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Utah law governing local emergency planning and animal cruelty would change under this bill in two ways. First, every county, city, and town emergency operations plan would need to designate at least one shelter—located within the community or in a nearby community through collaboration—that can accommodate both people and their household pets (defined as dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, rodents, or turtles kept as companions, but not livestock, reptiles other than turtles, amphibians, fish, or insects), with each plan allowed to set its own rules for pet housing and care at that shelter. Second, the bill would expand the crime of aggravated cruelty to an animal to include chaining, tying, or tethering a personal animal outside and then abandoning it during a natural disaster, which could be charged as a misdemeanor depending on the offender's level of intent.