Requires municipal officials to attempt to identify and notify the owners of a deceased dog or cat recovered on public roads by such municipal employees.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1698A
SPONSOR: Weprin TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to the
recovery of a deceased dog or cat on public roads
PURPOSE:
The purpose of the bill is to require municipal officials to make a
reasonable attempt to identify any indica of ownership on a deceased dog
or cat they may find.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
This bill would require municipal officials to make a reasonable attempt
to identify any indica of ownership on a deceased dog or cat they may
find in the normal and ordinary course of their public employment, and
notify the owner or animal management officials of the owner's death.
JUSTIFICATION:
Annually thousands of pets are killed in traffic in New York State.
Their bodies may be disposed of at landfills by highway departments
without any notice to the families, regardless of whether the pet has an
identifying chip or collar.
This bill will require municipal officials to make a reasonable effort
to detect the ownership of a dog or cat killed on a public road if found
in the normal course of their employment, and then make a reasonable
effort to provide notification to the owner or animal management offi-
cials concerning the animal's death.
This law will create an opportunity to bring closure to the grief and
agony felt by many families whose companion animal is "simply missing"
one day and who suffer this loss not knowing what happened to their
beloved family member.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-2024: S.9719/A.6239-A - Referred to Agriculture/ Ordered to third
reading
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one-hundred-eightieth day after it
shall become law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1698--A
R. R. 417
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 14, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN, BUTTENSCHON, SCHIAVONI -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Agriculture -- reported and referred to
the Committee on Codes -- reported and referred to the Committee on
Rules -- Rules Committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted
as amended and recommitted to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to the
recovery of a deceased dog or cat on public roads
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The agriculture and markets law is amended by adding a new
2 section 377-b to read as follows:
3 § 377-b. Recovery of a deceased dog or cat on public roads. Any munic-
4 ipal employee that recovers the body of a dog or cat killed on a public
5 road in the normal and ordinary course of the public employment or
6 duties of such employee shall make a reasonable effort to detect indicia
7 of ownership, such as tags, license numbers, or other such identifiers
8 on or about the animal and shall make a reasonable effort to notify the
9 owner or an animal management service concerning the animal's death.
10 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
11 it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03746-03-5
