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Amend the bill in section 1 in subsection 11 by striking out all of the last paragraph (page 1, lines 9 to 17 in L.D.) and inserting the following:
 
‘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. The commissioner may not waive costs and fees associated with the surrender of animals or decide that the case should not be sent to the attorney for the State, unless the person agrees 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 until the person can properly care for them and has the financial capacity to properly care for them, as determined by the commissioner.’
Amend the bill in section 2 by striking out all of subsection 1-A (page 1, lines 19 to 28 in L.D.) and inserting the following:
 
‘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. The commissioner may not waive costs and fees associated with the surrender of animals or decide that the case should not be sent to the attorney for the State, unless the person agrees 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 until the person can properly care for them and has the financial capacity to properly care for them, as determined by the commissioner.’
 
SUMMARY
Under the bill, the Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry 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. Under the bill, 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 must 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.
This amendment is the majority report of the committee and provides that the commissioner may not waive costs and fees associated with the surrender of animals or decide that the case should not be sent to the attorney for the State unless the person agrees 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 until the person can properly care for them and has the financial capacity to properly care for them, as determined by the commissioner.