawful for any person to willfully sell, display for sale or offer for sale, or give away as part of a commercial transaction, a live animal on any street, highway, public right-of-way, parking lot, carnival, or boardwalk (with certain exceptions). Further, it increases the misdemeanor penalty from up to six months in county jail to up to one year in county jail for animal neglect.
AB 222 defines “business day” in animal shelters as “any day that a public or private shelter is open to the public for at least four hours, excluding state holidays.” This clarifies a mess created by a recent court ruling.
AB 258 exempts dogs from vaccination requirement if a veterinarian deems it inadvisable. Now there’s a duh moment, necessitated by some overzealous local health officials.
AB 564 allows taxpayers to designate on their tax return that a specified amount in excess of his/her tax liability be transferred to the local municipal animal shelter’s spay/neuter fund.
SB 425 and 426 make life deservedly harder for cockfighters and dogfighters, by the following steps. Combined these bills increase fines from $100 to $500 for person under 16 who attends a cockfight, establish a new $2,500 fine for attaching a live animal to a machine as “bait” for dogs being trained to fight; allows for forfeiture in cockfighting convictions; and provides that any building or property used for dogfighting and cockfighting is a public nuisance and the tenants may be evicted.
Do you think Sutter Brown had anything to do with these new laws? He does march to the beat of his own drummer...on those adorable Corgi legs.
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