STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2046

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2026

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2026 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMAL CRUELTY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to prohibit the slaughtering or trafficking of dogs or cats for human consumption.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, The Humane Society of the United States, Hawaiian Humane Society, Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Oahu Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, West Hawaii Humane Society, and thirty individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that despite the enactment of several animal cruelty offenses in Hawaii, local humane societies, law enforcement agencies, and animal protection groups continue to receive reports of dogs and cats being trafficked or slaughtered for human consumption.  Some of these cases involved dogs and cats that were stolen or lost or acquired via online advertisements.  Unlike existing federal and state laws that regulate farm animals that are bred and sold for consumption, the United States Department of Agriculture and Hawaii Department of Agriculture do not recognize or regulate the slaughter or sale of dogs and cats for human consumption.  This measure strengthens Hawaii's animal cruelty laws by creating the offense of cruelty to animals by slaughtering or trafficking dogs or cats for human consumption.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Adopting the language suggested by the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu that amends the definition of "pet animal" under chapter 711, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to apply to any dog or cat rather than only dogs or cats that are not bred for consumption; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2026, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2026, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

 

 

 

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair