Chapter 291
2004 -- S 2341
SUBSTITUTE A AS AMENDED
Enacted 07/02/04
A N A C T
RELATING
TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY
Introduced
By: Senator V. Susan Sosnowski
Date
Introduced: February 11, 2004
It
is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION
1. The title of Chapter 4-7 of the General Laws entitled "Cattle
Dealers" is
hereby
amended to read as follows:
CHAPTER
4-7
Cattle
Dealers
CHAPTER
7
LIVESTOCK
DEALERS
SECTION
2. Sections 4-7-1, 4-7-2, 4-7-4, 4-7-5, 4-7-6, 4-7-7, 4-7-8, 4-7-13, 4-7-14,
4-7-
15,
4-7-16, 4-7-17, 4-7-18, 4-7-19, 4-7-20, 4-7-22 and 4-7-23 of the General Laws
in Chapter 4-7
entitled
"Cattle Dealers" are hereby amended to read as follows:
4-7-1.
License required. -- No person, firm or corporation, wherever located,
who, in the
judgment
of the director of environmental management, is primarily engaged in the
business of
buying,
selling or exchanging bovine animals livestock within the state shall
engage in the
business
of buying, selling, or exchanging bovine animals livestock within
the state, except for
immediate slaughter within
seventy-two (72) hours, without first obtaining a license from the
director
of environmental management.
4-7-2.
Rules and regulations -- Terms of licenses -- License and renewal fees. --
The
director
of environmental management may make rules and regulations governing animal
care,
the
issuance of licenses and the carrying out of the licensed business and relative
to the
maintenance
of premises, buildings and conveyances, the health rating of bovine animals
livestock intended for sale, and
the method and time of inspection and checking of those animals.
Each
license shall expire on the thirtieth (30th) day of June of each year. The fee
for every license
or
renewal is five one hundred dollars ($5.00). ($100).
4-7-4.
Dealing without license. -- Any person, firm or corporation engaged in
the
business
of buying, selling, or exchanging bovine animals livestock,
except for immediate
slaughter
within seventy-two (72) hours, without a license shall be deemed guilty
of a
misdemeanor
and upon conviction shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars ($500).
4-7-5.
Notice of imported cattle -- Testing. -- Compliance with
importation
regulations.
--
Every
dealer of cattle imported into the state or acquired for the purpose of sale or
trade
shall immediately upon that importation or acquisition notify the director of
environmental
management
of that importation or acquisition and shall retain the cattle within his or
her farm or
stables
for a period of seventy-two (72) hours after notification to the department of
environmental
management and until the cattle are inspected and tested for tuberculosis and
brucellosis
in accordance with chapters 5 and 6 of this title and the regulations
promulgated under
these
chapters.
Every dealer of livestock is required to comply with existing rules and
regulations
governing
the importation of livestock into the state.
4-7-6.
Definitions. -- As used in sections 4-7-6 -- 4-7-23:
(1) "Cattle" "Livestock" means any livestock
bovine, equine, caprine, ovine, camelids,
swine
or other animal
sold for slaughter any purpose.
(2) "Director" means the director of the department of environmental
management.
(3) "Farmers' co-operative" means a nonprofit association of
producers organized with or
without
capital stock for the purpose of producing and/or selling food commodities.
(4) "License" means the certificate issued by the director to any
person, firm,
partnership,
or corporation regularly engaged in the business of buying, selling and/or
transporting
cattle livestock to be sold or used for food.
4-7-7.
Director to supervise movement of cattle. -- Director to
supervise movement
of
livestock. --
It is
the duty of the director of the department of environmental management to
supervise
the movement of cattle livestock from place to place within the
state.
4-7-8.
Application for license. -- Any person, firm, partnership, or
corporation, regularly
engaged
in the business of buying, selling and/or transporting cattle livestock
to be sold or used
for food
any purpose, shall annually apply to the director for a license to buy,
sell and/or transport
cattle livestock to be
sold or used for food any purpose. The application for that
license shall be
made
upon a form prescribed by the director who may, if he or she is satisfied as to
the
responsibility
and character of the application, issue a license to the applicant to buy, sell
and/or
transport
cattle livestock.
4-7-13.
Revocation of license -- Hearing. -- Each license provided for in
section 4-7-9
4-7-8 shall be issued
annually and may be revoked by the director for cause. If in the judgment of
the
director any provision of sections 4-7-6 -- 4-7-23 this chapter
or any rule or regulation made
under
these sections has been violated, the director shall send notice by registered
mail to the
licensee
who shall be given a hearing and if violation is proven his or her license
shall be
revoked.
4-7-14.
Vehicle number plates. -- The director shall furnish for each vehicle
to be used
by a
licensee in the business of buying, selling, and/or transporting cattle livestock,
two (2)
number
plates. These plates shall be displayed prominently on the vehicle used in the
buying,
selling
and/or transporting of cattle livestock under sections 4-7-6
-- 4-7-23 this chapter.
4-7-15.
Display of license. -- Any person operating a vehicle used in the
business of
buying,
selling, and/or transporting live cattle livestock shall deposit
or display in the vehicle in
some
easily accessible place a license to engage in that business as provided by
section 4-7-8.
4-7-16.
License fees. -- License plate fees. -- The fee
for the first license issued to any
one
individual or corporation in accordance with sections 4-7-6 -- 4-7-23 is ten
dollars ($10.00)
this
chapter is fifty dollars ($50.00), which entitles the licensee to one set of
number plates. The
fee
for each additional license and set of number plates is five twenty-five
dollars ($5.00)
($25.00).
4-7-17.
Bill of sale required. -- No person shall transport cattle livestock
in connection
with
the sale of the cattle livestock from place to place upon any
public highway or road in this
state
unless he or she has in his or her possession a bill of sale signed by the
vendor or agent of
the
vendor and containing the vendor's address, the date of transaction, number of cattle
livestock,
and/or
weight, breed and price of cattle livestock and such other
information as in the discretion
of
the director will describe the cattle livestock and establish the
proper ownership. The
information
shall be available at any time to the director or his or her authorized agent
or agents.
4-7-18.
Exceptions from provisions. -- Sections 4-7-6 -- 4-7-23 This
chapter shall not
apply
to a merchant or a producer of cattle livestock who does not go
from place to place buying,
selling,
and/or transporting cattle livestock nor shall it apply to a
farmers' cooperative
transporting
cattle livestock in connection with the operation of a
cooperative.
4-7-19.
Administration -- Rules and regulations. -- The director has authority
to
administer
sections 4-7-6 to 4-7-23 the provisions of this chapter. He or
she shall make and may
modify
rules and regulations necessary or incidental to the provisions of sections
4-7-6 to 4-7-23
this
chapter.
4-7-20.
Enforcement. -- It is the duty of the director to enforce sections
4-7-6 -- 4-7-23
the
provisions of this chapter and to prosecute any and all persons who, in his or her
opinion, are
guilty
of violating any of the provisions of those sections, and the director or his
or her duly
appointed
agent or agents are not required to enter into recognizance or become liable
for costs.
4-7-22.
Treble damages in civil action by producer -- Alternative remedy. --
Any
person
failing to pay for cattle livestock purchased from the cattle
livestock producer, and who is
or
should be licensed under sections 4-7-6 -- 4-7-23 this chapter,
is liable for damages three (3)
times
the amount unpaid plus reasonable attorney fees as liquidated damages in a
civil suit
brought
by the cattle livestock dealer under the applicable rules of law
in the courts. This
provision
is an additional or alternative remedy to the cattle livestock
producer.
4-7-23.
Penalty for violations. -- Any person who violates any of the
provisions of
sections
4-7-6 -- 4-7-23
this chapter shall be punished for the first offense by a fine of not
more
than
one hundred dollars ($100) and for any subsequent offense by a fine of not less
than one
hundred
dollars ($100) nor more than two hundred dollars ($200) or by imprisonment
revocation
of
license
for not more than one year, or by both. .
SECTION
3. Sections 4-7-9, 4-7-10, 4-7-11, 4-7-12 and 4-7-21 of the General Laws in
Chapter
4-7 entitled "Cattle Dealers" are hereby repealed.
4-7-9.
Limited and unlimited licenses -- Bond. -- Licenses shall be
issued in two (2)
forms:
(1) A limited license which permits the licensee to do business on a United
States
currency
basis only.
(2) An unlimited license issued to any person, firm, or corporation as referred
to in
section
4-7-8, who may buy on credit and furnishes a bond with sufficient surety in the
amount of
ten
thousand dollars ($10,000), executed by a surety company authorized to do
business within
this
state, payable to any cattle producer residing in Rhode Island that has sold
cattle to that
licensed
dealer, conditioned upon the faithful performance of all legal obligations
incurred in the
buying
of cattle from the cattle producer.
4-7-10.
Purpose of unlimited licensee's bond. -- The bond required by
section 4-7-9(2)
shall
be held by the director of environmental management to satisfy any claims held
against any
licensee
because of failure to pay for cattle purchased by that licensed dealer from the
cattle
producer.
4-7-11.
Hearing on default in payments -- Payment from bond. -- (a) Upon
receipt of
a
written notice of a default in payment, the director of environmental
management shall order a
hearing
to be held before him or her within two (2) weeks. If the claim is approved by
the director
of
environmental management, he or she may order payment to be made directly to
the seller of
the
cattle by the bonding company. The payment shall be made within two (2) weeks
after
approval
of the claim by the director of environmental management.
(b) All unpaid claims against licensed dealers must be made to the director
within three
(3)
weeks from the date of sale of the cattle, but the right to civil suit provided
in section 4-7-22 is
subject
to existing statutes of limitations.
4-7-12.
Prorated claims. -- If unpaid claims against dealers licensed
under section 4-7-
9(2),
made within the period of time prescribed in section 4-7-11, are in excess of
the surety
bond,
and are approved by the director of environmental management, the amounts may
be
prorated
among the claimants by the director of environmental management.
4-7-21.
Prosecution. -- It is the duty of the attorney general to
conduct the prosecution of
all
cases brought by the director or his or her duly appointed agent or agents
under sections 4-7-6
--
4-7-23.
SECTION
4. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC02038/SUB
A
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