Purpose

Specifies that slaughterhouses operating in Arizona must comply with the requirements of the Federal Animal Welfare Act and the Federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. Makes state licensed slaughterhouses subject to prosecution under the state cruelty to animal laws for failure to comply with these federal laws.

Background

Current law prohibits specific acts that constitute cruelty to animals. These acts generally include neglect, abandonment, cruel mistreatment or unnecessary physical injury of an animal with intent or knowledge on the part of the person committing the act. The cruelty to animal statute has been amended several times since its enactment in 1977. The most recent revisions in 1999 expanded the animal cruelty statute to include felony charges of cruelty to animals.

The cruelty to animal statute does not apply to the taking of wildlife, activities permitted under state agriculture laws and any activities regulated by the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the Arizona Department of Agriculture.

Concerns have been recently raised by groups such as the Arizona Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (AzSPCA) that the current law does not allow the prosecution of persons who subject dying, non-ambulatory livestock to mistreatment in slaughterhouses.

The Federal Animal Welfare Act provides for the regulation of the purchase, sale and the transportation of animals in commerce to ensure the humane treatment of those animals. Additionally, the Federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act governs the humane methods of slaughtering livestock.

The proposed strike everything amendment to S.B. 1242 specifies that slaughterhouses in Arizona must comply with federal laws governing the treatment of animals and subjects state-regulated slaughter facilities who fail to comply with these laws to prosecution under the state animal cruelty statute as a class 1 misdemeanor. (Maximum of 6 months in jail and a $2,500 fine plus 70 percent surcharge).

There is no anticipated fiscal impact associated with the strike everything amendment to S.B. 1242.

Provisions

1. Specifies that slaughterhouses in this State are subject to the Federal Animal Welfare Act and the Federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act,

2. Specifies that state licensed slaughterhouses that fail to comply with these two federal laws are subject to prosecution under the state animal cruelty law and subject to a class 1 misdemeanor.

3. Makes technical and conforming changes.

4. Provides for a general effective date.

SA/ac