[ SHOWGSD-L ] from the Animal Council
- From: "Ginger Cleary" <cleary1414@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Showgsd-L@Freelists. Org" <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:04:11 -0500
-----Original Message-----
*****( begin quote )*****
CALIFORNIA STATE BILLS http://www.theanimalcouncil.com/CA2007.html
This is our eleventh year of email distributions about California
state legislation impacting our interests as animal owners. Over the
years, many detrimental bills have failed and very few actually were
enacted. Stopping bad bills requires skillful, coordinated lobbying
and focused grasstops and grassroots efforts timed to critical points
in the legislative process.
Since last weekend, there has been unprecedented interest in AB 1634,
the "California Healthy Pets Act" authored by Assembly Members Lloyd
Levine(D-40) of Van Nuys and Pedro Nava(D-35) of Santa Barbara and
Senator Alex Padilla(D-20) of Pacoima. Earlier this year, we
published information about this bill as it emerged and included it
in our yearly survey of new bills on Sunday.
We did not include action information, because this would bypass the
needed building blocks for eventual success and present needless
risks too soon. The good news is that there is great interest in the
bill; the bad news is something like, "who let the dogs out to run in
pickup packs, madly barking?"
THE ISSUES: Authors and bill proponents frame issues, not the
opposition. It is critical to listen carefully to them and rebut
their issues rather than raise irrelevant or unsubstantiated
arguments that undermine our credibility.
The proponents' web site http://www.cahealthypets.com has been again
updated with more telling information. Please read it carefully and
take time to think about it:
* A long FAQ page. This reveals the arguments they will make that
we must rebut, including public safety from dog bite risk and the
need for uniform state law. They also claim that Rhode Island has a
mandatory spay neuter law. In truth, this applies only to cats and
came about in a very different way. For specifics, see the Rhode
Island section of
http://www.theanimalcouncil.com/CurrentLegislativeMaterials.html
* The dog bite page. Our sister site,
http://www.doggonecalifornia.org
has been developing dog bite information since the enactment of SB
861 in 2005. This will be another area to address.
* A press section. So far, the only item is from the Madera Tribune
where the name of animal control director Kristen Gross is familiar
from the unsuccessful effort to change the Madera County ordinance a
couple years ago. Read this article very carefully, as it also
reveals the arguments to be rebutted as we go forward in the
legislative process.
California bills are "in print" for a month before any action can be
taken. Until a bill is assigned to a committee and the file in that
office, we need to prepare for dealing with the committee. See our
California Legislation: A Basic Primer revised for 2007 to review
this process. Send us any questions.
No specific hearing date will be determined until the bill is in
committee, and then the date is subject to change right up to the day
of the hearing. The author needs to have the key witnesses on hand,
and this usually requires coordinating travel schedules of several
people.
THINGS TO DO NOW:
California residents can contact their own legislators. Tell then
you will be opposing AB 1634, and ask them to not support or co-
sponsor it. Once we have a Committee assigned, we particularly need
constituents of committee members to write and call. Everyone else
can lend backup.
Organizations are an important component of California lobbying, and
we will need as many as possible for listing on the committee
analysis. If you represent an organization such as a cat or dog
club, be prepared to follow specific instructions when available.
This will require a brief letter on letterhead either faxed, mailed
or hand-delivered to the committee. Discuss this with your
organization NOW and prepare needed authorization, letterhead, etc.
Once an Assembly committee analysis is published, it cannot be
changed for additions or corrections, so we need to get it right the
first time.
Set up email and phone trees now, so we can quickly direct grasstops
and grassroots efforts. "Grasstops" are those who might know
legislators or their staffs personally or know major contributors.
Think of everyone you know.
Resist the temptation to fire off communiqués of points that will
appear irrelevant to AB 1634 and be used to discredit the entire
opposition. There is still much we do not know, such as the position
of cities and counties. Some already have much worse ordinances than
provided in the bill and would not need to change them, nor would the
bill prohibit more restrictive ordinances. Several bills have been
lost on the state versus local issue, and this will probably be
critical, especially when local agencies are backing this bill. A
question might be why?
*****( end quote )*****
Ginger Cleary - Rome, GA www.rihadin.com <http://www.rihadin.com>
"A nation of sheep begets a government of wolves."
-- Edward R. Murrow
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