Friday, September 5, 2008
The General Assembly is not in session.
Tracking Virginia’s General Assembly
since 2007.
HB265: Animal license taxes; establishes maximum tax that localities can charge.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 3.1-796.87 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 3.1-796.87. Amount of license tax.
A. The governing body of each county
or city shall impose by ordinance a license tax on the ownership of dogs within
its jurisdiction. The governing body of any county, city or town
which locality that
has adopted an ordinance pursuant to subsection B of § 3.1-796.85
shall impose by ordinance a license tax on the ownership of cats within its
jurisdiction. The governing body may establish different rates of taxation for
ownership of female dogs, male dogs, spayed or neutered dogs, female cats, male
cats, and spayed or neutered cats. The tax for each dog or cat shall not be
less than one dollar and not be more
than ten dollars $35 for each year. If a person owns
more than one dog or cat, then the fee
for any additional dog or cat shall be $2. If the a
dog or cat has been spayed, then the
tax shall not exceed the tax provided for a male dog or cat. Any ordinance may
provide for a license tax for kennels of ten 10, twenty 20, thirty 30, forty
40, or fifty 50 dogs,
not to exceed fifty dollars $50 for
any one such block of kennels.
B. No license tax shall be levied on any dog that is trained and serves as a guide dog for a blind person, that is trained and serves as a hearing dog for a deaf or hearing impaired person or that is trained and serves as a service dog for a mobility-impaired person.
As used in this section, "hearing dog" means a dog trained to alert its owner by touch to sounds of danger and sounds to which the owner should respond and "service dog" means a dog trained to accompany its owner for the purpose of carrying items, retrieving objects, pulling a wheelchair or other such activities of service or support.
Additional Data
Explanation
This is the actual text of the bill — the legislation itself. Generally this is amending existing law, proposing the addition or removal of words from laws that are already on the books.
Words that are highlighted in yellow are
proposed additions, and words that are crossed out in
red are proposed removals.
The numbers with the § symbol before them are references to existing laws, and if you click on them they’ll take you to that part of the law on the state's website.