2.__Contributions credited to Companion Animal Sterilization Fund.__The State Tax Assessor shall determine annually the total amount contributed pursuant to subsection 1.__Prior to the beginning of the next year, the assessor shall deduct the cost of administering the Companion Animal Sterilization Fund checkoff, but not exceeding $5,000 annually, and report the remainder to the Treasurer of State, who shall credit that amount to the Companion Animal Sterilization Fund, which is established in Title 7, section 3910-B, subsection 2.

Sec. 7. Transition. All funds in the spaying and neutering fund established by the Commissioner of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 7, section 3906-B, subsection 13 must be transferred to the Companion Animal Sterilization Fund established in Title 7, section 3910-B, subsection 2 within 30 days following the effective date of this Act.

Sec. 8. Effective date. This Act takes effect January 1, 2005.

SUMMARY

This bill, based on New Hampshire law, establishes the Companion Animal Sterilization Program to provide funding assistance to Maine residents who adopt a dog or cat from an animal shelter and need the animal to be spayed or neutered. A resident pays a fee of $30 to participating veterinarians. Disabled, elderly, unemployed or low-income residents who are eligible to receive low-income assistance, such as food stamps or MaineCare or unemployment benefits, pay a fee of $15, which covers an examination, vaccinations and sterilization from a participating veterinarian.

Participating veterinarians are reimbursed for the difference between the fee and 80% of the veterinarian's fee for sterilizing the companion animal less the copayment; if the companion animal is owned by a disabled, elderly, low-income or unemployed person, the veterinarian receives full reimbursement.

The primary source of funding for the program is a voluntary checkoff on the individual income tax form that allows a taxpayer