BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 1916 |
By: Elkins |
Urban Affairs |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Interested parties contend that better records on the intake and disposition of animals in the care of animal shelters could reduce shelter euthanasia. C.S.H.B. 1916 seeks to achieve this goal by setting out requirements for intake and disposition records for animal shelters and releasing agencies.
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
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RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 1916 amends the Health and Safety Code to require each animal shelter, including a shelter operated by a municipality, and releasing agency operated in Texas to prepare and maintain records on the intake and disposition of animals in the care of the shelter or agency, including the total number of live animals taken in by the shelter or agency, the reason an animal was taken in by the shelter or agency, the number of animals at the shelter or agency on the last day of each month, and the disposition of each animal taken in by the shelter or agency. The bill requires an animal shelter or releasing agency to prepare such records on a monthly basis and to maintain the records until at least the third anniversary of the date the record was prepared. The bill requires an animal shelter or releasing agency to make the records available to the public by posting the records on the shelter's, municipality's, or agency's website or, for a shelter, municipality, or agency that does not have a website, by making the records available in a form regularly maintained by the shelter, municipality, or agency for inspection and copying.
C.S.H.B. 1916 replaces the authorization for the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission to require each person operating an animal shelter to keep records of the date and disposition of animals in its custody with a requirement that the executive commissioner do so as provided by the bill's provisions and includes a releasing agency within the scope of that requirement. The bill makes related changes regarding the executive commissioner's authority regarding the location and accessibility of the records.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2017.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 1916 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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