New Hampshire House Bill 661, sponsored by Representative Janice Gardner, would require licensed animal shelters and rescues to compile, maintain, and report certain records for the animals they provide care for. The bill will be considered by the House Executive Departments and Administration Committee on Tuesday, February 17. All New Hampshire residents are encouraged to contact the committee members and respectfully urge them to vote, “ought to pass.”
Over the past 10 years, responsible dog breeders and pet resellers throughout the United States have been the target of a significant amount of new laws and regulation that, among other requirements, calls for the keeping of detailed medical and transfer records. Shelter and rescue operations generally have not been subject to those requirements. Shelter reporting bills, like HB 661, serve several purposes, including helping to protect the public’s health, helping governments determine how to allocate resources, understanding the movement of animals across state lines, and improve accountability for proper operations.
HB 661 would require New Hampshire’s animal shelters and rescues to compile, maintain, and report certain records for any animal born; accepted from a transporter, animal control officer, or its owner; cared for; sold or otherwise transferred; or which died while in a licensed facility’s possession. The information would then be reported to the New Hampshire Director of Charitable Trusts for publication.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
New Hampshire residents are encouraged to contact the members of the House Executive Departments and Administration Committee—which is scheduled to consider HB 661 on Tuesday, February 17, 2015, at 1:30PM, in Room 306 of the Legislative Office Building, 33 North State Street, Concord, NH 03301—and urge them to vote, “ought to pass.”
Email all members of the committee at HouseExecutiveDepartmentsandAdministration@leg.state.nh.us.
Email individual members of the committee as indicated:
Representative Andrew Christie, Chairman – andrew.christie@leg.state.nh.us.
Representative John Sytek, Vice Chairman – john.sytek@leg.state.nh.us.
Representative Peter Hansen – peter.hansen@leg.state.nh.us.
Representative J.R. Hoell – jr.hoell@leg.state.nh.us.
Representative William Goulette – bill.goulette@leg.state.nh.us.
Representative Steven Woitkun – steven.woitkun@leg.state.nh.us.
Representative Peter Schmidt – reppbs@ttlc.net.
Representative Jeffrey Goley – jgoley03104@yahoo.com.
Representative Carol Roberts – Carol.Roberts@leg.state.nh.us.
Representative Steven Beaudoin – steven.beaudoin@leg.state.nh.us.
Representative Jeffrey Shackett – jeffrey.shackett@leg.state.nh.us.
Representative Thomas Kaczynski, Jr. – hampoul@metrocast.net.
Representative Harold Parker – hbpcd6@gmail.com.
Representative Jean Jeudy – jean.jeudy@leg.state.nh.us.
Representative Daniel Hansberry – Daniel.Hansberry@leg.state.nh.us.
Representative Mark Proulx – 76 Janet Court, Manchester, NH 03103 (email address unavailable)
Representative Daniel Tamburello – daniel.tamburello@leg.state.nh.us.
Representative Gregory Smith – gregory.smith@leg.state.nh.us.
Representative Raymond Gagnon – Raymond.Gagnon@leg.state.nh.us.
Representative Daniel Sullivan – Dan.Sullivan@leg.state.nh.us.
Representative Jacalyn Cilley – jcilley@aol.com.
For more information, contact the Dog Owners of the Granite State, AKC’s New Hampshire federation, which is also supporting HB 661, at dogs.nh@gmail.com; or AKC Government Relations at (919) 816-3720 or at doglaw@akc.org.