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Anti-animal cruelty bill makes it out of House
The House of Representatives passed a bill to prevent cruelty and theft of animals and provide penalties for such actions during a session on Rota yesterday.
Currently, the CNMI has no existing laws protecting animals from cruelty or theft.
House Bill 19-55, authored by Rep. Ed Propst (Ind-Saipan), proposed fines ranging from $250 to $1,000 for cruel mistreatment, neglect, abandonment, and torture or torment of animals.
The passage of the bill this month follows a standing committee report from the House committee on Natural Resources that recommended its passage.
In that report, the committee found that the malicious acts of violence toward animals, which had been recorded and posted on Facebook and Youtube, paints a negative outlook on the CNMI.
The committee found that as of 2007, some 1,880 cases of animal cruelty have been reported.
If enacted into law, the bill would follow the 50 other U.S. states that have implemented some form of animal cruelty laws.
If enacted, municipal mayors will be given expenditure authority of all fees and fines collected within their municipality from the bill.
