SB 123 — AN ACT INCREASING THE PENALTY FOR THE INTENTIONAL INJURY OF A POLICE ANIMAL OR DOG IN A VOLUNTEER CANINE SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM.

Senate General Assembly CommitteeFile Bill No.

12388 January Session, 2021 LCOSenate Bill No.

2866123 ReferredSenate, toMarch 18, 2021 The Committee on PUBLICPublic SAFETYSafety ANDand SECURITYSecurity Introducedreported by:through SEN.

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AN ACT INCREASING THE PENALTY FOR THE INTENTIONAL INJURY OF A POLICE ANIMAL OR DOG IN A VOLUNTEER CANINE SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM.

(a) Any person who (1) overdrives, drives when overloaded, overworks, tortures, deprives of necessary sustenance, mutilates or cruelly beats or kills or unjustifiably injures any animal, [or who,] (2) having impounded or confined any animal, fails to give such animal proper care or neglects to cage or restrain any such animal from doing injury to itself or to another animal or fails to supply any such animal with wholesome air, food and water, [or] (3) unjustifiably administers any poisonous or noxious drug or substance to any domestic animal or unjustifiably exposes any such drug or substance, with intent that the same shall be taken by an animal, or causes it to be done, [or,] (4) having charge or custody of any animal, inflicts cruelty upon it or fails to provideSB123 it/ withFile proper food, drink or protection from the weather or LCO 2866 \\PRDFS1\SCOUSERS\FORZANOF\WS\2021SB-00123-R01 of 3 SB.docx Committee Bill No.

12388 abandons1 itSB123 orFile carriesNo. it or causes it to be carried in a cruel manner, or (5) fights with or baits, harasses or worries any animal for the purpose of making it perform for amusement, diversion or exhibition, shall, for a first offense, be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year or both, and for each subsequent offense, shall be guilty of a class D felony.

88 provide it with proper food, drink or protection from the weather or abandons it or carries it or causes it to be carried in a cruel manner, or (5) fights with or baits, harasses or worries any animal for the purpose of making it perform for amusement, diversion or exhibition, shall, for a first offense, be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year or both, and for each subsequent offense, shall be guilty of a class D felony.

(d) Any person who intentionally injures or kills any animal while such animal is in the performance of its duties under the supervision of a peace officer, as defined in section 53a-3, or intentionally injures or kills a dog that is a member of a volunteer canine search and rescue team, as defined in section 5-249, while such dog is in the performance of its duties under the supervision of the active individual member of suchSB123 team,/ shallFile beNo. guilty of a class [D] C felony.

LCO88 28662 {\\PRDFS1\SCOUSERS\FORZANOF\WS\2021SB-00123-2SB123 ofFile 3 R02-SB.docx } Committee Bill No.

12388 [(e) Any person who intentionally kills any animal while such animal is in the performance of its duties under the supervision of a peace officer, as defined in section 53a-3, or intentionally kills a dog that is a member of a volunteer canine search and rescue team, as defined in section 5-249, while such dog is in the performance of its duties under the supervision of the active individual member of such team, shall be finedguilty notof morea thanclass ten[D] thousandC dollarsfelony. or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.] This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:

Section[(e) 1Any Octoberperson 1,who 2021intentionally 53-247kills PSany Jointanimal Favorablewhile LCOsuch 2866animal {\\PRDFS1\SCOUSERS\FORZANOF\WS\2021SB-00123-is 3in the performance of 3its R02-SB.docxduties }under the supervision of a peace officer, as defined in section 53a-3, or intentionally kills a dog that is a member of a volunteer canine search and rescue team, as defined in section 5-249, while such dog is in the performance of its duties under the supervision of the active individual member of such team, shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.] This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:

Section 1 October 1, 2021 53-247 PS Joint Favorable SB123 / File No.

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88 The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose.

In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge.

Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.

OFA Fiscal Note State Impact:

Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 22 $ FY 23 $ Judicial Dept.

(Probation);

GF - Potential See Below See Below Correction, Dept.

Cost Resources of the General Fund GF - Potential See Below See Below Revenue Gain Note:

GF=General Fund Municipal Impact:

None Explanation This bill increases the criminal penalty for intentionally injuring a peace officer’s animal or a volunteer canine search and rescue team’s dog while they are performing their duties under supervision.

To the extent that this change results in increased penalties, this provision may result in a potential cost for incarceration or probation and a potential revenue gain from fines assessed.

On average, the marginal cost to the state for incarcerating an offender for the year is $2,200 while the 1 average marginal cost for supervision in the community is less than $700 each year.

There have been 10 charges under the current law in the past 5 years with no fine penalty assessed.

1Inmate marginal cost is based on increased consumables (e.g.

food, clothing, water, sewage, living supplies, etc.) This does not include a change in staffing costs or utility expenses because these would only be realized if a unit or facility opened.

2Probation marginal cost is based on services provided by private providers and only includes costs that increase with each additional participant.

This does not include a cost for additional supervision by a probation officer unless a new offense is anticipated to result in enough additional offenders to require additional probation officers.

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88 The Out Years The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would continue into the future subject to the number of violations.

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88 OLR Bill Analysis SB 123 AN ACT INCREASING THE PENALTY FOR THE INTENTIONAL INJURY OF A POLICE ANIMAL OR DOG IN A VOLUNTEER CANINE SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAM.

SUMMARY This bill increases the criminal penalty for intentionally injuring a peace officer’s animal or a volunteer canine search and rescue team’s dog while they are performing their duties under supervision.

Specifically, the bill raises the penalty from a class D to a class C felony, which increases the (1) maximum term of imprisonment from five to 10 years and (2) maximum fine from $5,000 to $10,000.

The billalso formally classifiesthe intentional killing ofthoseanimals as a class C felony.