An Act To Amend the Animal Welfare Laws To Add Provisions Relating to the Surrender of Animals
Maine Legislature, Session 128, LD 1593
Committee: Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
Sponsors: SKOLFIELD
Amends: 7 MRSA §3906-B, 17 MRSA §1023

Legislative Document
No. 1593
H.P. 1097
House of Representatives, May 11, 2017
An Act To Amend the Animal Welfare Laws To Add Provisions 
Relating to the Surrender of Animals
Reference to the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry suggested and 
ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative SKOLFIELD of Weld.  (GOVERNOR'S BILL)
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  7 MRSA §3906-B, sub-§11, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 502, Pt. C, §12, is 
amended to read: 
11.  Cruelty to animals.  The commissioner, in cooperation with animal control 
officers, shall investigate complaints of cruelty to animals and enforce cruelty-to-animal 
laws in accordance with chapter 739 and Title 17, chapter 42.  The Attorney General and 
the district attorneys shall assist the commissioner with the commissioner's enforcement 
responsibilities. 
The commissioner may decide, based on the facts of a particular case, to waive costs and 
fees associated with the surrender of animals, and may further decide that the case should 
not be sent to the attorney for the State, if the person who is the subject of the 
investigation has voluntarily surrendered the animals to the department and if the person 
has not previously been charged with cruelty to animals or charged with animal neglect.  
If the commissioner waives costs and fees associated with the surrender of animals or 
decides that the case should not be sent to the attorney for the State, the commissioner 
shall require the person to sign an affidavit stating that the person will never again 
possess or own any animals of the same species as the animals that were surrendered. 
Sec. 2.  17 MRSA §1023, sub-§1-A is enacted to read: 
1-A.  Surrender of animals.  The commissioner may decide, based on the facts of a 
particular case, to waive costs and fees associated with the surrender of animals, and may 
further decide that the case should not be sent to the attorney for the State, if the person 
who is the subject of the investigation has voluntarily surrendered the animals to the 
Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and if the person has not 
previously been charged with cruelty to animals or charged with animal neglect.  If the 
commissioner waives costs and fees associated with the surrender of animals or decides 
that the case should not be sent to the attorney for the State, the commissioner shall 
require the person to sign an affidavit stating that the person will never again possess or 
own any animals of the same species as the animals that were surrendered. 
SUMMARY 
This bill allows the Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry in cases 
of alleged cruelty to animals to waive costs and fees associated with the surrender of 
animals, and to decide that the case should not be sent to the attorney for the State, as 
long as the person who is subject to the investigation has voluntarily surrendered the 
animals to the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and has not 
previously been charged with cruelty to animals or charged with animal neglect.  If the 
commissioner waives such costs or fees or decides that the case shouldn't be sent to the 
attorney for the State, the commissioner shall require the person to sign an affidavit 
stating that the person will never again possess or own animals of the same species as the 
animals that were surrendered.