Less than a week after a bill that aimed to create an online pet registry in Colorado was introduced, the sponsor of the legislation told Denver7 it has been postponed indefinitely.
HB24-1163 would have required pet owners to register their animal annually for a fee. It would cost $8.50 a year for pets that have a designated caregiver, $16 for dogs or cats that are not spayed or neutered with a designated caregiver, and $25 for pets without a designated caregiver. The caregivers would act as a safety net for the animals, in case of emergency situations with their owners.
Under the provisions of the bill, a caregiver would have to agree to take on the pet. Pets that were not registered in the system could face a civil penalty of $100 maximum. State Representative Regina English, D – El Paso County, introduced the bill on Jan. 31.
“The idea behind it was to create a pet contingency plan for mainly senior people when they’re in crisis or something happens, and they would have that person that would have guardianship over their pet, if something happened. Because we all know that our pet shelters are over capacity,” English said. “It would create a safety net for first responders, because with people registering a guardian over their pets, it would also come with a sticker that would identify a certain color to let the first responders knew if there’s an aggressive pet in the home.”