TX- Attention Houston, you folks need to pay attention to this!!!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6671761.html


It's showdown time over pet licensing

Houston vows to get tough with vets who defy law for rabies data

By CINDY HORSWELL
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Oct. 16, 2009, 8:02PM

For more than two decades, many Houston veterinarians have engaged in a quiet mutiny of sorts.


They have refused to follow a law requiring them to essentially name names — to turn over the identities and addresses of pet owners whose dogs and cats received rabies shots.
The city of Houston wants these names to identify some of the hundreds of thousands of pet owners who have failed to obtain the required city license for their dog or cat — and which could result in a citation. Only 4 percent of Houston's estimated 1 million pets are registered today, according to city officials.
A 1985 city ordinance requires veterinarians to turn over the data, but just 20 percent have been complying. The rest have revolted, saying they don't want to become quasi-tax collectors or participate in a “Big Brother” surveillance of their customers.
Now, as Houston's much-maligned Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care is being revamped, the city is not playing nice anymore. Officials plan to strictly enforce that ordinance.
Vets get grace period

Alfred Moran, director of the city's regulatory affairs, has sent a letter to all veterinarians with warnings in boldfaced type that they may be fined up to $500 for each day they violate the city's ordinance.
“We've given them a grace period so that they can decide how they want to comply. Either mail, e-mail or fax copies of the data to the city. Or they could become deputized to collect the license fees themselves, but I've not heard of any wanting to do that,” said Elena Marks, director of health and environmental policy for the mayor's office. “We don't want to become vet police, but if we don't see any movement, we will use our authority.”
Marks said pets should not have more privacy rights than human beings, noting physicians already abide by requirements to report children's vaccinations to state databases.
“This data helps us encourage residents to license their pets. It also gives us a better handle on the number of animals who have been properly vaccinated which is a public health issue,” said Marks.
A license for a neutered dog or cat is $10 for the first year and $2 each year thereafter; a license for an unneutered animal is $50 a year.
87 percent opposed

While the fee is small, it could raise more than $1 million for the city's general fund that could be used to improve the city's animal control facilities that veterinarians admit need major renovations.
However, area veterinarians say there's no guarantee whether the license fees will be allocated to animal control or something else.
Jeff Chalkley, president-elect of the Harris County Veterinary Medical Association, said 87 percent of his members who were polled opposed turning over the data.
“The city wants to force us to be tax collectors. But this is not what we signed up for,” Chalkley said.
He fears once customers learn that their names are being turned over to the city — forcing them to license their pets or face citations — it could discourage some from getting rabies shots.
Another option would be for pet owners to switch to clinics outside the city limits such as Bellaire, the Memorial villages, Katy or Sugar Land to avoid being reported.
“It will not take pet owners long to realize the source (of their personal data) is coming from their Houston veterinarian,” said James Fix, who has a Houston veterinary clinic.
L.D. Eckermann, who headed the veterinarian association in the 1980s, recalled the uproar over the ordinance when originally adopted.
“Then, as now, we objected because we want to respect our client's privacy,” he said. “When it comes to licensing, it should be the city's responsibility, not the vet's.”
Other cities' policies

However, Sam Miller, a veterinary association director, acknowledges the city may have the right to collect the names, because the Texas attorney general has ruled a municipal ordinance takes precedence over the veterinary board's rule about client-patient confidentiality.
Efforts by veterinarians to simply hand their clients pamphlets on how to license their pets have not been effective, and city authorities don't want to use extreme tactics of going door-to-door to see who has unlicensed pets.
Other cities such as Dallas have required their veterinarians to turn over pet owners' names for many years. Since the 1960s, El Paso has all its vets collect the licensing fees and then gives them 10 percent of the proceeds.
“Nobody has objected,” said Ed DeCastro, who oversees the El Paso operations. “It's more convenient for the customer who only has to make one stop. And it's easier for the city to make people comply. They don't slip home and forget about it.”
cindy.horswell@chron.com