As of July 26, 40 states have completed their 2023 legislative sessions, including Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Oregon, Rhode Island and New York. Pending bills that did not reach final passage by the regular session adjournment date are dead until the 2024 session. For that reason any such bills that were on the ZAA monitoring list from those states have been removed from the report. We have moved to a bi-weekly legislative update until sessions resume.
New State Proposed Regulations Mississippi
The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks is amending its regulations regarding permits for the possession of inherently dangerous animals to reflect the enactment of the federal Big Cat Public Safety Act. Existing regulations define a public zoo in part as being AZA accredited. There is no formal public comment period or deadline and the changes will become effective on July 26, 2023.
Tennessee
Proposed changes to regulations regarding captive wildlife licenses. Would designate Macaques as a Class I species, among other things. Class I species may only be possessed by zoos, circuses and commercial propagators with a Class I license from TWRA. Public hearing was held on June 23, 2023 and proposed rules were tabled until the next Commission meeting in August.
Utah
R657-3a
R657-3
R657-3b
R657-3c
The Utah Department of Natural Resources is revising/reformatting its regulations governing the collection, importation, transportation, and possession of various native and non-native animals. In doing so it is repealing its existing regulations and replacing them with new regulations that are substantially the same. Comments are due by July 31, 2023.
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