Proposal on pets, restraining orders advances

Listen to this article

A bill related to household pets and restraining orders has cleared an assembly committee.

Assembly Bill 141 would allow courts to order the subjects of restraining orders to not harm or mistreat a pet. It would also allow either the victim requesting the restraining order or an agent of that victim to retrieve the pet from the subject of the restraining order.

Members of the Assembly Committee on Judiciary passed the amended bill unanimously at an executive session Thursday morning. The state Senate had passed the bill in May.

• The Assembly committee also was scheduled to join forces with the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety to hold a public hearing on a bill that would reform the state’s criminal procedures. Meanwhile, a previously planned vote on a separate bill calling for additional criminal penalties for not carrying motor-vehicle insurance was postponed at the request of the authors, said committee chairman and state Rep. Jim Ott, R-Mequon.