A bill being discussed in the South Carolina Senate would limit nonprofit-animal-shelter services for anyone other than low-income pet owners and would seek regulation for animal shelters.
Barbara Nelson, the president and CEO of the SPCA Albrecht Center for Animal Welfare, said she embraces the parts of the bill that are concerned about quality of care, such as regulating rescues and animal shelters. Certain portions of Senate Bill 687, however, seek to eliminate competition between veterinarians and nonprofit shelters, she said.
"Don't get me wrong," Nelson said, "We work very well with our local vets and support many parts of this bill, but some of the language is just there simply to eliminate competition and hurt middle-income pet owners."
The South Carolina Association of Veterinarians, or SCAV, is bringing S.687 before a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources on Wednesday. Nelson will be there to testify, as well. The subcommittee will hear testimony, then decide to amend, forward or drop the bill.
Local legislators Sens. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, and Tom Young, R-Aiken, are members of the committee but not the subcommittee.
Massey said Monday that he doesn't know much about the bill yet, but would be able to better comment if it makes it to the full committee.
According to the SCAV website, the bill will: allow pet owners to take their pet anywhere to have it sterilized, microchipped, parasite tested and to obtain all vaccinations; enable low-income clients of a shelter to continue to use any services the shelter offers; create distance limitations on nonprofit mobile clinics; and provide for the "regulation of medical services at any place, including shelters, by the S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation and require shelters to keep medical records."
Nelson particularly takes issue with the wording that limits what shelters can do, and for whom.
"They say this bill is all about quality of care," Nelson said. "But when a simple and affordable cure for parvo is developed, under this legislation, we could only offer it to low-income owners, not everyone. That defies 'quality of care' to me."
According to the SCAV site: "We believe that services by nonprofits beyond the basic medical services needed to maintain public health should be offered solely to low-income pet owners."
The site also says that the bill updates laws about animal care "to reflect the tremendous and unanticipated growth of shelters. ... The quality of medical care at shelters varies greatly and some safeguards need to be put in place."
Nelson fully backs that portion of the bill, saying she agrees that quality is important.
The bill does propose a distance limitation on nonprofit mobile clinics from operating near private-practice veterinary offices, which also is an issue Nelson has with the bill.
"If you live in a small town with one vet, and you don't want to go to that vet or can't afford to, this could prevent a nonprofit mobile clinic from providing services," Nelson said. "It eliminates your choice of health care and very possibly drive up fee scales."
Nelson said South Carolina has made great progress in pet laws recently, but this targets charities and the middle class.
"I'd hate to see South Carolina do this when we should be solving the problem of all the shelter admissions," she said.
For more information on SCAV and the bill, visit www.scav.org.
For more information on the SPCA Albrecht Center for Animal Welfare, visit letlovelive.org.
Dustin Turner is the news editor for the Aiken Standard.