| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: |
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| | Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §1313, sub-§3, as enacted by PL 1993, c. 468, §23, is | amended to read: |
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| | 3. Costs associated with transportation, quarantine, testing | and euthanasia. The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife | shall pay all All costs for associated with rabid animals, | including the transportation, quarantine, euthanasia and testing | of an undomesticated animal suspected of having rabies, must be | paid through a yearly appropriation from the State's General Fund | to an account maintained by the Health and Environmental Testing | Laboratory within the Department of Human Services, Bureau of | Health. The owner of a domesticated animal suspected of having | rabies shall pay all costs for transportation, quarantine, | euthanasia and testing of the animal. If a domesticated animal | is a stray or the owner is unknown, the municipality in which the | animal was apprehended is responsible for transportation, | quarantine, euthanasia and testing costs. |
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| | This bill requires all rabies testing to be funded through a | yearly appropriation from the State's General Fund to the Health | and Environmental Testing Laboratory within the Department of | Human Services, Bureau of Health. Current state law requires all | laboratory costs, including transportation, quarantine, | euthanasia and testing of undomesticated animals to be paid by | the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and all | laboratory costs relating to a domesticated animal to be paid by | the owner of that animal. |
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