Requires higher education research facilities to provide information to the department of education regarding dogs or cats available for adoption and requires higher education research facilities to hold such dogs or cats for fourteen days.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A636
SPONSOR: Rosenthal L TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to requiring higher
education research facilities to provide information to the department
of education regarding dogs or cats available for adoption
PURPOSE:
To ensure dogs and cats from research facilities are being offered for
adoption, as required by chapter 240 of the laws of 2016.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one amends subdivision 1 of section 239-b of the education law
and adds new subdivisions 4 and 5.
Section two sets forth the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
In 2016, the "Beagle Freedom" bill was enacted to require research
facilities in New York State to offer healthy dogs and cats for adoption
after completion of any testing or research that was performed on them.
This law provides dogs and cats a chance to be placed in a loving home
when their time in the lab is over. However, the law does not provide a
mechanism to showcase animals that are available for adoption, making it
difficult for families looking to adopt to locate a dog or cat from a
research facility.
This legislation would require the Department of Education to include
information on its website such as the species, breed, age, and sex of
retired research animals available for adoption, increasing their chanc-
es of finding a home.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2019-20: A.9137 - Referred to Higher Education
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
60 days.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
636
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 6, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Higher Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring higher
education research facilities to provide information to the department
of education regarding dogs or cats available for adoption
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 239-b of the education law, as
2 added by chapter 240 of the laws of 2016, is amended and two new subdi-
3 visions 4 and 5 are added to read as follows:
4 1. A higher education research facility that receives public money,
5 including tax-exempt status, or a facility that provides research in
6 collaboration with a higher education facility shall after the
7 completion of any testing or research involving a dog or cat, assess the
8 health of the dog or cat and determine whether it is suitable for
9 adoption. Such facility shall thereafter make reasonable efforts,
10 including, but not limited to, efforts specified in subdivision four of
11 this section, to offer for adoption the dog or cat determined to be
12 suitable for adoption, either through private placement or through an
13 animal rescue and shelter organization, a duly incorporated society for
14 the prevention of cruelty to animals, a duly incorporated humane socie-
15 ty, or a duly incorporated animal protective association that operates
16 physical animal sheltering facilities and offers household pets to the
17 public for adoption by way of an established adoption program, prior to
18 euthanizing such dog or cat. All animal rescues, organizations, associ-
19 ations and societies selected by the higher education research facility
20 to adopt such animals shall be exempt from taxes pursuant to paragraph
21 (3) of subsection (c) of section 501 of the federal Internal Revenue
22 Code, 26 U.S.C. 501, or any subsequent corresponding sections of the
23 federal Internal Revenue Code, as from time to time amended. Nothing in
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00368-01-1
A. 636 2
1 this section shall create a duty upon such an organization, association
2 or society to accept a dog or cat offered by a higher education research
3 facility for adoption.
4 4. (a) A facility that is required to offer dogs or cats for adoption
5 under this section shall provide to the department relevant information
6 about each dog or cat that is available for adoption, including, but not
7 limited to:
8 (1) the species;
9 (2) the breed, if known;
10 (3) the approximate age; and
11 (4) the sex.
12 (b) The department shall post such information regarding each dog or
13 cat that is available for adoption on the department's website promptly
14 after receiving the information from the facility. A facility that is
15 required to offer dogs or cats for adoption under this section shall
16 hold such dogs and cats for at least fourteen days from the date of
17 posting of the availability of such dog or cat for adoption on the
18 department's website in order to provide an opportunity for private
19 placement or placement with such animal rescues, organizations, associ-
20 ations, and societies specified in subdivision one of this section.
21 5. The department shall promulgate regulations as shall be necessary
22 to implement the provisions of this section.
23 § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
24 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment
25 and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation
26 of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
27 completed on or before such effective date.
