ASSEMBLY ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE, No. 465

 

with committee amendments

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: FEBRUARY 10, 1997

 

      The Assembly Environment, Science and Technology Committee favorably reports the Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 465 with committee amendments.

      The Senate Committee Substitute would exempt from the animal cruelty laws the killing or disposing of a Norway or brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), black rat (Rattus rattus), or house mouse (Mus musculus), or any other animal deemed by the Department of Health, in consultation with the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, to pose a significant threat to the public health and identified as such in rules and regulations which shall be adopted by the department within 180 days of the effective date of the bill, by any person, or with the permission or at the direction of that person, while the animal is on property either owned or leased by, or otherwise under the control of, that person, provided that the animal is not a pet.

      The committee amended the Senate Committee Subsitute to (1) provide that the killing or disposing of the animal must be done by a reasonable or commercially acceptable method or means; and (2) limit the bill's provisions to apply only to the killing or disposing of Norway (brown) rats, black rats, and house mice.

      As amended and reported by the committee, this bill is identical to Assembly Bill No. 1951 of 1996 as also amended and reported by the committee.