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January 13, 2012
View legislative update (PDF)
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie recently signed into law two bills. S. 2923 makes changes to holding and transfer requirements for shelters, pounds and kennels, and includes requirements for microchip scanning and creation of a registry of animal-rescue organizations. The law also establishes the Pet Sterilization Pilot Program for two years, requiring sterilization before dogs or cats can be adopted in certain counties. S. 1797 allows a student with a disability, including autism, access to a service animal in school buildings, including classrooms.
State legislatures are just beginning to reconvene for the New Year. Next month, we will feature some of the newly introduced bills that we will be monitoring closely.
Meanwhile, we have a lot of regulatory agency activity to report to you.
Regulatory update
The Colorado State Board of Veterinary Medicine adopted amendments to its regulations in order to comply with recent statutory changes. The rules update continuing education requirements, create a waiver for a veterinarian-client-patient relationship in emergency situations and adopt a fining schedule for violations. The revised definition of "practice of veterinary medicine" includes several reproductive services, such as transrectal procedures, embryo transfer, semen collection and uterine lavage. The new rules also clarify supervised practice of unlicensed individuals by veterinarians. The board plans to conduct outreach on the new legislative and regulatory requirements through town-hall meetings, webinars and e-updates over the next few months.
The Iowa Pharmacy Board issued regulations addressing Internet sales of prescriptions by pharmacies, including pharmacy accreditation and a requirement that a valid patient-practitioner relationship exist before a prescription can be filled.
In Nevada, the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners revised its veterinary practice regulations on a wide variety of subjects, including the prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances and prescription drugs, continuing education, medical records, and authorized tasks for veterinary technicians and veterinary assistants.
Similarly, the Kansas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners updated its veterinary practice standards that cover topics such as patient acceptance, patient records, prescription drug handling, employee supervision and anesthesia services.
Long-awaited regulations in New York finalize continuing education requirements for licensed veterinarians and veterinary technicians. The new rules describe acceptable types of educational programs and deem as approved sponsors national, state and local veterinary medicine organizations, specialty boards, veterinary conferences and higher-education institutions.
Two new regulations issued in Oregon affect the practice of veterinary medicine. The Board of Pharmacy amended controlled-substance rules relating to registration, training and other requirements for non-veterinarians who purchase, possess or administer sodium pentobarbital for euthanizing animals. The state's Veterinary Medical Examining Board updated its regulations of certified euthanasia technicians.
The Texas Department of State Health Services approved a rule on radiation safety requirements for professions that use radiation-emitting equipment, including veterinary medicine.
Court watch
In Missouri, a Clinton County circuit court judge issued a judgment prohibiting Brooke Gray, a non-veterinarian, from performing equine teeth floating or any other acts constituting the practice of veterinary dentistry in the state. The defendant did business as B & B Equine Dentistry and provided horse teeth-floating services, which under Missouri law, constitutes animal dentistry. According to the opinion, she did this without a veterinary license and was paid for her services. The judge found that Gray failed to show that the law restricting the practice of veterinary medicine to licensed individuals is unconstitutional. Gray plans to appeal the decision, with the assistance of the Freedom Center of Missouri, an organization opposed to government licensing of professions such as veterinary medicine.
Several activists represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights, a civil rights group, filed suit in federal court in Boston, challenging the constitutionality of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, a rarely used federal law they say treats them like terrorists if they cause a loss in profits for businesses that use or sell animal products. The plaintiffs allege that the 2006 law is unconstitutional because it has a chilling effect on lawful protest activities. Attorney Rachel Meeropol explains, "Some of my clients want to engage in simple public protests – perhaps in front of a fur store – to change public opinion about fur. But they feel restricted from engaging in that clearly lawful activity because under the plain language of the law, if that protest is successful in convincing consumers not to shop at that fur store, they could be charged as terrorists." The law can be used to prosecute someone for damaging or interfering with the operations of an "animal enterprise" when a person "intentionally damages or causes the loss of any real or personal property used by an animal enterprise" or a business connected to an animal enterprise.
AVMA participates in agriculture legislative conference
The State Agricultural and Rural Leaders group held their annual meeting in Washington, D.C., Jan. 5-8. It was a well-attended meeting, with nearly 150 state legislators and more than 100 private and industry representatives. The meeting included a briefing on Capitol Hill from Senate Agriculture Committee staff and House Energy Committee staff. The group attended a briefing at the White House, where speakers included key White House staff, as well as USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Much of the discussion revolved around the 2012 Farm Bill and the need to pass legislation before nearly 30 programs expire under the current law. Topics included meat-inspection programs, food-safety and animal-welfare issues. Animal-welfare discussions addressed the use of antimicrobials in pig production, the use of gestation crates, new breeder laws, livestock care standards and cages for egg-laying hens, with a focus on educating the public about how their food is produced in order to combat anti-agriculture groups.
AVMA posts 2011 state legislative report
The year-end 2011 state legislative report is now available on the AVMA website. Organized by topic, the 88-page report covers significant bills and regulations that had an impact on veterinary medicine, along with several bills prefiled for consideration by state legislatures in 2012. An executive summary can be viewed at http://www.avma.org/advocacy/state/legislative_updates/yearend_summary_2011.asp, and includes a link to the full report.
View legislative update (PDF)
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