Breeder Bill Action Needed MONDAY

Your action is needed Monday on two issues – please read through the whole post as there are two bills here and one has a vote on TUESDAY.

I wanted to make sure everyone was aware of the latest developments regarding the “Puppy Mill” bill. This does apply to hunters and sportsmen if they have more than 11 intact females and sell any dogs. It would limit hunting kennels, by virtue of now being “commercial breeders”, to possessing 50 intact female animals at a facility (retired from breeding or not), as well as impose fees and other requirements yet to be determined.

There has been a lot of confusion because now there are TWO bills: 1) A shorter version of the original Commercial Breeder Bill (HB 3180) has passed the Senate as an amendment to an unrelated bill (HB 2310) and 2) The “original” version, HB 3180, is on the House Local & Consent Calendar for Tuesday, May 12.

Here is a summary of what has happened with HB 2310.

* The bill to which the commercial breeder bill was attached, HB 2310, is a non-controversial bill relating to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
* The 13-page breeder amendment is longer than HB 2310 itself. Therefore, this amendment fundamentally changes the intent of HB 2310.
* All on the same day (May 6): The 13-page “Commercial Breeder” amendment was added on the second reading, rules were suspended allowing the bill to be read for the third time, and the Senate passed the bill. Certainly, none of the Senators had time to read this amendment. It was impossible for citizens to provide feedback until it was too late. Yes, this is as corrupt as it sounds and no, I am not making this up.
* The amendment is a version of HB 3180. Only the House Committee on Licensing & Administrative Procedures has heard HB 3180. It has not been heard by the full House.
* HB 3180’s Senate companion, SB 1910 which was sponsored by Senator Whitmire, was never heard by any Senator. As the bill had yet to reach the Senate, stakeholders had not involved their Senators on the issue.
* If Senator Whitmire had expected HB 3180 or SB 1910 to pass, he would not have had to resort to passing it as an 11th-hour amendment.

What to do now? First thing MONDAY….. Find out who represents you here: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/

With regard to HB 2310:

1. CALL or FAX your own State Senator and let him or her know that you are disappointed that the rules were suspended, and that a 13-page amendment was tacked onto an 11-page bill and passed with no one batting an eye.
2. CALL or FAX your own House Representative and voice your opposition to HB 2310 with the amendment. There is a possibility it will go back to the House.
3. It’s not a bad idea to get ready to write Governor Perry and ask for a Veto of HB 2310 but it’s a little early for that still.

With regard to HB 3180:

* Write your own House Representative to OPPOSE HB 3180 because it is scheduled for a vote by the House on Tuesday, May 12. It’s still on the local & uncontested calendar. A measure may be removed from the Local, Consent, and Resolutions Calendar if debate exceeds 10 minutes or if five or more representatives object to the consideration of the measure.
* The Local and Uncontested Calendar is for non-controversial bills, and it is obvious from the long list of witnesses at the committee hearing that this is very controversial. Tell your Representative to OBJECT to the bill being on this calendar!

HB 3180 Talking Points:

* Many hunting kennels exceed the number of animals specified in this bill. Being forced to follow commercial breeder regulations will put them out of business.
* Inspections may be conducted by a “Registered Breeder Inspector” which may be a private humane society. Most if not all humane societies are opposed to animal breeding of any kind. This is like having a prohibitionist deciding who gets liquor licenses.
* The people pushing this bill claim that it will not affect hobby breeders. It will impact anyone who is required to collect sales taxes (this means everyone) on the sale of their animals by classifying them as a Dealer.
* Brokers and Commercial Breeders who sell to pet shops are already governed by USDA regulations, and all pet owners in Texas are already governed by state animal cruelty laws.
* This bill is fundamentally flawed and cannot be fixed with amendments.