The following bill
STATE OF NEW YORK
5292-A
1999-2000 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 21, 1999
Introduced by Sens. HOFFMANN, DeFRANCISCO, MALTESE, MARCELLINO, McGEE,
SPANO, VOLKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be
committed to the Committee on Agriculture -- recommitted to the Committee
on Agriculture in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8, committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to
said committee
AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to animal
population control and to amend chapter 473 of the laws of 1995, amending
the agriculture and markets law and other laws relating to the better
protection of lost and stray animals and chapter 166 of the laws of 1996,
amending the vehicle and traffic law relating to providing for a distinctive
animal population control fund license plate, in relation to the effective
dates thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly,
do enact as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in boldface is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law
to be omitted.
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1, 2-a, 4 and 7 of section 117-a of the agri-
2 culture and markets law, as added by chapter 473 of the laws of 1995,
3 are amended to read as follows:
4 1. The department shall establish and implement an animal population
5 control program. The purpose of this program shall be to reduce the
6 population of unwanted and stray dogs and cats thereby reducing poten-
7 tial threats to public health and safety posed by the large population
8 of these animals. This program shall seek to accomplish its purpose by
9 encouraging residents of New York state who are the owners of dogs and
10 cats to have them spayed or neutered by providing low-cost spaying and
11 neutering services to such owners meeting the criteria enumerated in
12 subdivision two of this section. The department shall use its best
13 efforts to encourage every adoption facility that qualifies for Partic-
14 ipation in the low-cost spay-neuter program to do so to the maximum
15 possible extent.
16 2-a. Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision two of this
17 section, no resident shall be entitled to participate in the low cost
S.5292-A - page 2
1 spay/neuter program implemented by this section if [such animal was
2 imported or caused to be imported from outside the state and adopted
3 from an otherwise qualifying pound, shelter, duly incorporated society
4 for the prevention of cruelty to animals, humane society or dog or cat
5 protective association or which, on or before the first day of January,
6 nineteen hundred ninety-five included the cost of a spaying/neutering
7 procedure done at its own facilities in the cost of the adoption] the
8 animal to be spayed or neutered:
9 (a) was imported or caused to be imported from outside the state;
10 (b) was adopted from an otherwise qualifying pound, shelter, duly
11 incorporated society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, humane
12 society or dog or cat protective association which included the cost of
13 a spaying or neutering procedure in the cost of the adoption;
14 (c) was spayed or neutered by an otherwise eligible veterinarian who
15 is employed by otherwise qualifying pounds, shelters, duly incorporated
16 societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals, humane societies or
17 dog or cat protective associations except to the extent that they shall
18 have performed spay/neuter procedures in excess of the number of such
19 procedures done upon animals adopted from such facility during nineteen
20 hundred ninety-four; or
21 (d) was adopted from any facility that as a condition of adoption,
22 required or encouraged the utilization of a specific veterinarian or
23 veterinary facility to perform such spay or neuter procedure. The estab-
24 lishment of such conditions by a facility shall constitute grounds for
25 the disqualification of such facility to participate in the program.
26 Nothing contained in this section shall be construed as precluding a
27 facility from informing a person adopting an animal of the identity of
28 those participating veterinarians in the vicinity of such facility in
29 addition to providing them with the voucher provided under this section
30 and any accompanying materials.
31 4. (a) [(1)] Any licensed veterinarian of this state including, but
32 not limited to, licensed veterinarians working at municipal facilities
33 which provide dog and cat spaying and neutering services, other than
34 with respect to animals who would not be eligible pursuant to subdivi-
35 sion two-a of this section [which included the cost of a spay/neuter
36 procedure done at its own facilities in the cost of the adoption,] may
37 participate in the program upon filing with the commissioner an applica-
38 tion therefor, on forms prescribed by the commissioner, which applica-
39 tion shall [supply] certify, in addition to any other information
40 requested by the commissioner, an animal sterilization fee schedule
41 listing the fees charged for spaying and neutering in the normal course
42 of business and for the presurgical immunization of dogs against distem-
43 per, hepatitis, leptosuirosis, parvovirus and rabies, or if deemed
44 necessary for the presurgical immunization of cats against feline
45 panleukopenia, calici, pneumonitis, rhinotracheitis and rabies, as the
46 case may be on the first day of January[, nineteen hundred ninety-five]
47 two thousand one and the first day of January each third year thereafter
48 and the number of spay/neuter procedures done by such facility during
49 [nineteen hundred ninety-four] such period. Additionally, such licensed
50 veterinarian shall certify that the fees charged for procedures and
51 vaccinations for which reimbursement is sought are equal to or less than
52 the lowest fees charged to a private client for such procedures during
53 the previous year. The veterinarian shall also provide the name of the
54 veterinarian, animal hospital, veterinary clinic or other entity to
55 which such reimbursement is to be made. These fees may vary with the
56 animal's [age,] weight, sex and species. The commissioner may, however,
S.5292-A - page 3
1 disqualify from participation in the program any veterinarian whose fees
2 are deemed unreasonable.
3 [(2) Any facility which seeks to participate in the low cost
4 spay/neuter program as provided in this section shall be accredited by
5 the American Animal Hospital Association, the New York State Veterinary
6 Medical Society or a similar accrediting organization at all times for
7 which it seeks reimbursement under such program.] Nothing contained in
8 this subdivision shall limit the right of the state education department
9 to undertake such actions as it may deem necessary to enforce the
10 provisions of article one hundred thirty-five of the education law.
11 (b) Licensed veterinarians of this state participating in the program
12 shall provide, if deemed necessary, for the presurgical immunization of
13 dogs against distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parvovirus and rabies,
14 or if deemed necessary, for the presurgical immunization of cats against
15 feline panleukopenia, calici, pneumonitis, rhinotracheitis and rabies,
16 as the case may be. Charges for such services to the owner or person
17 submitting the dog or cat for spaying or neutering shall be no more than
18 [ten dollars for each presurgical immunization] fifty percent of the
19 amount certified pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision. In addi-
20 tion to other reimbursement to which a licensed veterinarian may be
21 entitled under this section, a veterinarian may seek reimbursement for
22 expenses incurred as a direct result of extraordinary circumstances
23 which occurred during the course of a spay/neuter procedure up to an
24 amount approved by the department which shall not exceed twenty percent
25 of such veterinarian's fee for performing such procedure.
26 (c) The state comptroller upon the submission of vouchers by the
27 commissioner shall, to the extent that monies are available from the
28 animal population control fund, reimburse participating veterinarians
29 for eighty percent of the balance of the fee charged pursuant to
30 [subparagraph one of] paragraph (a) of this subdivision, and after
31 deducting that portion of the fee already paid to the veterinarian by
32 those persons participating in the program pursuant to paragraph (c) of
33 subdivision three of this section, for each animal spaying and neutering
34 procedure administered after the submission to the commissioner of an
35 animal sterilization certificate, prescribed by the commissioner, signed
36 by the veterinarian and the owner of the animal or person authorized by
37 the owner, for each spaying and neutering procedure performed in
38 conjunction with the animal population control program. Notwithstanding
39 the foregoing provisions, the state comptroller shall not reimburse
40 veterinarians for any voucher which shall have been issued by the
41 commissioner more than one year prior to the date upon which it is
42 submitted to the commissioner unless the commissioner shall indicate
43 good cause for the payment of such voucher. If the moneys are not imme-
44 diately available from such fund, the commissioner shall give priority
45 to approving reimbursement to participating veterinarians from counties
46 from which the amount of fees deposited in such fund, after taking into
47 consideration the administrative expenses to which the department is
48 entitled, exceeds the money paid out to participating veterinarians in
49 such counties. The participating veterinarian shall submit to the [comp-
50 troller] commissioner within sixty days of each animal spaying and
51 neutering procedure an animal sterilization certificate for the purposes
52 of reimbursement. Notwithstanding the provisions of this paragraph, the
53 commissioner shall not approve reimbursement to municipal facilities,
54 not-for-profit organizations, pounds, shelters, duly incorporated socie-
55 ties for the prevention of cruelty to animals, humane societies or dog
56 or cat protective associations except to the extent that they shall have
S.5292-A - page 4
1 performed spay/neuter procedures in excess of the number of such proce-
2 dures done by it during nineteen hundred ninety-four.
3 7. The commissioner shall, in consultation with such professional
4 organizations as the commissioner deems appropriate, develop a list of
5 veterinarians approved by the commissioner to participate in the low
6 cost spay/neuter program who provide care, including, but not limited
7 to, spay/neuter procedures, to dogs and cats. Any otherwise qualifying
8 pound, shelter, duly incorporated society for the prevention of cruelty
9 to animals, humane society, or dog or cat protective association shall
10 distribute such list of approved veterinarians to persons adopting a dog
11 or a cat as a precondition to reimbursement under the low-cost
12 spay/neuter program established in this section. In addition to such
13 distribution, such pound, shelter, duly incorporated society for the
14 prevention of cruelty to animals, humane society or dog or cat protec-
15 tive association shall not discriminate against any veterinarian on such
16 list or directly or indirectly require, direct or recommend the utiliza-
17 tion or non-utilization of any such veterinarian for any procedure for
18 which reimbursement is to be sought under this program. Such discrimi-
19 nation may, in the discretion of the commissioner, constitute grounds
20 for the revocation of the right of such facility to participate in the
21 program.
22 § 2. Section 12 of chapter 473 of the laws of 1995, amending the agri-
23 culture and markets law, in relation to the better protection of lost
24 and stray animals, is amended to read as follows:
25 § 12. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day
26 after it shall have become a law[; provided, however, that any payment
27 for reimbursements for spaying or neutering pursuant to the provisions
28 of this act performed prior to April 1, 1996 shall be made on or after
29 April 1, 1996 and provided further that the provisions of this act shall
30 expire of April 1, 2001 and be deemed repealed except that the amend-
31 ments made to the provisions in sections one, three, five, eight and ten
32 of this act shall revert to and be read as set out in law on the date
33 immediately preceding the effective date of this act].
34 § 3. Section 2 of chapter 166 of the laws of 1996, amending the vehi-
35 cle and traffic law, relating to providing for a distinctive animal
36 population control fund license plate, is amended to read as follows:
37 § 2. This act shall take effect on October 1, 1996 [and shall expire
38 and be deemed repealed on the same date as chapter 473 of the laws of
39 1995 expires and is deemed repealed].
40 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
