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Senate panel approves tougher penalties for harming law-enforcement dogs and horses, adopts amendment
Summary
A bill to increase misdemeanor and felony penalties for injuring or killing law-enforcement dogs and horses was advanced. The sponsor accepted a verbal amendment aligning language with the House and struck a clause that would have required animal-related community service at shelters.
Miss Baker summarized a bill that would raise penalties for injuring a law-enforcement dog or horse and expand felony language to include shooting into a vehicle or trailer containing a law-enforcement animal. "The bill would increase the penalty for injury to a law enforcement dog or horse," she said, outlining new misdemeanor fines of $2,000 to $5,000 and imprisonment ranges and substantially higher felony fines and prison terms for intentional killing or torturing.
Deputy Kavanaugh and Agent Hutton appeared as witnesses and recounted instances in which canines had died in the line of duty. Warren Kavanaugh, who identified himself as with the Richland County Sheriff's Department, noted a K-9 named Mika who died after a suspect shot into a vehicle. Committee members discussed penalty ranges, whether shooting into an occupied vehicle is treated differently, and drafting to ensure penalties track the seriousness of offenses against animals and humans.
Senator Teller offered a verbal amendment to take House-agreed language and to strike a final sentence that had allowed a court to order up to one year of animal-related community service; he said shelters had concerns about forcing those charged with harming animals to work with them. Members accepted the verbal amendment and moved the bill forward. The subcommittee reported the measure favorably.
