What's happening
This bill requires the New York State Department of Transportation to identify and notify owners of deceased domesticated animals found on public roads, and to post and store unidentified animals for possible owner retrieval.
Why it matters
Gives pet owners closure and dignity. by ensuring they are notified if their animal is found deceased on a public road, rather than being left unaware or unable to recover the remains.
Promotes responsible pet ownership. by making the process of identifying domesticated animals more systematic, including searching for tags and microchips, which could encourage more owners to use identification methods.
Establishes a transparent process. by requiring the Department of Transportation to publicly post descriptions of unidentified deceased animals, helping owners who are searching for missing pets have a central, official resource to check.
Balances logistics and compassion. by mandating temporary storage of unidentified remains (when feasible), giving owners a chance to recover their pet, while recognizing the practical limits of department facilities.
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
New York State Department of Transportation officials
Those recovering domesticated animals killed on public roads would have to make every reasonable effort to find ownership identifiers, such as tags, license numbers or microchips.
Owners of domesticated animals killed on public roads
The department would be required to notify owners of their animals’ deaths.
Owners searching for missing domesticated animals
When recovered animals lack ownership identifiers, the department would have to post descriptions and places of death on a public website and, where existing facilities allow, safely store remains for 48 hours after posting so owners could recover them.
Headline styles
Notify Pet Owners After Road Deaths
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to agriculture
- Referred to agriculture
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
3926
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 31, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Agriculture
AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to recovery of deceased domesticated animals on public roads
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The agriculture and markets law is amended by adding a new section 377-b to read as follows:
§ 377-b. Recovery of deceased domesticated animals on public roads. Any official of the New York state department of transportation that recovers the body of a domesticated animal killed on a public road shall make every reasonable effort to detect indicia of ownership, such as tags, license numbers, microchips, or other such identifiers on or about the animal. The department of transportation shall provide notification to the owner concerning the animal's death. If the deceased animal bears no indicia of ownership, such department shall post a description of the animal and place of death on a publicly available website. If feasible in light of existing department facilities, such animals shall be safely stored for forty-eight hours after notification on such website during which owners may recover the animal's remains to dispose of in a manner of their choosing.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08387-01-9
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.