Three interesting bills: declawing cats, sewage regulations and on-duty physicians • Virginia Mercury

Hundreds of bills are filed for General Assembly consideration each year. In this weekly series, the Mercury takes a look at a few of lawmakers’ 2024 proposals that might not otherwise make headlines during the whirlwind legislative session.

House Bill 1354: Prohibiting declawing cats

This bill from Del. Marty Martinez, D-Loudoun, would prohibit veterinarians from declawing cats unless necessary for therapeutic purposes. 

Martinez told the House Agriculture Subcommittee in January that his bill would let the state Board of Veterinarians strip those vets who perform the procedure of their license if they determine it’s warranted. 

Daphna Nachminovitch with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said declawing goes beyond the removal of the nail to actually amputate the first digit of every paw. As a result, she said it can cause behavioral issues and leave cats defenseless if they manage to escape outside. 

“When I worked at an animal shelter, a lot of the cats declawed were brought to us as biters because they felt very defensive not being able to use their claws,” she said.

Susan Seward with the Virginia Veterinary Medical Association also noted there are an increasing number of veterinarians who no longer perform the procedure unless there has been an injury to the animal.

Exemptions to the prohibition, said Martinez, could be made if the cat has a condition that requires the removal of claws. Cats could also be declawed in cases where the owner has a condition such as hemophilia or HIV and a physician recommends the procedure. 

However, Del. Buddy Fowler, R-Hanover, said the bill is problematic for people who want to declaw their cats to stop them from scratching.

“I’m concerned about a lot of people who may no longer want to have cats as pets if they cannot do that,” he said. 

Martinez said he and his wife made the “biggest mistake” when they decided to declaw their first cat, who was “never the same” after the procedure. 

“I felt I could never do that again to any animal,” he continued. “I’m an animal lover, and anything we can do to prevent any kind of cruelty to animals is something I support.”

The bill passed both chambers, with a handful of Republicans joining Democrats in support. It is now being reviewed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. 

House Bill 870: Creating sewage sludge regulations

HB 870 from Del. David Bulova, D-Fairfax, would require the Virginia State Water Control Board to adopt regulations to address situations when sewers’ normal storage capacity is exceeded due to adverse weather conditions.

Bulova told the House last month these sewage overflow events are expected to occur more frequently because of the increased frequency, intensity and duration of storm events being driven by climate change. 

“I think we all agree that this bill deals with a smelly subject,” he said. 

The bill would require the Department of Environmental Quality to form a regulatory advisory panel to assist with developing regulations. The new rules would have to include procedures for creating additional on-site and alternative storage requirements, as well as stating the amount of time in which the sewage is expected to flow into state waters. 

The issue started gaining attention in 2018, when Virginia had its highest level of precipitation since 1895, according to data from the National Centers for Environmental Information. 

During a 2022 House hearing, Sen. Richard Stuart, R-Westmoreland, said 2 billion gallons of raw sewage were dumped into the James River in 2021 due to sewage overflow. Richmond, along with Alexandria and Lynchburg, are particularly affected because they have combined sewer overflow systems, which funnel both stormwater and sewage through the same pipes and can lead to overflows during heavy rainfall. 

From December 2019 to November 2022, state regulators cited the town Christianburg for nearly 100 sewer overflows, with each event releasing hundreds to millions of gallons of sewage. 

The legislation passed the House and Senate unanimously.

Senate Bill 392 and House Bill 353: Requiring emergency departments to have at least one physician on duty

This pair of identical bills from Del. Patrick Hope, D-Arlington, and Sen. Stella Pekarsky, D-Fairfax, would require hospitals to have at least one physician on duty and physically present at all times. Current law requires hospitals to have physicians on call and not necessarily physically present on the premises at all times. 

Pekarsky told the House Health and Human Services Committee last month that Virginia’s code is outdated and the bills are intended to reflect current standards and best practices, as well as “matching our citizens’ expectations.”

An emergency room physician working at Southside Medical Center and Southern Virginia Medical Center told lawmakers that when the law requiring an emergency room physician to be on call passed, the volume and complexity of patients were a fraction of what they are now.

Emergency rooms “are now de facto intensive care units, boarding patients for hours or even days waiting for a bed at a receiving facility,” she told the committee. 

While choking back tears, Sen. Wren Williams, R-Patrick, told the Senate it needs to think about the unintended consequences the bills could have on rural health care and hospitals. His district’s only hospital shut down in 2017, he said, and the area only has one practicing physician in his late 60s. While Williams said he’s still working to reopen the hospital, he contended requiring an additional doctor on staff would make it harder. 

“I really need you guys to think about unintended consequences when it comes to rural health care because this might save lives in other regions, but it’s going to hurt and it’s going to have a real impact on places like mine,” he said.

The bills passed the Senate unanimously and faced some Republican opposition in the House.