GEORGIA CANINE COALITION, INC.

2006 LEGISLATIVE UPDATE FOR GEORGIA 

The Georgia General Assembly ended on March 30, 2006.  The 2005-2006 General Assembly has been very successful for the Georgia Canine Coalition.  The GCC was successful in preventing passage of bills that would have been harmful to dog owners such as the excessively broad dog fighting bill, BSL bill and the proposed Rabies bill.  We have raised the knowledge of the legislators about the problems of BSL. 

Since this was the second term of the 2005-2006 Session, those bills that did not pass are dead.  Below is a recap of legislation affecting dog owners. 

HB 78 was introduced in January 2005. Because it was the first year of a two-year term for the General Assembly this bill carried to the 2006 Session.  This bill dealt with Breed Specific Legislation.  Because of the efforts of the GCC, the main sponsor announced in July 2005, that he would not go forward with this bill.  This bill is dead.

HB 999 is related to the Veterinarian Practice Act and affects veterinary technicians.  It also removes from the Veterinarian Practice Act the reference to homeopathy or botanical medicine.  The Georgia Veterinarian Association asked us for our support and concerns before this bill was introduced.  We supported this bill. This bill passed. 

HB 1174 related to general provisions relative to animal protection, so as to change certain provisions relating to display of licenses and to provide for licensing and compliance of separate places of business of pet dealers and kennel operators.  This bill would affect those with multiple locations such as Petsmart.  This bill is dead. 

HB 1376 related to control of rabies and added a fee to the rabies vaccination and also allowed for data collection.  We saw this bill when it was introduced and notified other interested parties. We actively lobbied against this bill.  With our effort and the effort of other parties, we secured an assurance from the sponsor that he would not ask for this bill or move this bill forward.  This bill is dead 

HB 1497 is a substitute to the original bill.  This bill deals with and provides for requirements for those owning vicious dogs.  We were asked for input on this bill and supported this bill.  The Vicious Dog bill passed in a form that protects dog owners in the state. 

SB 111 related to protection of canine establishments from ejection by surrounding property owners who acquired the property with knowledge of the existing establishment.  We supported the introduction of the bill and it passed the Senate in the 2005 Session.  In the House the Chairman of the House Civil Judiciary seized the bill and refused to take action because of his concerns about its impact on the state of nuisance law in Georgia.  This Session he has not allowed the bill to be moved from his Committee to another Committee that was more favorable to our bill.  Our plans are to introduce a similar bill in the next Session. 

SB 229 is the anti-animal fighting bill.  We were opposed to the original bill as it could have had much wider application.  There were at least three versions of this bill.  This bill was held in the House Judiciary (Non-Civil) Committee for both procedural and substantive reasons.  The Georgia Canine Coalition opposes dog fighting and believes that a better bill can be developed before the next session.

FEDERAL LEGISLATION