General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2007>Agriculture, Horticulture and Food

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Agriculture, Horticulture and Food

Passed

P HB 1823

Right to Farm Act. Adds cities and towns to certain provisions of the Right to Farm Act that currently only apply to counties.
Patron - Suit

P HB 1834

Virginia Equine Center Foundation. Abolishes the Virginia Equine Center Foundation located in Rockbridge County and diverts funds previously allocated to the Virginia Equine Center Foundation to the Virginia Horse Center Foundation.
Patron - Putney

P HB 1900

Cruelty to animals; penalty. Makes it a Class 6 felony if any person who has been convicted of violating the animal cruelty statute is convicted within five years of the prior offense of maliciously depriving a companion animal of necessary food, drink, shelter, or emergency veterinary treatment, and either the previous or current violation has resulted in the death of an animal.
Patron - Albo

P HB 2099

Dog license application. Delays until January 1, 2008, the requirement that the treasurer of a locality transmit a license application to the owner of an unlicensed, vaccinated dog.
Patron - Orrock

P HB 2296

Licensure of cats and dogs. Exempts releasing agencies from the obligations of dog and cat licensure.
Patron - McClellan

P HB 2714

Shooting enclosure. Increases the penalty for violating the provisions of the shooting enclosure laws from a Class 2 misdemeanor to a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill empowers the State Veterinarian to seize and dispose of animals held in unlicensed shooting enclosures. The bill also makes it illegal for any person to knowingly provide livestock to an unlicensed shooting enclosure.
Patron - Barlow

P HB 2816

Weights and measures. Allows the Commissioner to establish a schedule for the examination of weights and measures by service agencies. Also requires service agencies to destroy out-of-service tags after corrective action and extends the deadline for reporting to the Commissioner from 48 hours to five days.
Patron - Sickles

P SB 797

Farm-to-school website. Requires the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services to establish a website to promote Virginia farm products to educational institutions.
Patron - Potts

P SB 1061

Local regulation of fertilizer. Prohibits localities from regulating the registration, packaging, labeling, sale, or distribution of fertilizers. Localities are also prohibited from regulating use, application, or storage except by ordinances consistent with certain state laws. Persons aggrieved by development conditions restricting fertilizer use will have the right to bring an action against the locality.
Patron - Watkins

P SB 1407

Crop incentive programs. Requires the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to develop a program to encourage the production of crops that can be used as a source of biomass for energy generation and transportation, and promote aquaculture of native species within the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.
Patron - Hanger

Failed

F HB 1849

Agri-tourism Incentives Act; penalty. Creates the Agri-tourism Incentives Act to allow qualified farm businesses to have restaurants and provide overnight accommodations on agriculturally zoned land under certain conditions. The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is tasked with administering this new program.
Patron - Saxman

F HB 1853

Mandatory sterilization. Requires dog and cat dealers to adhere to the same mandatory sterilization requirements as releasing agencies. New dog and cat owners who purchase from dealers shall follow the same requirements as those who adopt at releasing agencies. Exemptions are made for fancier breeders, breed improvers, and hobby breeders.
Patron - Wittman

F HB 1959

Licensure fee for dogs and cats. Increases the amount that localities can charge for animal license taxes from $10 to $35, and limits the tax for additional dogs and cats to $2.
Patron - Hargrove

F HB 1990

National Animal Identification System. Prohibits the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services from supporting a mandatory National Animal Identification System, a USDA-sponsored program to register and track domestic animals and livestock. The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services would not be prohibited from participating in discussions or attending meetings on the National Animal Identification System.
Patron - Wittman

F HB 2043

Labeling of crabmeat. Requires all crabmeat sold at retail to have a "sell by" or "best if used" date on the container. The bill authorizes the Commission of Agriculture and Consumer Services to assess a civil penalty of up to $100, which is to be deposited into the Virginia Marine Products Fund.
Patron - Hamilton

F HB 2081

Animal cruelty. Makes it a Class 6 felony for any person to willfully and unnecessarily cause the death of a dog or cat. The bill also allows an owner of a dog or cat to use all reasonable and necessary force against another dog to protect his dog or cat, while on the owner's property, from imminent risk of injury or death from an attack by a dog. If the owner has taken such an action he is presumed to not have violated the animal cruelty statute.
Patron - Wittman

F HB 2098

Tethering of animals. Makes certain acts associated with the tethering of animals a Class 3 misdemeanor. The bill prohibits such actions as (i) tethering an animal that is less than six months old, except in an emergency, (ii) tethering an animal that has not been spayed or neutered, except in an emergency, and (iii) using a tether weighing more than the animal can reasonable bear. Local governments are authorized to adopt an animal tethering ordinance that can be more restrictive than the proposed statute.
Patron - Alexander

F HB 2100

License tax on dogs and cats. Provides a financial disincentive for dog and cat owners who have not spayed or neutered their pets by allowing localities to charge a license fee of up to $20 for each cat or dog that has not been spayed or neutered. The local license fee for cats and dogs that have been spayed or neutered would between $1 and $10, which is the current allowable license fee.
Patron - Orrock

F HB 2242

Tethering of dogs. Makes it a Class 3 misdemeanor to tether, fasten, chain, or tie a dog to a doghouse, tree, fence, or other stationary object. However, the bill provides a number of circumstances in which it is lawful to tether a dog. An animal control officer has the discretion to issue a correction warning to anyone who is violating the provisions of this bill unless the health or safety of the dog is endangered, the animal has been wounded, or a correction warning has previously been issued.
Patron - Howell, A.T.

F HB 2295

Surcharge on licenses. Requires localities to add a $3 surcharge to dog and cat licenses. The monies raised pursuant to the surcharge would be used by localities to fund low-cost spay and neuter services.
Patron - McClellan

F HB 2412

Use of gas chambers for animal euthanasia prohibited. Prohibits the use of gas chambers for animal euthanasia.
Patron - Athey

F HB 2663

Application of pesticides and fertilizers; penalty. Prohibits commercial providers of lawn care services from broadly applying pesticides and fertilizers onto impervious surfaces such as streets and driveways.
Patron - Marsden

F HB 2896

Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services; century farm program. Provides that property recognized by the Commissioner of Agriculture as a century farm shall not be subject to eminent domain.
Patron - Phillips

F HB 2898

Licensing of dogs and cats. Delays the effective date of legislation from the 2006 Session that requires veterinarians to forward to the local treasurer vaccination information for dogs so that the local treasurer may, upon receipt of the vaccination information, bill the owners of unlicensed dogs for a pet license. The current effective date is July 1, 2007. Localities that issue licenses on the basis of a calendar year would be able to implement the provisions beginning in 2008.
Patron - Brink

F HB 3004

Use of gas chambers for animal euthanasia prohibited. Prohibits the use of gas chambers for animal euthanasia. This bill has a delayed effective date of October 1, 2007.
Patron - Scott, J.M.

F HB 3091

Dealers of companion animals. Exempts the occasional breeder, buyer, and seller of companion animals from being treated as a dealer. The occasional breeder, buyer, or seller is any person who makes only occasional sales, trades, or transfers of companion animals for the enhancement or preservation of a breed, as a hobby, or for a showing or other competition and any person who sells all or part of a litter bred for the purpose of obtaining a pet, a hunting dog, or a service animal.
Patron - Wright

F HB 3147

Release of a cat or dog. Requires the person who is seeking to release a cat or dog to a releasing agency or animal control officer to demonstrate he is the animal's owner by presenting evidence that the animal has been inoculated or vaccinated against rabies.
Patron - Gear

F HB 3195

Companion animal dealer permits. Requires permits for dealers of companion animals in any locality that euthanizes healthy companion animals or funds animal control expenses through local real estate taxes.
Patron - Athey

F SB 917

Donation of food to charity organizations. Provides that the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services, in conjunction with the Board of Health, shall promulgate regulations permitting any person to donate food prepared in his private residence to any political subdivision or to any charity organization, which is exempt from taxation under 26 U.S.C. § 501 (c) (3), for distribution to needy persons. The bill likewise provides that the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services, in conjunction with the Board of Health, shall promulgate regulations permitting any political subdivision and any charity organization, which is exempt from taxation under 26 U.S.C. § 501 (c) (3), that is engaged in a food distribution program for needy persons to distribute any food properly donated to it. In addition, the bill prohibits a locality from enacting or enforcing any general law, special act, state regulation, or local ordinance or regulation that imposes conditions or requirements inconsistent with or more stringent than the regulations promulgated by the Board. This bill contains an emergency clause and was incorporated into SB 806.
Patron - Howell

F SB 930

Humane investigators. Restores the humane investigator program to its pre-2003 status. In 2003, the law was amended to limit (i) the number of humane investigators to those currently serving and (ii) the number of programs to those currently in operation. The 2003 bill allowed those appointed prior to July 1, 2003, to be reappointed for three-year terms. This bill removes the limitations placed on the program by the 2003 law.
Patron - Ticer

F SB 951

Adoption of stray animals. Allows a person living in any political subdivision of the Commonwealth to adopt a stray animal. Currently, persons residing in the locality for which the pound is operated or in an adjacent locality can adopt an animal from a pound; however, any resident regardless of where he lives can adopt an animal if it is sterilized.
Patron - Quayle

F SB 1125

Donation of food to charity organizations. Provides that the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services, in conjunction with the Board of Health, shall promulgate regulations permitting any person to donate food prepared in his private residence to any political subdivision or to any charity organization, which is exempt from taxation under 26 U.S.C. § 501 (c) (3), for distribution to needy persons. The bill likewise provides that the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services, in conjunction with the Board of Health, shall promulgate regulations permitting any political subdivision and any charity organization, which is exempt from taxation under 26 U.S.C. § 501 (c) (3), that is engaged in a food distribution program for needy persons to distribute any food properly donated to it. In addition, the bill prohibits a locality from enacting or enforcing any general law, special act, state regulation, or local ordinance or regulation that imposes conditions or requirements inconsistent with or more stringent than the regulations promulgated by the Board. This bill contains several emergency clauses. This bill was incorporated into SB 806.
Patron - Cuccinelli

F SB 1190

Fighting of cocks and other animals. Makes it a Class 6 felony for any person to engage in the fighting of cocks or other animals except dogs. Under the dogfighting statute, it is currently a Class 6 felony to engage in dogfighting. The bill also makes it a Class 6 felony to possess, train, transport, or sell any animal for the purpose of fighting. The penalty for attending a cock or other animal fight is increased from a Class 3 misdemeanor to a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Patron - Reynolds

F SB 1345

Reporting of suspected dogfighting. Requires public employees, employees of or volunteers at pounds and shelters, and veterinarians to report to animal control or law-enforcement officers injuries to a dog when the injury is consistent with fighting of dogs. If such persons fail to make such a report they are subject to a Class 3 misdemeanor.
Patron - Lambert

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General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2007>Agriculture, Horticulture and Food

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