Written Proponent Testimony on House Bill 67 - Sharon Harvey, Cleveland Animal Protective League (May 28, 2020)

Summary

Written proponent testimony on House Bill 67 by Sharon Harvey, President and CEO of the Cleveland Animal Protective League, to the House Commerce & Labor Committee, dated May 28, 2020. It describes House Bill 67 as legislation to create the Veterinarian Student Debt Assistance Program, under which veterinarians must volunteer at least 12 hours of service to qualify. The testimony states that the organization assists more than 13,000 animals each year and performs around 10,000 spay/neuter surgeries. It appreciates the amendment accepted that day requiring recipients to submit information on charitable services, and suggests requiring a certification process with the entity where the services were provided.

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                            Written Proponent Testimony on House Bill 67
                                House Commerce & Labor Committee
                 Sharon Harvey, President and CEO, Cleveland Animal Protective League
                                            May 28, 2020


Chair Manning, Vice Chair Dean, Ranking Member Hagan, and members of the House Commerce and
Labor Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide proponent testimony on House Bill 67,
legislation to create the Veterinarian Student Debt Assistance Program. To qualify for the program,
veterinarians must volunteer at least 12 hours of their service to a nonprofit organization, a humane
society, a law enforcement agency or a state, local or federal government entity.

My name is Sharon Harvey, and I am the President & CEO of the Cleveland Animal Protective League,
which is the humane society for Cuyahoga County and one of the largest animal shelters in Ohio. We are
a private, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization organized under Ohio Revised Code 1717. Each year, our
organization assists more than 13,000 animals whose owners no longer want them or can’t keep them,
whose owners are very low income and can’t afford veterinary care but don’t want to give them up, that
are victims of animal abuse, neglect, or abandonment and come in through our humane investigations
team, that we transfer in from other overcrowded, underserved shelters, or are otherwise homeless and
need somewhere to go for care and a second chance at a better life. Our veterinary team provides basic
to advanced, complex medical care to roughly 5,000 animals annually and performs around 10,000
spay/neuter surgeries and 300 various other surgeries each year. As you can see, the need for
veterinarians in animal shelters is great!

I see a number of benefits to this legislation. HB 67 would encourage veterinarians to provide
community service in exchange for tuition reimbursement, which would strengthen partnerships with
animal welfare organizations and animal care and control agencies. Services provided could improve
community animal health for owners who cannot afford customary spay/neuter or other veterinary care
fees, which would reduce animal suffering, homelessness, animal shelter overcrowding and, in some
communities, euthanasia to relieve that overcrowding. Finally, the services could ease economic burden
in municipalities whose shelters would benefit from free spay/neuter of adoptable animals or other
targeted animal populations.

I appreciate the amendment being accepted today to require each recipient of assistance to submit
information to the board that details the charitable services completed by the veterinarian. I would
suggest the language should be strengthened further to require that a certification process be
established with the entity where the services were provided.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of this meaningful legislation. I ask for your favorable
consideration of this request and passage of this bill.

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