SB 1030 Arizona Senate · 57th Legislature - First Regular Session

veterinarian malpractice actions; damages

SB 1030 clarifies compensation for pet owners in veterinary malpractice cases under Arizona law. It allows owners who win such lawsuits to recover two specific damages: the current market value of a deceased pet or the cost of necessary veterinary care for injuries caused by the vet's negligence. The bill defines "domestic animal" as common companion pets (like dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, or amphibians kept as pets), excluding regulated animals. This changes how damages are calculated but does not alter the standard for proving veterinary negligence.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Dec 2024

Committee Review

Mar 2025

Senate Passage

Mar 2025

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Dec 18, 2024 Last action Mar 26, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced Version → Senate Engrossed Version · 4 edits · Mar 17, 2025

MODERATE

The bill's text was reformatted and reorganized from an introduced version to a Senate engrossed version, with substantive policy changes including expanding damages eligibility to cover both death and injury of domestic animals, and clarifying that fair market value applies only when the animal is deceased.

Scope change

The scope of damages eligibility was expanded to include injured animals in addition to deceased animals.

ELIGIBILITY

Damages eligibility was expanded from only covering the death of a domestic animal to also covering injury of a domestic animal.

DEFINITION

The fair market value of the domestic animal is now specified to apply only if the animal is deceased, rather than as a general damage category.

TECHNICAL

Prefiled date and reference title metadata were removed during the transition to the Senate engrossed version.

Senate engrossed formatting headers and legislative session information were added to the document.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 17, 2025

How they voted

20–7

Passed · 3 other

Total votes 30

Mar 17, 2025

D Democratic13

10 Yea 3

76% Yea

R Republican17

10 Yea 7 Nay

58% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Mar 26, 2025

Lower · Passed

lower

Mar 17, 2025

Upper · Passed

PASSED

upper

Mar 17, 2025

Upper · Passed

DPA

upper

Feb 11, 2025

Upper · Passed

DPA

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors