[ SHOWGSD-L ] It's January. Do you know where your legislature is?
- From: RihadinK9@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2006 08:23:16 EST
~~permission to forward to all appropriate lists ~~
At the end of this post are samples of the bills being sponsored in the
Virginia legislature this year. You should not believe for a minute that this
kind of bill is so stupid that it could never pass.
Our legislature merrily passed a bill four years ago that allowed animal
control to walk into any rescuer's home at any time to inspect, required
private
rescuers to have regular "business hours" and be open to the public, and
post their names and street addresses in every pound and shelter in the state.
And that wasn't the half of SB 260. The reason it passed was that no one in
rescue knew about it and the Humane Society of the United States and the
humane societies and pounds in Virginia were pushing it.
Rescuers discovered it at the last minute -- too late to prevent its passage
-- and raised so much hell that the implementation was postponed and it was
amended the following year. If they hadn't, rescue in Virginia would be
history. As it is, even with the amendment, many rescues will not operate in
Virginia because of the vagueness of the law and the paperwork required.
The moral of the story is that we all need to WATCH what government in our
states is doing. If you are not on your state's pet-law list, you should get
on it. http://www.pet-law.com/statelists.html
If there is not one in your state, start one. (We can help) No, it's not
fun and it would be nice to just leave it to "people who know about that
stuff." But none of us knows about that stuff till it comes along and bops us
in
the head.
Believe me, when SB260 passed in Virginia, Walt and I didn't know who our
senator and delegate were, didn't have more than a general idea of how state
laws were passed, and really believed that if a law was unconstitutional or
just plain dumb, that someone would realize it and prevent it from becoming
law.
What we learned was that if all bills have advocates pushing for them to
pass. In the case of animal laws, they are nearly all animal rights
organizations. (Ours are the Virginia Voters for Animal Welfare and the
Virginia
Federation of Humane Societies) If no one opposes the bill loudly, it *will*
pass.
The legislators don't know enough about the issues they vote on to make
smart decisions -- they rely on the "experts" who bring them proposals for
bills.
If you want to continue to breed and show dogs, your days of ignoring the
legislature are over.
Here are highlights of just a few of the bills we are fighting in Virginia
this year. These are just the first ones filed. We expect about a dozen
more.
HB 278 -- Allows the city of Newport News to impose a license tax of $35 on
each dog or cat that isn't spayed/neutered.
HB 339 -- Requires people to get dog/cat licenses from veterinarians when
vets give rabies vaccinations. Requires veterinarians to sell licenses and
forward the money and paperwork to the county treasurer quarterly. Allows a
dog
found without a license to be charged an additional impound fee of $5/day
and be spayed/neutered.
HB 386 -- Adds "without provocation, chased, confronted, or approached a
person in a threatening or aggressive manner such that a reasonable person
would be fearful of an attack" to the definition of a dangerous dog -- this is
the usual 'potentially dangerous dog' definition. Also allows any animal
control officer to label a dog as dangerous. (No magistrate, no judge, no
oversight of the ACO)
SB 55 -- Requires breeders to purchase licenses. License is required for
anyone advertising a litter. Someone who buys a puppy and does not get a
license number from the breeder is subject to a fine of $150. (Clever -- uses
your own puppy buyers to police you) Requires dogs/cats from breeders,
rescuers, shelters, breeders, dealers, or pet stores to be sterilized and
microchipped. Hobby breeders would be allowed to purchase a dog/cat and breed
one litter
from it before sterilizing it.
Remember -- without opposition, these bills would all pass. Be sure you find
out what's going on in your state legislature. And if you're from Virginia,
send a blank email to va-pet-law-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx We need you.
Sharyn
Timbreblue Whippets ~ www.timbreblue.com
Sharyn & Walt Hutchens
Ginger Cleary, Rome, GA
Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you
with experience...
_http://www.rihadin.com_ (http://www.rihadin.com/)
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