STAND. COM. REP. NO. 562

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1069

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 1069 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CRUELTY TO ANIMALS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Create a new offense for cruelty to animals by fighting dogs in the second degree, a class C felony;

     (2)  Amend the existing offense of cruelty to animals by fighting dogs to convert that offense to cruelty to animals by fighting dogs in the first degree, and clarify the elements of the offense; and

     (3)  Increase the penalty for cruelty to animals by fighting dogs in the first degree from a class C felony to a class B felony.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu; the Humane Society of the United States; the Hawaiian Humane Society; the Maui Humane Society; the West Hawaii Humane Society; the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association; and fifty-eight individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of the Public Defender.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from one individual.

     Your Committee finds that dogfighting is a brutal practice for the dogs involved, often resulting in the death of the participating dogs by blood loss, shock, dehydration, exhaustion, or infection within hours or days after the fight.  Moreover, because the dogs used for fighting have been bred for generations to be dangerously aggressive toward other animals, the presence of these dogs in a community increases the risk of attacks on not only on other animals, but potentially on children, as their small size may cause a fighting dog to perceive a child as another animal.

According to testimony submitted to your Committee, in a recent national ranking of the weakest state dogfighting laws, Hawaii ranked fiftieth, primarily because there is no current penalty for attending or wagering on an organized dogfight.  Attendees of dogfights provide much of the profit associated with dogfighting, and admission fees and gambling helps keep dogfighting a thriving business.  Because dogfighting itself is illegal, it is not widely publicized.  Accordingly, attendees do not merely happen upon a fight; they seek it out.  This measure is intended to address the demand of dogfighting, in an attempt to deter this callous practice.

     Your Committee also notes that this measure includes a specific prohibition on the use of other animals as bait to train fighting dogs.  Some owners train their dogs for fights using smaller animals such as cats, rabbits, or small dogs.  These bait animals are often stolen animals, stray pets, or animals obtained through advertisements that offer pets free to a good home.  This measure is intended to address these collateral victims of dogfighting.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Deleting the definition of "attending" a dogfight to address potential enforceability issues, as recommended by the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu;

     (2)  Adding a severability clause; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1069, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1069, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair