| Chapter 060 |
| 2015 -- H 5943 Enacted 06/16/2015 |
| A N A C T |
| RELATING TO ANIMALS AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY - TUBERCULOSIS CONTROL |
| Introduced By: Representatives Azzinaro, Carnevale, Craven, Kennedy, and Serpa |
| Date Introduced: March 19, 2015 |
| It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
| SECTION 1. Sections 4-5-7, 4-5-8, 4-5-10, 4-5-11, 4-5-12 and 4-5-13 of the General |
| Laws in Chapter 4-5 entitled "Tuberculosis Control" are hereby repealed. |
| 4-5-7. Application for permission to import. -- All persons, firms, corporations, or |
| associations intending to ship, transport, import, or to drive any bovine animals into the state, |
| shall make written application to the director of environmental management for permission to |
| ship, transport, import, or drive bovine animals into this state, and in that application shall state |
| the breed, sex, age, and general marking on each animal and with the application shall forward to |
| the director: |
| (1) A chart signed by a veterinarian approved by the United States department of |
| agriculture showing that the animals described are from officially tuberculosis free accredited |
| herds or are from herds officially under state and federal supervision for the eradication of bovine |
| tuberculosis. All herds from which those animals originate shall have passed a negative |
| intradermic tuberculin test at least three (3) months prior to date of shipment; except that in the |
| case of all animals originating in accredited herds, those herds shall have passed a negative |
| intradermic tuberculin test within one year from date of shipment; and |
| (2) A certificate of a veterinarian approved as provided in subsection (1), that upon a |
| negative intradermic tuberculin test and a physical examination, those animals have been found to |
| be free from tuberculosis or other contagious or communicable disease, and are from a herd |
| officially under state and federal supervision for the eradication of bovine tuberculosis, which at |
| its last tuberculin test revealed no reactors. |
| 4-5-8. Issuance of permit to import. -- Upon the receipt of an application pursuant to § |
| 4-5-7, chart and certificate, the director of environmental management shall issue a permit to the |
| owner or importer of those animals to ship, import, transport, or drive the animals described in |
| the application into this state. All animals which are being shipped, transported, imported, or |
| driven into the state shall at all times be accompanied with this permit. |
| 4-5-10. Penalty for importation without permit. -- Any person, firm, corporation, or |
| association shipping, transporting, importing, or driving any bovine animals into this state |
| without first obtaining an import permit or who fails to have any bovine animal which is being |
| shipped, transported, imported, or driven into the state accompanied at all times with that permit |
| shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars ($500), or be imprisoned for not more than one |
| year, or both. |
| 4-5-11. Prosecution of violations. -- Complaints for the violation of the provisions of §§ |
| 4-5-7 -- 4-5-10 shall be made by the director of the department of environmental management, |
| and the director is exempt from giving surety for costs on any complaint made. |
| 4-5-12. Notice of arrival of imported animals. -- The person, firm, corporation, or |
| association importing any animal in pursuance of the permit shall immediately on the arrival of |
| that animal in the state send written notice of that arrival to the director of environmental |
| management, and any person, firm, corporation, or association who fails to notify the director is |
| guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars |
| ($500) or be imprisoned for not more than one year, or both. |
| 4-5-13. Examination and certification of imported cattle. -- Upon the receipt of the |
| notification pursuant to § 4-5-12, the director of environmental management, or the director's |
| duly authorized representative, shall proceed within seventy-two (72) hours to the place |
| designated, and make a physical examination of the cattle; and if upon that examination the cattle |
| are deemed free from tuberculosis, it shall be certified by the director upon a permit, and a |
| duplicate permit shall be given to the owner of the cattle, and the cattle released for the use and |
| benefit of the owner. |
| SECTION 2. Section 4-5-14 of the General Laws in Chapter 4-5 entitled "Tuberculosis |
| Control" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
| 4-5-14. Quarantine of imported cattle -- Intradermic test. -- If after the examination |
| pursuant to § 4-5-13 importation of cattle by any person, firm, corporation, or association, the |
| director of environmental management is of the opinion that any of the cattle examined are |
| afflicted imported are at risk to be infected with tuberculosis, or if he or she has reason to |
| question the accuracy or reliability of the test charts under which the cattle were imported into |
| this state, or if for any other reason he or she believes any of the cattle examined so imported may |
| be affected with tuberculosis, the director, if in his or her judgment that action appears advisable, |
| shall place the cattle in quarantine at their destination or at some other suitable place to be |
| designated by the director, and the cattle shall be held in quarantine for a period of not more than |
| ninety (90) days or until released by order of the director within that period. While those cattle are |
| held in quarantine, the director shall cause them to be tested for tuberculosis with tuberculin by |
| the intradermic test. |
| SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage and shall apply to incidents |
| occurring on or after the effective date. |
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| LC001731 |
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