[ SHOWGSD-L ] VA HB 538 (PAWS Plus for Virginia) Becomes law -- MAY FORWARD

From: "Ginger Cleary" <cleary1414@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Showgsd-L@Freelists. Org" <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:39:47 -0400
-----Original Message-----

On April 23 the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate concurred in
Governor Kaine's recommendations, passing the bill with his changes.
While most of the changes were editorial in nature, one of the
approved changes advanced the effective date from July 1, 2009, to
January 1, 2009.

You can read the details here:

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?081+sum+HB538

As usual, the last line under the red 'Full text' is the latest
version. When reading the bill, plain text is existing law, italics
are new text, added by the bill.

Around 100 Virginia commercial breeders will have just over eight
months to dispose of what might be 20,000 dogs.  Gee, this should be a
fun year for Virginia's animal shelters.

Other provisions of the bill forbid anyone owning over 50 dogs for
breeding purposes and place a heavy regulatory burden on persons who
maintain a cumulative total of 30 females for breeding in any one
year. As a practical matter, the largest legal breeding operation in
Virginia will now be 29 females (total for the year).

This will be a problem for hobbyists who provide stud service, since
it's common to 'maintain' a non-owned female for a few days during
such service.

Perhaps the nastiest provision of this nasty bill makes it a
misdemeanor for anyone convicted of abuse, neglect or cruelty to ever
again sell (give away, etc.) any dog, except by court order. That one
will be a field day for anti-breeding enforcement since all they have
to do is get you for anything and they've zeroed out your breeding
program.  Unless you can get a favorable court order (hahahahaha ...)
all you can do is sign them over to animal control.

Virginia dog owners need to memorize the provisions of this bill and
fully understand their rights. We've had the discussions before, but
now you MUST know how to deal with animal control, or you are toast,
in the counties that have AR-run A/C.

The breeders of Virginia -- especially the Virginia Federation of Dog
Clubs and Breeders -- fought an excellent fight on this one. We came
close -- within one vote in one of the committees -- but in the end
were unable to carry the combination of Delegate from HSUS Bobby
Orrock, a full court press from HSUS (the 'Virginia is for puppy
mills' media campaign), and the tacit support of the Virginia
Veterinary Medical Association.

 I have generally had a very favorable impression of our Assembly, but
this was way short of their finest hour. HB 538 was the most important
-- certainly the most far-reaching -- bill they considered this year,
and only about one Member in ten took the trouble to understand it.
They're in good company -- almost nobody else understands it either --
but we really need our lawmakers to dig into things the general public
doesn't understand, rather than rubber stamp the thoughts of Chairman
Wayne.

Assembly leadership and the Governor were plainly cowed by the might
of HSUS. We never got even a polite hearing at the higher levels.

Since HB 538 falls mainly on commercial breeders, the next step will
be up to them.

Walt Hutchens
Timbreblue Whippets




------------------------------------

 Ginger Cleary,Rome, GA  w <http://www.rihadin.com> ww.rihadin.com
“The world is not going to be saved by legislation.” W.Taft
Member GSDCA
Member Sawnee Mtn Kennel Club
GA Director RDOES.


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[ SHOWGSD-L ] VA HB 538 (PAWS Plus for Virginia) Becomes law -- MAY FORWARD

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