DEFINITION OF "ANIMAL" H.B. 4186:
SUMMARY OF HOUSE-PASSED BILL
IN COMMITTEE
House Bill 4186 (as passed by the House)
Sponsor: Representative Julie Alexander
CONTENT
The bill would amend Public Act 287 of 1969, which regulates pet shops, animal control shelters, and animal protection shelters, to modify the definition of "animal".
The Act defines "animal" as a vertebrate other than a human being. Under the bill, except as provided in Section 8b, "animal" would mean a mammal except livestock as defined in Public Act 284 of 1937, and rodents. (Public Act 284 provides for the regulation of livestock transactions and transportation. Under that Act, "livestock" includes horses, ponies, mules, cattle, calves, swine, sheep, poultry, privately owned cervids (deer, moose, or elk), ratites (flightless birds, such as ostrich or emu), aquaculture species, and goats.)
Section 8b of Public Act 287 (also referred to as "Logan's Law") allows an animal control shelter or animal protection shelter to conduct a search using the Internet Criminal History Access Tool (ICHAT) before allowing an individual to adopt an animal, in order to determine whether he or she has a prior criminal history for an animal abuse offense. Section 8c allows an animal control shelter or animal protection shelter to consider an individual's criminal history when deciding whether to allow that individual to adopt an animal. Under the bill, for the purposes of Section 8b and 8c only, "animal" would mean a vertebrate other than a human being.
BACKGROUND
Previously, Public Act 287 of 1969 defined "animal" as a mammal except livestock or rodents. That definition was changed to "a vertebrate other than a human being" by Public Act 392 of 2016, which added Section 8c and other sections to Public Act 287 and otherwise amended the statute. At the same time, Public Act 393 of 2016 added Section 8b to the statute. Public Acts 392 and 393 took effect on March 29, 2017.
Legislative Analyst: Jeff Mann
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have no fiscal impact on State or local government.
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.