Reference is to Printer's Date 5/25/16--H.
Amend the bill, as and if amended, by striking all after the enacting words and inserting:
/ SECTION 1. Article 1, Chapter 69, Title 40 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 40-69-300.
(A) For purposes of this section:
(1)
'Animal shelter' means:
(a)
a veterinary hospital or clinic operated by a veterinarian
or veterinarians which operates for the purpose of impounding,
care, adoption or harboring seized, stray, homeless, abandoned,
or unwanted dogs, cats, and other animals ; or
(b)
a facility operated, owned, or maintained by an
incorporated humane society, animal welfare society, or other
nonprofit organization for the purpose of providing for and
promoting the welfare, protection, and humane treatment of
animals but for the purpose of impounding, care, adoption or
harboring seized, stray, homeless, abandoned, or unwanted dogs,
cats, and other animals.
(c)
'Veterinary services' means the examination, diagnosis,
and treatment of animal patients, administration of vaccines,
diagnostic, imaging, surgery, laboratory, pharmacology, and
provision of hospitalization and emergency treatment.
(B) Notwithstanding
another provision of law, all animal shelters operating in this
State that provide veterinary services are subject to the
regulation of the South Carolina Board of Veterinary Medical
Examiners.
(C) A veterinarian
providing veterinary services in an animal shelter, and each
animal shelter itself, shall prepare, or cause to be prepared, a
written or electronic record concerning the animals in their
respective care. An animal shelter shall maintain records for a
minimum of three years after the last entry. A copy of a record
relating to an animal whose ownership is being transferred must
be provided to the owner at the time of adoption or fostering.
(D) An animal shelter
shall prepare and maintain records documenting the number of
animals admitted to the facility and the method by which those
animals exit the facility, whether by adoption, fostering,
natural death, euthanasia, transfer to another state, or other
means of discharge. The report also must contain the mailing
address and street address of the current place of business, and
working telephone number of the animal shelter. The shelter
shall compile this data in a report and submit the report to the
Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation before January
thirty-first of each year. The department shall make these
reports available on its Internet website.
(E) An animal shelter
operated by the State or a county, municipal corporation, or
other political subdivision of the state is exempt from the
provisions of Section 40-69-300 and is regulated pursuant to
Sections 47-3-10, et al. However, the Department of Labor,
Licensing and Regulation is authorized to enter public animal
shelters for purposes of regulating the practice of veterinarian
medicine or investigating suspicion of unauthorized practice of
veterinarian medicine.
(F) The Department of
Labor, Licensing and Regulation shall place on its website a
list of all emergency veterinarian clinics in each county within
six months of the renewal license period after the enactment of
this section.
(G) All shelters and
emergency veterinarian clinics that provide veterinary services
must register with the South Carolina Board of Veterinary
Medical Examiners."
SECTION 2. Chapter 69, Title 40 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 40-69-305.
(A) Dispensing a prescription drug to
the owner of an end-user for the treatment of a bodily injury or
disease of an animal is unlawful unless the prescription is:
(1)
labeled with all information required by state and federal
law; and
(2)
prescribed by a veterinarian licensed under this chapter.
(B) The South Carolina
Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners shall regulate the
dispensing of prescription drugs as pursuant to Section
40-69-305(A) to animal owners."
SECTION 3. Section 40-69-295 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 40-69-295.
(A) Regardless of mode of
transportation, a mobile facility must have a permanent base of
operation with a published address and telephone facilities for
making appointments or responding to emergency situations.
The mobile practice or facility must identify the closest
local emergency veterinary services facility to the mobile
location. The contact information of the local emergency
veterinary services facility must be posted at the mobile
location and be included in the paperwork given to the pet owner
documenting the services rendered.
(B) A mobile
practice affiliated with, operated by, or supported by a public
or private nonprofit animal shelter is prohibited from operating
within eyesight of the nearest privately owned veterinarian
practice. (C)
As used in this section:
(1)
'mobile veterinary practice' means any form of
clinical veterinary practice that may be transported or moved
from one location to another for delivery of services to a pet;
and
(2)
'pet' means a domesticated animal kept as a pet
but does not include livestock, as defined in Section
47-9-210(1)."
SECTION 4. Section 56-3-9600 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 347 of 2008, is further amended to read:
"Section 56-3-9600.
(A) The Department of Motor Vehicles
may issue 'No More Homeless Pets' special motor vehicle license
plates to owners of private passenger motor vehicles as defined
in Section 56-3-630 registered in their names, which may have
imprinted on the plate 'No More Homeless Pets'. The special
license plate must be issued or revalidated for a biennial
period which expires twenty-four months from the month it is
issued. The fee for this special license plate is the regular
motor vehicle registration fee contained in Article 5, Chapter 3
of this title and a special motor vehicle license fee of seventy
dollars.
(B) Notwithstanding
any other another provision of law, of
the fees collected pursuant to this section, the Comptroller
General shall place sufficient funds into a special restricted
account to be used by the Department of Motor Vehicles to defray
the expenses of the Department of Motor Vehicles in producing
and administering the special license plates. The remaining
funds collected from the special motor vehicle license fee must
be deposited in a special account, separate and apart from the
general fund, designated for use by the South Carolina
Department of Agriculture to support local animal spaying and
neutering programs. The South Carolina Department of Agriculture
may use up to ten percent of the fees deposited in the special
account for the administration of the program. Local private
nonprofit tax exempt organizations offering animal spaying and
neutering programs may apply for grants from this fund to
further their tax exempt purposes. Grants must be awarded not
more than once a year, and an applicant must receive as a grant
an amount of the total revenues in the fund multiplied by the
percentage that the applicant's caseload in the preceding
calendar year was of the total caseload of all applicants in
that year. The South Carolina Animal Care and Control
Association (SCACCA), or its successor organization, on behalf
of the tax exempt organizations, shall coordinate the grant
program, make the request for reimbursement from the Department
of Agriculture, and distribute the individual grants to the
participating tax exempt organizations.
(C) Before the
Department of Motor Vehicles produces and distributes a special
license plate pursuant to this section, it must receive:
(1)
four hundred or more prepaid applications for the special
license plate or a deposit of four thousand dollars from the
individual or organization seeking issuance of the license
plate. If a deposit of four thousand dollars is made by an
individual or organization pursuant to this section, the
department must refund the four thousand dollars once an
equivalent amount of license plate fees is collected for that
organization's license plate. If the equivalent amount is not
collected within four years of the first issuance of the license
plate, the department must retain the deposit; and
(2)
a plan to market the sale of the special license plate
that must be approved by the department.
(D) If the department
receives less than three hundred biennial applications and
renewals for a particular special license plate authorized under
this section, it shall not produce additional special license
plates in that series. The department shall continue to issue
special license plates of that series until the existing
inventory is exhausted.
(E) The
Department of Agriculture annually shall provide an accounting
and summary of this program to the Chairman of the Senate
Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee and to the Chairman
of the House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental
Affairs Committee before September first.
(F) A local
private nonprofit animal spaying and neutering program that
requests reimbursement for services related to this program
shall provide to the SCACCA the name and address of each person
who brought the animal to the program. Before the Department of
Agriculture may send a reimbursement to the SCACCA, the SCACCA
shall provide the Department of Agriculture a list of each
individual who brought a pet in for spaying or neutering and the
number of animals brought in by that individual for spaying or
neutering."
SECTION 5. (A)
There is established the Pet Care and Humane
Treatment Study Committee to review, study, and make
recommendations concerning the need for improved oversight and
regulation in the State.
(B) The study committee
shall:
(1)
identify issues relating to pets including, but not
limited to, breeding, adoption, purchase, veterinary care,
transportation, and sale of pets out of this State;
(2)
identify and categorize a statewide estimate of the
historical and current private nonprofit animal shelters in this
State, rescue shelters, county animal shelters, and municipal
animal shelters;
(3)
identify and categorize the range of services offered in
an animal shelter including kenneling, grooming, and veterinary
services;
(4)
identify and categorize any
limitations on services based on income status or other poverty
measures;
(5)
identify any underserved areas of the State for basic
veterinary services;
(6)
identify concerns related to unhealthy breeding
practices;
(7)
identify and quantify the sale of pets by animal shelters
to out of state individuals or organizations;
(8)
identify how animals are transported to other states and
any regulation that might apply;
(9)
review the animal cruelty laws and determine if the
enforcement and penalties are working;
(10)
review appointments to the Board of Veterinary Medical
Examiners to determine if it needs any updating or structural
change; and
(11)
recommend changes to public policy, regulations, or
statutes that would improve the overall health and safety of
animal shelters, breeding practices, sale, and transportation of
pets.
(C) The study committee
must be composed of eleven members.
(1)
The Chairman of the Senate Agriculture and Natural
Resources Committee shall appoint the following five members:
(a)
a member of the Senate;
(b)
a licensed doctor of veterinary medicine residing in South
Carolina;
(c)
a representative from an animal shelter located in this
State;
(d)
a representative from the American Kennel Club; and
(e)
a representative of the Municipal Association of South
Carolina.
(2)
The Chairman of the House Agriculture, Natural Resources,
and Environmental Affairs Committee shall appoint the following
four members:
(a)
a member of the House of Representatives;
(b)
a licensed doctor of veterinary medicine residing in South
Carolina;
(c)
a representative from the National Humane Society; and
(d)
a representative of the South Carolina Association of
Counties.
(3)
The Governor shall appoint one member
to represent the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing,
and Regulation.
(4)
The Commissioner of Agriculture shall
appoint one member.
(D) The appointed
Senator shall serve as the study committee chairman.
The members of the study committee shall serve
without compensation and may not receive mileage or per diem.
Staff from the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources
Committee and staff from the House Agriculture, Natural
Resources, and Environmental Affairs Committee shall provide
support for the study committee.
(E) The study committee
shall make a report of its findings and recommendations to the
General Assembly during the 2017 legislative session, at which
time the study committee shall cease to exist.
SECTION 6. If any section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this act is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such holding shall not affect the constitutionality or validity of the remaining portions of this act, the General Assembly hereby declaring that it would have passed this Act, and each and every section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, and word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases, or words hereof may be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid, or otherwise ineffective.
SECTION 7. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor. /
Renumber sections to conform.
Amend title to conform.