Good morning!

I’m pleased to tell you neither of these bills are moving right now.  I also heard from the sponsor of SB 1204 that the committee chair tabled that bill so it’s unlikely to advance this year (see our alert from Thursday regarding this news).  We are in the process of transferring to a new online tracking system that will provide the latest updates.  This should hopefully be available in March.  We will be providing more information on this in the coming weeks. 

If you have further questions on Arizona, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Regards,

Jennifer Clark

Director, Legislative Outreach
AKC

ALERT: Arizona – Warrantless Animal Seizure

Feb 9, 2024 | USARK Newsletter

← ALERT: Colorado Pet Tax for ALL Animals

Senator Bolick of
Arizona has introduced Senate Bill 1603 that will allow for warrantless search
of private property and seizure of your pet animals. Senate Bill 1204 (Senator
Kavanagh and Representative Shah) was also introduced and is almost identical.

Remember,
warrants protect us from unreasonable governmental intrusion. As if that is not
bad enough, the bills would make it so that, “The formal rules of evidence do
not apply and reliable hearsay is admissible in the postseizure hearing.”
Please read that last sentence again! “The formal rules of evidence
do not apply and reliable hearsay is admissible…”

First,
the formal court rules are tossed out the window. This means that the due
process that typically exists in court does not apply. Additionally, hearsay is
generally inadmissible in court unless a special exception is provided because
it is not considered reliable or trustworthy. If this bill passes, hearsay will
be good enough for the seizure and State possession of animals in Arizona.
Needless to say, this goes against our constitutional rights as Americans.

There
is much more wrong with the bill such as committing class warfare against
lower-income families who cannot afford court, required bonds, or impound fees.
Most Americans could not afford the attorney fees if they chose to challenge
one of these seizures. The bill allows for too much subjectivity in assessing
the welfare of the animals in question and does not provide for any checks or
balances against the agencies in charge.

The
also provides that the seizing agency can place the animal with any “person,
agency, or shelter, including a volunteer” and the animal owner is responsible
for covering all of the costs billed by that party in addition to the legal
fees. Just the required bond may be too much for people to fight for their
animals. Imagine your pets being seized and then being kept by some random
person as allowed in this bill.

This
is a bill that sounds good and attempts to protect animals, on the surface. It
would be great if actual animal cruelty could be properly addressed faster.
However, one must consider that any rogue enforcement officer could seize
animals as they see fit whether there is animal cruelty or not. Any animal
rights-minded officers could seize healthy animals and claim there were
problems. This scenario has already played out. As always, legislative intent
is thrown away once bills pass into law and corrupt persons get unlimited
control.