Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

8046.01000
     Sixty-sixth
     Legislative Assembly                   SENATE BILL NO. 2092
     of North Dakota
     Introduced by
       Agriculture Committee
       (At the request of the Department of Health)
  A BILL for an Act to amend and reenact sections 23-36-01, 23-36-03, 23-36-05, 23-36-06, and
  23-36-08 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to rabies control.
  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF NORTH DAKOTA:
      SECTION 1. AMENDMENT. Section 23-36-01 of the North Dakota Century Code is
  amended and reenacted as follows:
      23-36-01. Definitions.
      As used in this chapter:
      1.   "Bite" means any penetration of the skin by an animal's teeth.
      2.   "Clinical symptomssigns of rabies" means physical signs or symptoms or animal
          behavior that would lead a reasonably prudent veterinarian to conclude that a
          diagnosis of possible rabies is indicated.
     3.   "Confinement" means separation of an animal from humans, other than the owner,
          caretaker, a member of the owner's family, or the caretaker's employees, and from
          other animals, by means of a building, cage, fence, pen, or other secure enclosure
          that restricts the animal's movement within definite boundaries and prevents the
          animal from exiting the enclosure.
     4.   "Department" means the state department of health.
     5.   "Domestic animal" means any dog [canis familiaris], cat [felis domestica], horse, mule,
          bovine animal, sheep, goat, bison, llama, alpaca, swine, or captive-bred, currently
          vaccinated ferret.
     6.   "Emergency" means a situation in which an immediate search and seizure of an
          animal is necessary and authorized by section 8 of article I of the Constitution of North
          Dakota and the fourth amendment to the Constitution of the United States because of
          a risk of death or serious bodily injury to a human or another animal.
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      7.   "Exposure to rabies" means any bite or scratch, and includes any nonbite contact of
           an individual with an animal, animal tissue, or fluids that arewhich is defined as an
           exposure to rabies by the federal advisory committee on immunization practices
           referred to in Public Law No. 103-66 [107 Stat. 636, 642; 42 U.S.C. 1396s(e)].
      8.   "Impound" means quarantining an animal at a public pound or an animal facility of a
           licensed veterinarian.
      9.   "Law enforcement officer" has the meaning of that term as set forth in section
           12.1-01-04.
     10.   "Quarantine" means confinement in a fixed area that keeps a possibly rabid animal
          secure and isolated from all other animals so there is no reasonable possibility of
          rabies being mechanically transmitted from the confined area.
    11.   "Vaccinated animal" means an animal that has been vaccinated in compliance with the
          compendium of animal rabies control issued by the national association of state public
          health veterinarians.
    12.   "Wild mammal" means any animal of the orderclass mammalia which is not a
          domestic animal and includes any hybrid of a domestic animal and a mammal
          regardless of whether the animal is:
          a.   Wildlife as defined in section 20.1-01-02; or
          b.   Held in private ownership.
    SECTION 2. AMENDMENT. Section 23-36-03 of the North Dakota Century Code is
 amended and reenacted as follows:
    23-36-03. Enforcement authority.
     1.   The department, or an agency acting on the department's behalf, may promptly seize
          and humanely kill, impound at the owner's expense, or quarantine any animal if the
          state health officer, or the state health officer's designee, has probable cause to
          believe the animal presents clinical symptomssigns of rabies.
     2.   The department, or an agency acting on the department's behalf, may promptly seize
          and humanely kill, impound at the owner's expense, or quarantine any wild mammal
          that is not currently vaccinated for rabies by a vaccine approved for use on that
          species by the national association of state public health veterinarians, inc., or any
          stray or unwanted domestic animal, if the state health officer, or the state health
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           officer's designee, determines the animal is a threat to human life or safety due to the
           possible exposure of another animal or an individual to rabies.
      3.   The department, or an agency acting on the department's behalf, may promptly seize
           and quarantine, or impound at the owner's expense, any dog, cat, or currently
           vaccinated ferret for a period of ten days, or any other domestic animal for a period not
           exceeding six months, if the state health officer, or the state health officer's designee,
           determines the animal is a threat to human life or safety due to the possible exposure
           of an individual to rabies.
      4.   If an animal is humanely killed under this sectionand there is a possible exposure of
          another animal or an individual to rabies, then at the request of the state health officer,
          or the state health officer's designee, the animal's brain must be tested for rabies by
          the state microbiology laboratory of the department or by the North Dakota veterinary
          diagnostic laboratory. The department may conductseek a diagnosis of rabies for farm
          animals, domestic animals, and wildlife that are suspected of having rabies and report
          findings as appropriate.
   5.4.   If an animal that has bitten or otherwise exposed an individual or another animal is not
          seized for testing, a law enforcement officer with jurisdiction over the place where the
          animal is located may determine whether to impound or quarantine the animal under
          subsection 32 and which method of confinement to use.
   6.5.   A licensed veterinarian shall examine, at the owner's expense, a confined animal on
          the first and last day of the animal's confinement and, at the request of the department
          or, a local public health unit, at any other time during confinementor a law enforcement
          officer with jurisdiction over the place where the animal is located.
     SECTION 3. AMENDMENT. Section 23-36-05 of the North Dakota Century Code is
 amended and reenacted as follows:
     23-36-05. Assistance of state and local agencies.
     If a warrant is issued under section 23-36-04 and upon written request of the department,
 the game and fish department, the state veterinarian, or the wildlife services program of the
 United States department of agriculture animal and plant health inspection service shall provide
 assistance to the department in any action to seize, impound, quarantine, or test an animal
 suspected of having rabies or that has possibly exposed another animal or an individual to
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  rabies, and shall carry out any other preventive measures the department requests. For
  purposes of this section, a request from the department means only a request for assistance as
  to a particular and singular suspicion of exposure to rabies and does not constitute a continuous
  request for assistance.
      The duty of the game and fish department to cooperate and provide assistance under this
  section is limited to cases involving a wild mammal and is applicable only if no other agency is
  available for law enforcement or animal control services.
      SECTION 4. AMENDMENT. Section 23-36-06 of the North Dakota Century Code is
  amended and reenacted as follows:
     23-36-06. Payment for postexposure treatment.
     The department may provide, at no cost, rabies postexposure vaccinebiologics to an
 individual possibly exposed to rabies if the department determines the individual is financially
 unable to pay for the postexposure vaccinebiologics treatment.
     SECTION 5. AMENDMENT. Section 23-36-08 of the North Dakota Century Code is
 amended and reenacted as follows:
     23-36-08. Limitation on liability.
     Subject to any other requirements of section 32-12.2-02, the owner of an animal may bring
 a claim for money damages, and may recover an amount up to the replacement value of the
 animal, if the owner establishes that before the animal was seized and tested for rabies under
 this chapter, the state health officer, or the state health officer's designee, knew or recklessly
 failed to determine that the animal, at the time of the exposure, was lawfully owned and
 licensed and that:
     1.   The animal was a wild mammal, and, at the time of the exposure, was currently
          vaccinated with a vaccine approved for use on an animal of that species by the
          national association of state public health veterinarians, inc.;
     2.   The animal had not bitten, scratched, or otherwise possibly exposed a personanother
          animal or an individual to rabies; or
     3.   The animal was a domestic animal and there was not probable cause to believe the
          animal was rabid.
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Statutes affected: 
INTRODUCED: 23-36-01, 23-36-03, 23-36-05, 23-36-06, 23-36-08
FIRST ENGROSSMENT: 23-36-01, 23-36-03, 23-36-05, 23-36-06, 23-36-08
Enrollment: 23-36-01, 23-36-03, 23-36-05, 23-36-06, 23-36-08