AB 161

Under current law, the owner of a farm animal, dog, or cat that was injured or

killed by another person's dog may, within three days of becoming aware of the

incident, file a claim with the city, village, or town in which the incident occurred.

The city, village, or town is required to investigate the claim and provide a report on

the investigation to the county clerk. The county clerk submits the claim and the

report to the county board and the county board decides whether to make a payment

to the owner as compensation for the injury or death of the animal. If there is no

money in the dog license fund, described below, the county is not required to make

any payment. If the county makes a payment, it may sue the owner of the dog for

the amount of damages that the dog caused.

Under this bill the owner of a farm animal, dog, or cat that was injured or killed

by another person's dog may make a claim for the damage if the owner files the claim

within five business days, rather than three days, of becoming aware of the incident.

Current law requires a person who owns a dog to have the dog licensed. The

statutes establish a minimum fee for a dog license but authorize higher fees to be

charged by municipalities and counties. The dog license fees are collected by

municipalities. A municipality keeps any amount of the fee that it imposes above the

minimum and pays the rest to the county. The law requires the county to pay 5

percent of the minimum dog license fee to the state and to keep the remainder of the

fee in a separate dog license fund. The county may use the dog license fund for

administering the dog license law and for the expenses of a pound for dogs run by the

county or a humane society. The law also authorizes a county to use any remaining

money in the dog license fund to pay claims for damages caused by dogs to farm

animals, dogs, or cats.

This bill requires a county to place into a separate dog damage reimbursement

fund 25 percent of the dog license fees that remain after making the required 5

percent payment to the state. This fund may be used only to pay claims by persons

whose farm animals, dogs, or cats are injured by dogs, except that on March 1 any

funds from fees paid for dog licenses for the previous year that have not been used

to pay dog damage claims may be returned to the dog license fund and used for the

purposes allowed under current law.