Pennsylvania Democrats are making yet another push for a statewide animal abuse registry.

Rep. Angel Cruz, D-Philadelphia, is proposing a statewide animal abuse registry under the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania State Police. Once someone convicted of animal abuse registers with the State Police, Cruz would then require each county sheriff in the state to provide all county residences, schools, humane societies, animal shelters and any other business within a half-mile radius of anyone on the animal abuse registry’s residence or location within 10 days of receiving a registration. The information would be maintained for seven years to a lifetime, depending on the number of convictions.

Failure to register would be a third-degree felony and repeat offenders who fail to register would commit a second-degree felony.

“Animal abuse registries allow law enforcement to hold convicted individuals more accountable and provide additional resources to animal shelters to prevent abusers from adopting and abusing again,” Cruz said. “Without an animal abuse registry, it’s extremely easy for people with prior animal abuse convictions to acquire more animals and commit repeat offenses.”

The ASPCA’s position on animal abuse registries, particularly statewide registries, has been to broaden existing animal cruelty laws, make better use of well-enforced no-contact orders and to include animals in domestic violence protective orders. The organization’s website states registries may decrease the prosecution of serious animal cruelty cases by giving the court system an opportunity to plead cases down to less severe charges, registries are too limited to offer real protections, do not remove potential access to pets, can create a vigilante mentality in the public, have limited reach and are rarely used and can be expensive to institute and maintain. The ASPCA noted a 2011 registry proposed in Virginia that pegged costs at $1 million while a California registry was estimated to cost between $750,000 and $2 million.

“The ASPCA supports all efforts to have animal cruelty taken more seriously by law enforcement officials and the general public,” the organization stated on its website. “However, we believe that registries of animal cruelty offenders do little to advance these efforts and can be counter-productive to them.”

Cruz’ bill has seven co-sponsors, none of them Republicans that would be needed to move the bill out of committee to a floor vote. Similar bills have been proposed in the past but have never made it to the House floor for a vote.