Our Primary Animal Bill: HB 1258
HB 1258 died on Wednesday night (3/3/10) when Senator Brent Steele refused to allow his caucus to sign the conference committee report. The bill itself officially died when the chair of the Senate Committee (again, Senator Brent Steele) to which it was assigned, failed to schedule it for a hearing. The deadline for a hearing came and went and the bill was officially dead.
However, because the language passed one chamber (the House of Representatives, with a vote of 71-26) it was eligible to be amended into another bill, so we still had some options. After failing to amend the bulk of it to another bill, we tried to amend just the animal fighting language into a bill. Three of the 4 conferees from the conference committee were ready to sign the committee report, to allow it to move forward, when Senator Steele objected and refused to allow the Republican Senator assigned to the committee to sign the report. If all 4 conferees do not sign the conference committee report, the bill is dead.
It's obviously incredibly unfortunate that not even the animal fighting language made it through this year, due to the objections of essentially one legislator. This is particularly frustrating in light of the August 2009 dogfighting raid in Orange County, Indiana, in which 109 dogs were seized from deplorable and inhumane conditions.
As always, Representative Linda Lawson, the sponsor of the bill, was a true advocate for the animals in Indiana and did absolutely everything she could to try and get this through. Please take a moment to contact her and thank her for her tireless efforts to protect the animals in Indiana. She can reached via e-mail at: h1@in.gov or via phone at: 1-800-382-9842.
If you would like, you can also take a moment to call or e-mail Senator Steele's office and voice your displeasure with him for killing, for the 5th time, a provision that would have made it a felony to attend an animal fight in Indiana. With his refusal to support this common-sense legislation, he is consistent in his support of those who participate in the blood sport of animal fighting, and has secured yet another win for the dogfighters in Indiana. Senator Steele can be reached via e-mail at: s44@in.gov or via phone at: 317.232.9814.
On a happier note, Representative Lawson also introduced a resolution to declare October 1st 'Adopt a Shelter Pet Day' in Indiana. Thankfully, this resolution passed overwhelmingly.
Thanks so much to each and every one of you who made phone calls and sent e-mails throughout these past few months! There is a much stronger and louder voice for animals in Indiana as a result of this amendment being killed and we will continue our efforts next year.
To recap the bill, HB 1258 would have required the following:
Retail Pet Stores:
Would have required pet stores to post, on the front of the cages:
"The facility in which this dog or cat was born has produced:
(A) 0 to 2 litters during the one-year period preceding the day this dog or cat was born.
(B) 3 to 10 litters during the one-year period preceding the day this dog or cat was born
(C) 11 to 39 litters during the one-year period preceding the day this dog or cat was born
(D) 40 or more litters during the one-year period preceding the day this dog or cat was born."
Retail pet stores would have to provide their animals with minimum standards of care
Retail pet stores would have to pay $25 per animal sold to the Board of Animal Health Commercial Breeder Inspection Fund
Animal Fighting:
HB 1258 died on Wednesday night (3/3/10) when Senator Brent Steele refused to allow his caucus to sign the conference committee report. The bill itself officially died when the chair of the Senate Committee (again, Senator Brent Steele) to which it was assigned, failed to schedule it for a hearing. The deadline for a hearing came and went and the bill was officially dead.
However, because the language passed one chamber (the House of Representatives, with a vote of 71-26) it was eligible to be amended into another bill, so we still had some options. After failing to amend the bulk of it to another bill, we tried to amend just the animal fighting language into a bill. Three of the 4 conferees from the conference committee were ready to sign the committee report, to allow it to move forward, when Senator Steele objected and refused to allow the Republican Senator assigned to the committee to sign the report. If all 4 conferees do not sign the conference committee report, the bill is dead.
It's obviously incredibly unfortunate that not even the animal fighting language made it through this year, due to the objections of essentially one legislator. This is particularly frustrating in light of the August 2009 dogfighting raid in Orange County, Indiana, in which 109 dogs were seized from deplorable and inhumane conditions.
As always, Representative Linda Lawson, the sponsor of the bill, was a true advocate for the animals in Indiana and did absolutely everything she could to try and get this through. Please take a moment to contact her and thank her for her tireless efforts to protect the animals in Indiana. She can reached via e-mail at: h1@in.gov or via phone at: 1-800-382-9842.
If you would like, you can also take a moment to call or e-mail Senator Steele's office and voice your displeasure with him for killing, for the 5th time, a provision that would have made it a felony to attend an animal fight in Indiana. With his refusal to support this common-sense legislation, he is consistent in his support of those who participate in the blood sport of animal fighting, and has secured yet another win for the dogfighters in Indiana. Senator Steele can be reached via e-mail at: s44@in.gov or via phone at: 317.232.9814.
On a happier note, Representative Lawson also introduced a resolution to declare October 1st 'Adopt a Shelter Pet Day' in Indiana. Thankfully, this resolution passed overwhelmingly.
Thanks so much to each and every one of you who made phone calls and sent e-mails throughout these past few months! There is a much stronger and louder voice for animals in Indiana as a result of this amendment being killed and we will continue our efforts next year.
To recap the bill, HB 1258 would have required the following:
Retail Pet Stores:
Would have required pet stores to post, on the front of the cages:
- Name & business address of the breeder & the facility where the animal was born
- Name & business address of the broker, if applicable
- USDA license number
- All of this information would be sent to the State Board of Animal Health (Click Here for the State Board of Animal Health Indiana Commercial Dog Breeder and Broker Program Guidance Document)
"The facility in which this dog or cat was born has produced:
(A) 0 to 2 litters during the one-year period preceding the day this dog or cat was born.
(B) 3 to 10 litters during the one-year period preceding the day this dog or cat was born
(C) 11 to 39 litters during the one-year period preceding the day this dog or cat was born
(D) 40 or more litters during the one-year period preceding the day this dog or cat was born."
Retail pet stores would have to provide their animals with minimum standards of care
Retail pet stores would have to pay $25 per animal sold to the Board of Animal Health Commercial Breeder Inspection Fund
Animal Fighting:
- Would have made it a Class D felony to attend an animal fighting contest
- Would have added the promotion of an animal fighting contest to the list of racketeering activity
