LANSING, MI — A pair of bills approved by the Michigan Senate would, together with companion bills pending in the House, create a system aimed at preventing past animal abusers from adopting from any animal shelter in the state.
The legislation would give Michigan's nonprofit animal shelters and animal control organizations alike access to the state's Internet Criminal History Access Tool (ICHAT) tool. It would also ban those convicted of certain animal abuse from keeping animals for at least five years.
Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, sponsored one of the two Senate bills.
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The former Eaton County sheriff explained his support for the bills when they were first introduced in March 2015.
"As a former sheriff I have unfortunately seen a lot of animal abuse," Jones said. "This legislation will make sure that once a person has victimized an animal they will not be allowed easy access to another victim."
Jones' Senate Bill 219 would require Michigan's courts to order those convicted of certain crimes against animals, as part of their sentence, to neither own nor possess an animal for at least five years. For minor offenses, the five-year ban would only be mandatory on the second offense.
The five-year period would start after the date of sentencing or the date of release from incarceration, whichever is later.
Offenses that would result in a mandatory 5-year ban and a potential permanent ban on animal ownership include the following felonies:
• Various animal fighting, baiting and target shooting offenses
• Killing, torturing, mutilating, maiming or disfiguring an animal
• Poisoning an animal or knowingly exposing an animal to poison
• Sodomy
• Bestiality
Offenses that, on the second offense, would result in a mandatory 5-year ban and a potential permanent ban on animal ownership:
• Failure to provide an animal with adequate care
• Physical abuse of an animal
• Animal abandonment
• Negligently allowing animals to suffer unnecessarily
• Improperly tethering a dog
Sen. Steve Bieda, D-Warren, sponsored the other Senate bill — Senate Bill 220.
Bieda's bill would waive the usual fee charged by the Michigan State Police to run a background check through the ICHAT system for any nonprofit animal shelters using it to check a potential adopter's criminal history.
The Warren Democrat has suggested the legislation could help prevent violent crime against humans as well as animals.
"Many serial killers have admitted that they started torturing and killing animals before they moved on to their human victims," Bieda said. "With the passage of this legislation, we may be preventing human violence in the future."
Both bills were passed by the Michigan Senate Thursday, Jan. 28, in 37-1 votes. They were referred to the Michigan House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary.
The legislation was also introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives. House Bill 4353 and House Bill 4355 were both reported out of the Committee on Judiciary and referred to a second reading in May 2015.
The House bills are sponsored by Rep. Paul Muxlow, R-Brown City, and Rep. Harvey Santana, D-Detroit.
The legislation package is a reintroduction of 2013 bills that were later dropped by state lawmakers during the 2013-14 legislative session.
Related: Proposed animal abuser registry dropped in Mich.
The package has come to be known as "Logan's Law," in memory of a Siberian husky from Michigan who was killed by an attack with acid in a backyard kennel near Port Huron.
The initial proposal called for the creation of a statewide registry, much like the one that identifies sex offenders. But that ran into resistance from state police officials and others due to fears that it would too be expensive and cumbersome.
Michigan bill would create 1st statewide registry for convicted animal abusers in country
The new versions of the bills instead utilize the existing ICHAT system, giving shelter and animal control officials the authority to use it to check the criminal histories of potential adopters.
Nonprofit animal shelters performing the search would not be responsible for the fee typically charged users to complete a background check using the system.
Support for the legislation has been voiced by the State Bar of Michigan's Animal Law Section, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and Michigan nonprofit Attorneys for Animals.
Self-proclaimed animal lover Sen. Ken Horn, R-Frankenmuth, also voiced his support for the legislation this week.
"My wife and I proudly rescued our first dog Riley, and just recently adopted a second named Bo," Horn said. "I was happy to support these bills to help make sure that we are doing everything we can to keep animals out of the hands of convicted animal abusers."
The state senator said he is proud to support the package of legislation.
"We need to prevent the easy adoption of dogs and cats from shelters by convicted abusers," Horn said. "It has been well-documented that a person who abuses animals often later moves onto humans, and we cannot give these people easy access to another victim."
Mark Tower covers local government for MLive/The Saginaw News. Contact him at 989-284-4807, by email at mtower@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.
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