Florida Senate - 2013 CS for SB 872
By the Committee on Agriculture; and Senators Abruzzo, Thompson,
Evers, Altman, and Bullard
575-02589-13 2013872c1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to animal shelters and animal control
3 agencies; providing a short title; creating s. 823.17,
4 F.S.; providing legislative findings; requiring each
5 animal shelter and animal control agency to compile
6 monthly and annual summaries of statistical data;
7 listing the categories of information required in the
8 summaries; requiring the summaries be posted on the
9 entity’s website within a specified time period;
10 requiring each summary to be signed by the director of
11 the animal shelter or animal control agency as true
12 and accurate; providing an effective date.
13
14 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
15
16 Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Transparency in
17 Animal Shelter Act”.
18 Section 2. Section 823.17 Florida Statutes is created to
19 read:
20 823.17 Uniform reporting requirements for animal shelters
21 and animal control agencies.
22 (1) The Legislature finds that additional efforts must be
23 made to find homes for homeless and unwanted animals in an
24 effort to reduce or eliminate the euthanasia of adoptable dogs
25 and cats. To that end, the Legislature finds that defining the
26 problem and assessing programs both require statistical
27 measurement.
28 (2) In furtherance of this policy, provision shall be made
29 for the uniform reporting of statistics related to dogs and cats
30 taken in and the ultimate disposition of the animal. Each animal
31 shelter whether public or private, including all animal control
32 agencies of a county, municipality, or other incorporated
33 political subdivision that euthanizes animals according to s.
34 828.058 shall prepare and maintain the following records on a
35 monthly and annual basis, using the calendar year, and make the
36 reports available for public inspection and dissemination no
37 later than 5 business days after the end of the each calendar
38 month:
39 (a) The total number dogs and cats taken in by the animal
40 shelter and animal control agency, divided by dogs and cats, or
41 others in the following categories:
42 1. Starting inventory/shelter count on the first day of the
43 month;
44 2. Stray/At-large;
45 3. Confiscated/Involuntarily taken;
46 4. Relinquished by owner;
47 5. Born in shelter;
48 6. Owner requested euthanasia;
49 7. Transferred in or imported from within the state; and
50 8. Transferred in or imported from out of the state.
51 (b) The disposition of all animals taken into the animal
52 shelter or animal control agency, divided by dogs and cats in
53 the following categories:
54 1. Adopted;
55 2. Returned to owner;
56 3. Transferred out or exported within the state;
57 4. Transferred out or exported to another state;
58 5. Released in field/TNR;
59 6. Shelter euthanasia;
60 7. Owner requested euthanasia;
61 8. Died in care/other deaths not shown as shelter or owner
62 requested euthanasia;
63 9. Lost in care/Missing animals or records; and
64 10. Ending inventory/shelter count at the end of the last
65 day of the month.
66 (3) Each animal shelter and animal control agency shall
67 post these statistics online on the animal shelter, county,
68 municipality, or other governmental website that controls the
69 animal shelter and that is accessible to the general public
70 within 5 business days after the first day of each month, in
71 accordance with the state’s requirements on the accessibility of
72 public records, as well as make the records available in hard
73 copy as defined in s. 119.07.
74 (4) The director of the animal shelter or animal control
75 agency shall sign each report indicating the report is true and
76 accurate to the best of his or her knowledge.
77 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.