HOUSE BILL 147

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2015

INTRODUCED BY

James E. Smith and Daniel A. Ivey-Soto

AN ACT

RELATING TO THE ANIMAL SHELTERING BOARD; MOVING THE ANIMAL SHELTERING BOARD FROM THE REGULATION AND LICENSING DEPARTMENT TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 77-1B-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2007, Chapter 60, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:

     "77-1B-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Animal Sheltering Act:

          A. "animal" means any animal, except humans, not defined as "livestock" in Subsection L of this section;

          B. "animal shelter":

                (1) means:

                     (a) a county or municipal facility that provides shelter to animals on a regular basis, including a dog pound; and

                     (b) a private humane society or a private animal shelter that temporarily houses stray, unwanted or injured animals through administrative or contractual arrangements with a local government agency; and

                (2) does not include a municipal zoological park;

          C. "board" means the animal sheltering board;

          D. "department" means the [regulation and licensing] department of environment;

          E. "disposition" means adoption of an animal; return of an animal to the owner; release of an animal to a rescue organization; release of an animal to another animal shelter or to a rehabilitator licensed by the department of game and fish or the United States fish and wildlife service; or euthanasia of an animal;

          F. "emergency field euthanasia" means the process defined by rule of the board to cause the death of an animal in an emergency situation when safe and humane transport of the animal is not possible;

          G. "euthanasia" means to produce a humane death of an animal by standards deemed acceptable by the board as set forth in its rules;

          H. "euthanasia agency" means a facility that provides shelter to animals on a regular basis, including a dog pound, a humane society or a public or private shelter facility that temporarily houses stray, unwanted or injured animals, and that performs euthanasia;

          I. "euthanasia drugs" means non-narcotic schedule II or schedule III substances and chemicals as set forth in the Controlled Substances Act that are used for the purposes of euthanasia and pre-euthanasia of animals;

          J. "euthanasia instructor" means a veterinarian or a euthanasia technician certified by the board to instruct other individuals in euthanasia techniques;

          K. "euthanasia technician" means a person licensed by the board to euthanize animals for a euthanasia agency;

          L. "livestock" means all domestic or domesticated animals that are used or raised on a farm or ranch and exotic animals in captivity and includes horses, asses, mules, cattle, sheep, goats, swine, bison, poultry, ostriches, emus, rheas, camelids and farmed cervidae but does not include canine or feline animals;

          M. "rescue organization" means an organization that rescues animals and is not involved in the breeding of animals;

          N. "supervising veterinarian" means a person who is a veterinarian, who holds both a valid New Mexico controlled substance license and a valid federal drug enforcement agency license and who approves the drug protocols and the procurement and administration of all pharmaceuticals; and

          O. "veterinarian" means a person who is licensed as a doctor of veterinary medicine by the board of veterinary medicine pursuant to the Veterinary Practice Act."

     SECTION 2. Section 77-1B-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2007, Chapter 60, Section 4, as amended by Laws 2009, Chapter 102, Section 6 and by Laws 2009, Chapter 192, Section 2) is amended to read:

     "77-1B-4. ANIMAL CARE AND FACILITY FUND CREATED--ADMINISTRATION.--

          A. The "animal care and facility fund" is created in the state treasury. All fees collected pursuant to the Animal Sheltering Act shall be deposited in the fund.

          B. The animal care and facility fund shall consist of money collected by the board pursuant to the Animal Sheltering Act; income from investment of the fund; and money appropriated to the fund or accruing to it through fees or administrative penalties, cooperative research agreements, income, gifts, grants, donations, bequests, sales of promotional items, handbooks or educational materials or any other source. Money in the fund shall not be transferred to another fund or encumbered or expended except for expenditures authorized pursuant to the Animal Sheltering Act.

          C. Money in the fund is subject to appropriation by the legislature to the department to be used to help animal shelters and communities defray the cost of implementing the board's initiatives conducted pursuant to the Animal Sheltering Act. The fund shall be administered by the department to carry out the purposes of the Animal Sheltering Act.

          D. Each fiscal year, an amount of money in the fund appropriated pursuant to this section that is equal to the total amount of money credited to the fund for that fiscal year from special registration plates issued pursuant to Section

66-3-424.3 NMSA 1978 shall be administered so that spay and neuter programs in a county receive money attributable to the number of those special registration plates issued in that county.

          E. A disbursement from the fund shall be made only upon a warrant drawn by the secretary of finance and administration pursuant to a voucher signed by the [superintendent of regulation and licensing or the superintendent's] secretary of environment or the secretary's designee.

          F. Unexpended and unencumbered balances in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund."

     SECTION 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2016.

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