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An Act To Amend the Animal Welfare Laws To Add Provisions Relating to the Surrender of Animals
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 7 MRSA §3906-B, sub-§11, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 502, Pt. C, §12, is amended to read:
 
11. Cruelty to animals.   The commissioner, in cooperation with animal control officers, shall investigate complaints of cruelty to animals and enforce cruelty-to-animal laws in accordance with chapter 739 and Title 17, chapter 42. The Attorney General and the district attorneys shall assist the commissioner with the commissioner's enforcement responsibilities.
 
The commissioner may decide, based on the facts of a particular case, to waive costs and fees associated with the surrender of animals, and may further decide that the case should not be sent to the attorney for the State, if the person who is the subject of the investigation has voluntarily surrendered the animals to the department and if the person has not previously been charged with cruelty to animals or charged with animal neglect. If the commissioner waives costs and fees associated with the surrender of animals or decides that the case should not be sent to the attorney for the State, the commissioner shall require the person to sign an affidavit stating that the person will never again possess or own any animals of the same species as the animals that were surrendered.
Sec. 2.  17 MRSA §1023, sub-§1-A  is enacted to read:
 
1-A.  Surrender of animals.     The commissioner may decide, based on the facts of a particular case, to waive costs and fees associated with the surrender of animals, and may further decide that the case should not be sent to the attorney for the State, if the person who is the subject of the investigation has voluntarily surrendered the animals to the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and if the person has not previously been charged with cruelty to animals or charged with animal neglect. If the commissioner waives costs and fees associated with the surrender of animals or decides that the case should not be sent to the attorney for the State, the commissioner shall require the person to sign an affidavit stating that the person will never again possess or own any animals of the same species as the animals that were surrendered.
 
SUMMARY
This bill allows the Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry in cases of alleged cruelty to animals to waive costs and fees associated with the surrender of animals, and to decide that the case should not be sent to the attorney for the State, as long as the person who is subject to the investigation has voluntarily surrendered the animals to the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and has not previously been charged with cruelty to animals or charged with animal neglect. If the commissioner waives such costs or fees or decides that the case shouldn't be sent to the attorney for the State, the commissioner shall require the person to sign an affidavit stating that the person will never again possess or own animals of the same species as the animals that were surrendered.