(1) The state agricultural commission may make and adopt such quarantine and sanitary regulations affecting the movement of livestock into and out of the state of Colorado and within the borders of said state as may from time to time be necessary to prevent the introduction into the state or the spread within the state of any contagious or infectious disease, and the expense of such quarantine measures and the carrying out of such regulations shall be made by the imposition of a fee of three cents per head on all cattle and horses and one and one-half cents per head on all sheep entering the state of Colorado from any quarantine or infected territory. Whenever the state agricultural commission knows or has good reason to believe that any contagious or infectious disease exists in any locality in any other state, territory, or country or that there are conditions which render domestic animals from such infected district liable to bring such disease into this state, it may report the same to the governor of the state of Colorado whereupon, by proclamation, he shall prohibit the importation of any such livestock into this state, unless accompanied by a certificate of health given by the state veterinarian or sanitary inspectors appointed by the state agricultural commission, which veterinarian or sanitary inspectors shall carefully examine all such livestock previous to the giving of such certificate.
All fees connected with such examinations are to be paid by the owner of such stockso examined; but no fee shall be collected from the owner of any animals entering this state by railroad, in direct route to other states or territories, which do not remain in the state of Colorado for a longer period than is required for feeding and watering in transit. Any person, firm, or corporation who violates or disregards any of the provisions of a proclamation issued by the governor in compliance with this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than three hundred dollars nor more than three thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not less than thirty days nor more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
Notwithstanding the amount specified for any fee in subsection (1) of this section,the state agricultural commission by rule or as otherwise provided by law may reduce the amount of one or more of the fees if necessary pursuant to section 24-75-402 (3), C.R.S., to reduce the uncommitted reserves of the fund to which all or any portion of one or more of the fees is credited. After the uncommitted reserves of the fund are sufficiently reduced, the state agricultural commission by rule or as otherwise provided by law may increase the amount of one or more of the fees as provided in section 24-75-402 (4), C.R.S.
Source: L. 03: p. 437, § 10. R.S. 08: § 6397. L. 21: p. 753, § 1. C.L. § 3180. CSA: C. 160, § 83. CRS 53: § 8-3-25. L. 63: p. 287, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 8-3-11. L. 98: (3) added, p. 1342, § 67, effective June 1.
Cross references: For quarantine procedures to prevent the spread of infectious or contagious diseases among the domestic animals within the state, see §§ 35-50-111 to 35-50115.