Category: Legislative Updates

ByLaws Amendment Proposal

The ByLaws Committee has proposed a change to Article 1, Section 1, regarding Active Members. This section currently reads:

Section 1.  Active Members. An Active Member shall be a graduate of a college or school of veterinary medicine accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association and shall reside in the State of Hawaii.

To align with current Hawaii veterinary licensing requirements of the Hawaii Board of Veterinary Medicine (recently updated with the passage of SB2798 CD 1 in 2022), the proposal is to change Article 1, Section 1 to read:

Section 1. Active Members. An Active Member shall be a graduate of a veterinary college meeting all the standards established by the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education or a foreign college of veterinary medicine who has successfully completed the requirements established by the American Veterinary Medical Association Educational Commission for Foreign Veterinary Graduates or the American Association of Veterinary State Boards Program for the Assessment of
Veterinary Education Equivalence, and shall reside in the State of Hawaii.

The ByLaws amendment will be voted on at the Annual Business Meeting on Nov 12, 2022.

2022 Legislative Update – SB2798

SB2798 was signed into law by the governor in June. This bill amends the veterinary practice law in Hawaii to better define the practice and parameters of veterinary medicine and veterinary telemedicine to protect consumers and their pets from inadequate, improper, or unlicensed veterinary care.  This bill also helps to address the shortage of licensed veterinarians in Hawaii by allowing the temporary permitting of out-of-state veterinarians, providing for international veterinary school graduates to qualify for licensure examination in Hawaii, and extending the amount of time that out-of-state veterinarians may practice in Hawaii while awaiting their licensing exam date. The HVMA is grateful for support from the American Veterinary Medical Association and across the state from multiple organizations, legislators, and individual citizens to help push this bill across the finish line. 

SB 2798 Hearing Notice 2/23/2022 – Testimony Needed

SB 2798 will be heard on Wednesday February 23, 2022 at 9:30am by the Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection via videoconference. Please submit written testimony in support of this bill which will amend Chapter 471, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to better define the practice and parameters of veterinary medicine and veterinary telemedicine to protect Hawaii consumers and their pets from inadequate, improper, or unlicensed veterinary care. In addition, to address the current shortage of licensed veterinarians in Hawaii, this bill will also provide for the temporary permitting of out-of-state veterinarians and ensure international veterinary school graduates of both AVMA Council on Education and AAVSB approved programs are able to qualify for licensure examination in Hawaii. For more background on this bill, see this post.

Updated HI State Laws Related to Animals

The following are law changes passed in 2021:

New: Animal sexual assault https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0711/HRS_0711-1109_0008.htm

Amended: Tethering https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol14_Ch0701-0853/HRS0711/HRS_0711-1109.htm

New: Veterinary emergency care https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol10_Ch0436-0474/HRS0471/HRS_0471-0017.htm

New: Veterinary mandatory reporting https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol10_Ch0436-0474/HRS0471/HRS_0471-0018.htm

Microchipping, statewide:
Amended: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol03_Ch0121-0200D/HRS0143/HRS_0143-0002.htm
New: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol03_Ch0121-0200D/HRS0143/HRS_0143-0002_0002.htm

Upcoming free training on the role of veterinarians in identifying animal abuse:

Tuesday, May 3rd, 10:00-11:15am HST
https://www.justiceclearinghouse.com/webinar/the-forgotten-partner-in-responding-to-animal-abuse-the-veterinarian/ (registration required)

HB 1598 Hearing Notice 2/8/2022 – Testimony Needed!

HB 1598 will be heard on Tuesday February 8, 2022 at 2pm by the House Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce via videoconference. Please submit written testimony in support of this bill which will amend Chapter 471, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to better define the practice and parameters of veterinary medicine and veterinary telemedicine to protect Hawaii consumers and their pets from inadequate, improper, or unlicensed veterinary care. In addition, to address the current shortage of licensed veterinarians in Hawaii, this bill will also provide for the temporary permitting of out-of-state veterinarians and ensure international veterinary school graduates of both AVMA Council on Education and AAVSB approved programs are able to qualify for licensure examination in Hawaii. For more background on this bill, see this post.

SB 2798 Hearing Notice 2/7/2022 – Testimony Needed!

SB 2798 will be heard on Monday February 7, 2022 at 1pm by the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Environment via videoconference. Please submit written testimony in support of this bill which will amend Chapter 471, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to better define the practice and parameters of veterinary medicine and veterinary telemedicine to protect Hawaii consumers and their pets from inadequate, improper, or unlicensed veterinary care. In addition, to address the current shortage of licensed veterinarians in Hawaii, this bill will also provide for the temporary permitting of out-of-state veterinarians and ensure international veterinary school graduates of both AVMA Council on Education and AAVSB approved programs are able to qualify for licensure examination in Hawaii. For more background on this bill, see this post.

Legislative Update 2022

The Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association (HVMA) seeks to amend Chapter 471, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to better define the practice and parameters of veterinary medicine and veterinary telemedicine to protect consumers and their pets from inadequate, improper, or unlicensed veterinary care.  Further, because there is a shortage of licensed veterinarians in Hawaii, HVMA is proposing to provide for the temporary permitting of out-of-state veterinarians and providing for international veterinary school graduates to qualify for licensure examination in Hawaii.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions brought about consumer demand for telehealth in the field of veterinary medicine. Telemedicine has allowed consumers more access to veterinary services for their pets, particularly in areas where access to veterinary care is limited.  However, HVMA is aware that the use of telemedicine may also be abused without an established veterinary-client-patient relationship.  Without actual physical examination of a pet, veterinary services rendered through telemedicine alone can be inadequate and below the standard of veterinary care. The addition of telehealth definitions and the telemedicine section will help to clarify the practice of veterinary telemedicine and assist the Hawaii Board of Veterinary Medicine in ensuring consumers in Hawaii receive proper and licensed veterinary telemedicine services.

Additionally, the pandemic highlighted the shortage of veterinarians available to provide specialty and routine veterinary care for Hawaii’s people and their pets. At times, veterinary emergency hospitals were unable to operate 24/7 and surgeon schedules were completely booked for months due to the inability to fill these staffing shortages by temporary permit. In one specific case, there was a veterinary surgeon within the state that could have assisted during this period, but due to her international veterinary school degree, was unable to sit for Hawaii’s state licensing exam due to a technicality in the administrative rules. These amendments are critically important to prevent such veterinary care shortages in the future, and ensure that all qualified veterinarians are allowed to sit for the Hawaii state licensing exam.

This bill has currently been introduced to the House (HB 1598) by Representatives Johanson, Hashem, and Nishimoto; and into the Senate (SB 2798) by Senators Lee, Gabbard, Keith-Agaran, Misalucha, Acasio, Ihara, and San Buenaventura . Please take the time to thank them for their support, and write your local representative to ask for theirs!

Legislative Update

New animal laws enacted in 2021:

Act 31 – Establishes the crime of sexual assault of an animal. Standard veterinary, animal husbandry, and conformation judging practices are exempt. Effective June 7, 2021.

Act 91 – Protects veterinarians from civil liability for rendering emergency aid to an animal, even if an owner is not available to consent to care. Requires veterinarians to report suspected animal cruelty or the injury or death of an animal as part of a staged fight. Protects veterinarians from civil liability for making such reports. Effective June 25, 2021.

Act 182 – Bans the unsupervised tethering of a dog under the age of six months. Bans tethering in a configuration that endangers the dog. Bans the use of tow or log chains to tether a dog. Effective July 6, 2021.

Act 5, Special Session – Requires dog and cat owners to have microchip identification implanted in their dogs and cats, and to register the microchip number and the owner’s contact information with a microchip registration company. Requires animal organizations to implant a microchip in all stray dogs and cats in their custody that do not have microchip identification. Effective January 1, 2022.

Specialty/ER Service Interruption

The Hawaii Board of Veterinary Medicine has recently reinterpreted Hawaii’s veterinary practice law and begun rejecting the practice of veterinary sponsorship. This practice previously allowed many out-of-state specialists to share their services with our clients on a short-term or intermittent basis. All of us have benefited from referring our clients to visiting dermatologists, radiologists, surgeons, as well as our few emergency care centers that operate 24/7. This interruption in veterinary sponsorship has limited service hours at emergency clinics and worsened the backlog of surgery cases in Hawaii.

If your clients are being affected, please encourage them to file a complaint with the DCCA and Board of Veterinary Medicine to insist that they must immediately return to honoring the practice of veterinary sponsorship in Hawaii as clearly allowed by HRS 471(2)-5.