Amends TCA Section 37-1-134 and Title 39, Chapter 14.

Under present law, it is an offense to knowingly and unlawfully kill the animal of another without the owner's effective consent. A violation is theft of property, graded according to the value of the animal, and punished accordingly. The killing of a police dog, fire dog, search and rescue dog, service animal or police horse is treated as an enhancement that upon a violation promotes this offense to at least a Class E felony. This bill separates the enhancement from the above-described offense and creates the separate offense of knowingly and unlawfully killing a police dog, fire dog, search and rescue dog, service animal, or police horse without the owner’s effective consent. A violation will be a Class B felony. This bill adds “killing or causing serious bodily injury to a police dog, fire dog, search and rescue dog, service animal, or police horse, or an attempt to commit any such offense” to the list of offenses that may result in an offender between the ages of fourteen and seventeen being transferred from juvenile court to criminal court. Under present law, a child may be transferred from juvenile court to criminal court if, among other circumstances, the child was between the ages of fourteen and seventeen at the time of the alleged conduct and was charged with the offense of first-degree murder, second degree murder, rape, aggravated rape, rape of a child, aggravated rape of a child, aggravated robbery, especially aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping, especially aggravated kidnapping, commission of an act of terrorism, carjacking, or an attempt to commit any such offenses. ON APRIL 20, 2022, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 2013, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 removes the provision of this bill that would have added "killing or causing serious bodily injury to a police dog, fire dog, search and rescue dog, service animal, or police horse, or an attempt to commit any such offense" to the list of offenses that may result in an offender between the ages of 14 and 17 being transferred from juvenile court to criminal court. This amendment also: (1) Changes the penalty for injury or death to a police dog, fire dog, search and rescue dog, service animal, or police horse to be a Class D felony; and specifies that if conduct in violation of this offense is also a violation of any other criminal offense, then the offense may be prosecuted under any of the applicable statutes; and (2) Revises the present law provision whereby a person is justified in killing the animal of another if the person acted under a reasonable belief that the animal was creating an imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury to that person or another or an imminent danger of death to an animal owned by that person; under this amendment the justification will also apply if there was danger to an animal "in the control of" that person.