Austin Animal Issues Forum
Dec. 15, 2010 Meeting
State News Summary
Monica Hardy, Executive Director, Texas Humane Legislation Network (THLN),
ed@thln.org:
The Large-Scale Commercial Breeder Bill has been submitted to Legislative Council in
preparation for officially filing it for the 2011 session which begins January 11.
THLN has been working closely with the Texas Veterinary Medical Association
(TVMA) and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) in advance of
the session, to come up with a bill that can hopefully pass this time. The TVMA killed a similar bill (HB 3180) in the 2009 session, and the TDLR will be the state agency through which the licensing program will be administered.
The 2011 bill will require any dog or cat breeding facility with 11 or more intact
females, where the intent is to sell the puppies/kittens, to undergo an initial inspection to become licensed, and then an annual inspection after that. Minimum standards of care will have to be demonstrated for licensing, such as adequate water, exercise, nutritious food, and veterinary care.
Facility inspection will be by the TDLR or by third party inspectors contracted through the TDLR. "Third party inspector” means any of the following with whom the
department has contracted to enforce or assist with the enforcement of this chapter and the rules adopted under this chapter, including inspections and investigations: (A)another state agency; (B) a local law enforcement agency or fire department; (C) a local animal control agency; or (D) an employee of any of the above-named agencies. All the details on exactly how the program will operate will be hammered out in the rulemaking process which will occur after the bill passes.
Another aspect of the bill is that it will require facilities with more than 50 intact females
to obtain a special approval waiver and demonstrate that they have sufficient staff to
adequately take care of the numbers of animals present.
The 2009 version of the bill included a lemon law provision, which would have provided
a way for consumers to recoup medical expenses in the case of a sick animal. The 2011
bill has dropped that provision.
THLN has worked hard to get bipartisan support for the bill. Both the Republican and
Democratic Party Platforms now have language specifically in support of animal welfare
and the prevention of animal cruelty. The House sponsor for the bill is Rep. Senfronia
Thompson, same as 2009. We are still working on a Senate sponsor.
Page 2 of 3
Two important things that everyone can do to support pro-animal protection bills: Attend
committee hearings on the bills when they occur during the session. THLN will send out
action alert emails letting everyone know when and where the hearings will be. The most
important thing when attending a hearing is to sign the card that you are in favor of the
pro-animal protection bill or you are against a bill that would weaken animal protection.
You do not need to stay for the entire hearing. Secondly, something everyone can do
RIGHT NOW is to meet with your state senator and state representative before the
session begins. They’ll have more time to listen to you and will be more likely to
remember you when animal welfare bills start coming up for a vote. If you can’t meet
with them, please at least start emailing or calling.
THLN is in the process of organizing a Lobby Day to be held in mid or late February.
Patt Nordyke, Executive Director, Texas Federation of Animal Care Societies (TFACS),
pnordyke@austin.rr.com:
TFACS is working on two bills: Pets in Protective Orders, and Spay/Neuter (S/N). This
will be the third attempt for the Pets in Protective Orders bill. In the last (2009) session,
there were 131 House votes and 27 Senate votes in favor of it so clearly it should have
passed, but unfortunately it fell victim to some last-minute session shenanigans and
didn’t quite make it.
The Pets in Protective Orders bill seeks to have pets included in domestic violence
protective orders. Sometimes the abused person in a household will not leave for fear
that the companion animal(s) left behind will then be abused. This bill seeks to remedy
this situation.
The S/N bill is not a “mandatory” s/n bill because anyone can keep their animals intact by
paying a $50/yr annual licensing fee per intact animal.
Exemptions to the proposed bill include service animals; animals younger than six
months; purebred animals displayed at competitive exhibitions to determine physical
conformation to established breed standards; animals used for lawful hunting by owners
holding valid Texas hunting licenses; and animals certified by veterinarians for health
reasons.
Texas is the only state to include non-surgical sterilization in state law. This is probably
where we will be headed eventually.
Senator Seliger was the sponsor of the anti-tethering bill that TFACS tried to get passed
in 2009 (the bill didn’t make it). Unfortunately, Seliger is now the chairman of the
Redistricting Committee and will have no time to sponsor the bill again. Redistricting
and the state budget will both be hugely important in the 2011 session and will just
overwhelm a lot of things.
Page 3 of 3
Tara Stermer, Canine Aggression & Behavior Specialist, Training by Tara,
thepacktrack@gmail.com:
There is breed ban legislation in the works. Breed bans absolutely do not work.
Education is the key. People mistakenly think breed bans are needed because of isolated
cases they hear about that involve chained, unsocialized dogs. There was a recent
incident in Tyler, Tx where a 2 year old child was killed when he wandered too near a
chained dog in his grandfather’s yard. There were 29 other chained dogs on the property.
Cynthia Kent, a former Smith County judge, is proposing the legislation. The Tyler
newspaper seems to be driving the whole thing.
Hopefully the fiscal note that would have to accompany any breed ban bill (fiscal notes
are required for all bills) will reflect that it will be prohibitively expensive to carry out. A
Best Friends enforcement estimate for such a bill is $31M for the entire state or $1M for
Travis County alone.
Denver is the only place where there is a widespread breed ban. Any dog whose
appearance remotely reminds an officer of the pit bull breed or a mix of that breed (either
correctly or incorrectly) can automatically be deemed a pit bull by the police and seized
and euthanized. Bully breed ID is visual only and is virtually impossible to do correctly.
“Pit bull” is actually a group of dogs. AKC recognizes American Staffordshire Terriers
and Bull Staffordshire Terriers, but does not recognize Pit Bull Terriers as a breed.
One version of the bill involves a 3rd degree felony for owning a “pit bull”. Another
version says that a pit bull owner would have to erect an 8 foot fence, with 2 feet buried
underground.
There is a petition against breed-specific/breed-discriminatory legislation at the bottom of
the Love-A-Bull home web page at http://love-a-bull.org/. The website also lists other
actions that people can take to fight BSL.
Employees at Dell Children’s Hospital say that the most common dog breed they see that
has bitten a child is a lab mix. Community programs are the answer, not breed bans.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment