Florida Senate - 2012                                     SB 488
       
       
       
       By Senator Rich
       
       
       
       
       34-00470-12                                            2012488__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to animal control or cruelty
    3         ordinances; amending s. 828.27, F.S.; requiring a
    4         county or municipality enacting an ordinance relating
    5         to animal control or cruelty to impose a specified
    6         surcharge on the civil penalty for violations of the
    7         ordinance; specifying use of the proceeds of the
    8         surcharge; prohibiting the governing body of a county
    9         or municipality from charging owners of animals more
   10         than a certain amount for the spaying or neutering of
   11         their animals in specified circumstances; authorizing
   12         the animal control authority to allocate certain
   13         excess funds to the program to spay and neuter cats
   14         and dogs; providing for construction; providing an
   15         effective date.
   16  
   17  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   18  
   19         Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of section
   20  828.27, Florida Statutes, is amended, and paragraphs (c) and (d)
   21  are added to that subsection, to read:
   22         828.27 Local animal control or cruelty ordinances;
   23  penalty.—
   24         (4)
   25         (b) The governing body of a county or municipality enacting
   26  an ordinance relating to animal control or cruelty shall may
   27  impose and collect a surcharge of $15 up to $5 upon each civil
   28  penalty imposed for each violation of the an ordinance relating
   29  to animal control or cruelty. One dollar of the surcharge may be
   30  retained by the clerk of the court, $5 of the surcharge proceeds
   31  from such surcharges shall be used to pay the costs of training
   32  for animal control officers, and the remainder of the surcharge
   33  shall be used to subsidize the costs to spay or neuter dogs and
   34  cats in the possession of the animal control authority or whose
   35  owners voluntarily submit their animals for sterilization. An
   36  owner of an animal may not be charged more for the spaying or
   37  neutering than the cost of sterilization less the subsidy paid
   38  from the surcharge.
   39         (c) If the surcharge funds collected to pay the costs of
   40  training animal control officers exceed the amount needed to
   41  conduct training for the animal control officers in a given
   42  locality, the animal control authority may apply the excess
   43  surcharge funds to the program to spay and neuter cats and dogs.
   44         (d) This subsection does not require the governing body of
   45  a county or municipality to enact an animal control or cruelty
   46  ordinance.
   47         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.