Committee adopts amendments to roaming‑dogs bill to exempt hunting, livestock and search‑and‑rescue dogs

Representative Fishbein offered and the committee adopted an amendment to Senate Bill 260 (roaming dogs) that narrows the bill’s scope by creating three explicit exemptions: (1) a hunting dog during open hunting or training season; (2) a dog used in the handling and control of livestock; and (3) a dog engaged in search-and-rescue operations. Representative Fishbein introduced the language, asking to "strike the clause...and insert the following in lieu thereof," then read the replacement exemption language into the record.

Senator Winfield described the change as arising from recent work to ensure the bill "deals with the dogs that we want it to deal with and not the dogs that we do not," and called the amendment friendly. The committee adopted that amendment by voice.

The registrar/LCO then presented a technical amendment (striking subsection d and inserting subsection c) as "amendment b." On motion and second, the committee adopted the technical amendment as well. After both amendments were adopted, Representative Fishbein moved SB 260, as amended, to the consent calendar and the chair ordered it placed there without objection.

The amendments alter the bill’s enforcement scope to avoid unintended application to routinely used hunting, livestock-management, and search-and-rescue dogs; the committee recorded the adoption of both amendment a (substantive exemptions) and amendment b (technical subsection correction).