The first committee hearing for the animal abuser registry bill, SB
1277 (Florez) is scheduled for April 20, in the Senate Public Safety Committee.
http://www.sen.ca.gov/ftp/sen/committee/standing/PUBLICSAFETY/_home1/profile.htm
http://carpoc.org/data/sen_pub_sfty_cmte2010.doc
Senate Public Safety Committee Fax number: 916-445-4688
The deadline to get SB 1277 letters to Senate Public Safety Committee staff in order to be included in the Bill Analysis
is Wednesday April 14. Organizations that have members in California should send their letters on letterhead. Letters
from residents of states other than California would be counterproductive.
Opposition points
No on Senate Bill 1277
Unnecessary Duplicate Program
Creates a New Tax
Poor Funding Priorities
SB 1277 proposes to
- Create a new Pet Food Tax
- Create new California taxpayer-funded registry for those convicted of animal abuse
- Fund spay/neuter surgeries for pets with state tax dollars
Creates unnecessary duplicate program
- National animal abuser registry already exists ― http://www.pet-abuse.com/
- Existing animal abuser registry costs the taxpayers nothing
- New California registry would be redundant and add to state tax burden
- Enforcement of new registry would add to local government burden
Unfairly burdens economically-strapped pet owners with a regressive Pet Food Tax
Creates an entirely new Pet Food Tax and two unrelated new programs – animal abuser registry and spay/neuter programs
- Violates California Constitution to create two unrelated programs with one bill
- Creates new bureaucracy to collect new tax, and to administer animal abuser registry and spay/neuter programs
Given our state’s budget crisis, which should be higher priority for taxpayer funding?
- Re-hiring laid-off firefighters?
- Re-hiring laid-off police officers?
- Re-hiring laid-off teachers?
- Re-hiring laid-off health care workers?
- High priority JOBS for Californians?
― or ―
- Taxpayer-funded elective surgery for pets?
Comparing sex offenders to animal abusers is inappropriate
- Sex offender registry is federally mandated and has withstood intense scrutiny of the US Constitution’s ban on ex post facto laws because sex offenses involve unique and extreme public safety issues
- Sex offenders
o Convicted of egregious acts of violence and violation against people
o High risk of recidivism and future violence and violation against people
- Animal abusers
o Most are convicted of severe neglect of animals, not acts of violence against animals or people
o Relatively low risk of violence against people
- While a horrible crime, animal abuse rarely threatens the lives or safety of the public
- California’s sex offender system is under-funded and not working properly; fix it before creating another new registry
No on SB 1277 – A new Pet Food Tax should not be created to establish a redundant animal abuser registry or fund elective surgery for pets
PLEASE POST AND CROSS POST!
How to stop BSL
Talking Points to Address
Due to the time sensitive nature of some of these alerts, if you have an email address and would like us to alert you to any adverse canine/animal laws that may affect you; please email us at adam@adba.cc and we will list your email address in our files.
**BE SURE TO KEEP YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS UPDATED FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON ANY ALERTS!**
It is URGENT to get ALL dog owners involved in stopping adverse, unfair and restrictive laws that are being passed at an alarming rate. Spread the word and have anyone you know send in their emails to the ADBA so we can keep them informed and help them to respond.
American Dog Breeders Association Inc.
P.O. Box 1771
Salt Lake City, Ut. 84110
(801)-936-7513
