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Committee approves civil-penalty approach for equine cruelty, adds veterinary body-score requirement
Summary
Senate Bill 563 shifts certain equine cruelty enforcement from criminal penalties to a civil-penalty framework and requires a veterinarian body-condition score to support cases; committee approved the bill after testimony from the Department of Agriculture.
The Senate Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development Committee voted to pass Senate Bill 563, which allows the Department of Agriculture to pursue civil penalties for equine maltreatment and sets procedure requirements including a veterinarian-conducted body-condition score.
Patrick Fisk, director of Livestock and Poultry for the Department of Agriculture, told the committee the measure is intended to give the department a civil enforcement option to address extreme cases that criminal statutes have not resolved. “What this bill does is it allows us to put civil penalties, and also adds further direction on how we're gonna to address the issue, i.e., those have a veterinarian do a body body score,” Fisk said.
Fisk said the department currently has two veterinarians on staff — “1 is a state veterinarian and the other is our field veterinarian” — and said the scoring helps distinguish an animal that is elderly or naturally thin from an animal suffering malnutrition or neglect. “That body score will show that the … animal is severely malnutritioned and has been abused,” he said.
Committee members asked about the maximum penalty and about how cruelty is defined in existing statutes. Fisk said civil penalties would be assessed by the commission up to $5,000, and that the bill focuses on malnutrition and lack of basic care rather than training or breaking horses. Senator Scott noted the department sets penalties in line with its existing administrative practices.
There were no public opponents recorded during the committee hearing; Senator Irvin closed discussion and the committee moved to a voice vote to pass the bill as amended. The committee chair announced the bill passed.
Because the bill changes enforcement from criminal to civil options and inserts specific investigatory steps, implementation will involve department rulemaking and application of the veterinarian body-condition assessment in complaints referred to the commission.
