APV - 2010 State Legislation

Despite the 2010 legislative session being mostly about budget matters, Animal Protection Voters was very busy monitoring, supporting and opposing a variety of bills that had the potential to affect animals and their well-being. Here is a summary of the highlights:

This bill would have established a Livestock Crimestoppers Program and will likely be introduced again next year. This program will be part of the State Livestock Board and will issue rewards for information that would assist in investigating felony level cruelty to livestock. This bill passed the House and sailed through committees in the Senate before it died on the Senate floor when it was not heard in the last 24 hours of the session.

HB 73 Taking of Certain Animal Species
Bill Sponsor: Rep. Mimi Stewart

This bill would have made it unlawful to kill an ungulate feeding on a landowner's property. This bill was drafted to allow landowners two options for managing wildlife feeding on their property: 1) A landowner may request fencing materials from the Department of Game and Fish to modify existing fences to minimize crop damage caused by a species. The landlowner or lessee shall be responsible for the construction and installation of fencing materials; or 2) the Department of Game and Fish and the landowner may enter into a cost-share agreement to assist the landowner in reseeding, irrigation system improvement, or similar action approved by the Department of Game and Fish and would continue to allow wildlife access to the property. This bill was pulled into the House Business and Industry Committee before it could be debated on the House floor and was tabled in that committee.

HB 199 Amendments to the Family Violence Act
Bill Sponsor: Rep. Rhonda King

This bill would have added animals to protection orders in domestic violence cases. This bill passed the House and two committees in the Senate, after which it languished on the Senate calendar for the last two days of the Senate and was never debated on the floor.

SB 76 Purchase Protective Vests for Police Dogs
Bill Sponsor: Sen. Howie Morales

This bill would have allowed for protective vests to be purchased for law enforcement’s K-9 units. It was never heard in committee.

Bills opposed by APV that did not pass:

SB 24 Allowing for Dog Race
Simulcasting at Licensed Racetracks
Bill Sponsor: Sen. Carlos Cisneros

This bill would have allowed dog races to be simulcast at licensed horsetracks throughout the state for the purposes of gambling. Greyhound racing is an extremely cruel industry. The simulcasting of these races would support live racing, which is currently banned in 26 states due to its cruel practices. This bill was never heard in a committee.

HB 61 Prohibit Wolf Re-introduction
Bill Sponsor: Rep. Paul Bandy

This bill proposed that the Department of Game and Fish not work in accordance with federal law on the re-introduction of endangered wolves without financial reparations to ranchers. Renowned wolf biologists spoke against the bill and it was tabled.

HJM 48 Wolf Reintroduction Conflict Resolution
Bill Sponsor: Rep. Paul Bandy

This bill was worded to state that wolves have had a negative impact on local governments, schools and livestock owners and requested increased compensation for depredation losses to ranchers. This language is inflammatory and doesn't account for the fact that there is already a federal fund in place to reimburse ranchers for depredation losses. This bill passed its first committee by a narrow margin, but it was then pulled into the House Health and Government Affairs committee and not scheduled for another hearing.

Thank you to all of APV’s dedicated members who, when contacted, took action and called their lawmakers when the animals needed their voice!