First, SB 174, a bill to amend the Animal Industry Act was introduced by Kevin Daley on March 7th. This bill reshuffles a large number of pieces of legislation within the Animal Industry Act for clarity. It also changes a number of definitions with slight alterations, most notably giving clearer definitions for words and phrases that relate to aquaculture. The bill also aims to give greater emergency power to the Director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD)in cases of animal disease outbreak to facilitate a faster and more robust response. Lastly, verbiage is added to add required approval of certain vaccines to be used in Michigan.
This bill is very similar to the bill passed by both the House and Senate in 2018, only to be vetoed due to language added at the 11th hour on pet stores and egg importation requirements. These additions are not contained in the current bill; however, due to the complexity of this bill, I would expect further amendments to be added as the bill courses through committee.
SB 174 has been referred to the Committee on Agriculture.
Near the end of April, a bill was introduced in response to an animal rights activist’s infiltration of an animal research facility in Southwest Michigan. This bill, HB 4496, introduced by Kevin Hertel, aims to require animal research facilities of Michigan to adopt out all dogs and cats which do not pose a health or safety risk to do so.
The bill requires research institutions, both public and private, to work with animal shelters within Michigan to facilitate adoptions of research animals when they are no longer needed. Importantly, there is no requirement to actually adopt the animals out, only that they must be offered to a single research shelter. After doing so, the research facility will be immune from any civil liability stemming from such an animal. Interestingly, while the research institution is immune from civil liability, there is no mention of coverage for the adopting shelter.
Lastly, this bill would require research institutions to report to MDARD the total number of animals owned by the facility, total number used for research, total number released for adoption, and information on which shelters were used. All research institutions are already required to submit such information to the USDA aside from adoption numbers.
This bill raises a few concerns both legal and ethical. For one, the bill does not detail if shelters are required to disclose which animals are from research facilities to potential adopters. It also requires a research facility to adopt out all dogs and cats unless there is a “health or safety” reason. It is unclear if this is only for the animal or to those adopting and if this would cover behavioral issues that could result in injury.
HB 4496 also raises an ethical question of how this will impact the Michigan animal shelter community. Animal shelters are already crowded in our state and every day, employees of these shelters have to make terrible decisions of which animals can remain to be adopted out and which must be euthanized. Having a shelter dog myself, I fully support adopting out as many pets as is possible; however, there is a finite amount of homes for shelter animals. Adding to the pool of animals available for adoption may simply result in the burden of euthanasia being shifted from research facilities to animal shelters. This is an unknown at this time and may not come to fruition if the bill stimulates adoptions across the state.
HB 4496 has been referred to the Committee on Regulatory Reform.
SB 254, introduced on the ninth of March had mirroring language to HB 4217 requiring physicians to use electronic prescriptions. Similarly to HB4217, this bill includes an exemption for veterinarians and thus should not impact the industry.
SB 254 has been referred to the Committee on Health Policy and Human Services.
On a bit of a lighter note, HB 4455, introduced by Padma Kuppa would designate the shelter pet as the “State Pet.”
HB4455 has been referred to the Committee on Government Operations.
Updates on bills included in the February Update
HB 4092 regarding Pets in Cars has not moved.
SB 63 regarding income tax deductions for service animals.
SB 37 regarding the baiting of deer for hunting has not moved.
HB 4035 regarding the prohibition of breed-specific legislation has not moved.
HB 4217 regarding electronic prescriptions to be used by human physicians has not moved.
Twitter: @MattKuhnDVM
