Friday, February 18, 2011

Ag Committee passes animal cruelty bill

Update: The House Agriculture Committee passed its substitute (posted below)bill for SB #2821 this morning. The committee came in, sat down, and passed it in less than two minutes. The bill now goes to House Judiciary Committee "B" for consideration.


Original post
The House Agriculture Committee took up SB#2821 yesterday, one of the two animal cruelty bills to pass the Senate. 26 committee members were present. Chairman Ward introduced a committee substitute that would create a second-offense felony for animal cruelty. The first offense would be a misdemeanor with a maximum imprisonment of six months but the fine is increased to $2,500 from the current $1,000. The bill explicitly states the law only applies to dogs and cats, not vertebrates (Got that puppy mill people over at AKC and Mississippi Canine Coalition?). The committee adjourned until today and will meet again after the close of the floor session today. However, it being Friday, there is a question whether there will be a quorum as legislators are known for taking off on Friday regardless of any hearings scheduled. If no quorum is present, then the committee will meet early next week and take up the bill.

That was the news portion of this post, now for the editorial. The discussion at the hearing was spirited at times but good. Several asked legitimate questions: "Will spanking a dog be considered an offense" and "What is domesticated?" were some of those asked. Mr. Ward ran a right ship yesterday and made it clear he wanted a bill passed out of committee. Representatives Whittington and Lane formed the subcommittee that drafted the substitute. The substitute strengthens the bill that passed the Senate by changing it from a third-offense felony to a second-offense felony. It is an improvement over current law. It is a better bill than SB#2127. The bill, as all other bills are, is not perfect but it is probably the best that could be hoped to be passed out of the committee. Several committee members wanted to adjourn so they could offer amendments. I spoke to several members after all and the sentiment was several want to tighten up some of the definitions in ways that made sense.


Posted by Kingfish at 8:02 AM

9 comments:

Frugal Gal said...

I'd like to hear a little more about your opinion of Rep. Ward. You think he's had an election year conversion? He's been saying odd things in the press -- I still don't get what he meant in the C-L the other day, where he said something about exeptions leading to neighbors shooting neighbors instead of neighbors shooting dogs.

Was anyone carrying MFBF's water? Was their lobbyist there?

February 18, 2011 at 9:16 AM
Anonymous said...

Frugal Gal, you ask an interesting question , which brings up another question. I'm certain that FB's lobbyist was there as they have been fighting this bill for years. It is interesting, why hasn't the FB made any comment? Last year it was all they could do to fill the airwaves and print with misinformation. I'm taking an educated guess that FB and Ward are taking so much heat that they realize they have to pass a felony bill. And I'm with you on the odd remark Ward made about shooting neighbors.... the Ag Committee give farmers a bad name. Collectively they seem to have an IQ of about 78.

February 18, 2011 at 9:30 AM
Frugal Gal said...

Yeah, the silence of MFB has been odd. It makes me wonder how much of their opposition in years past was ab organizational policy, and how much of it was David Waide's own bizarre, personal crusade.

The new guy at MFB supposedly had not read the bill by the end of January. Maybe he decided that all the bad PR MFB was getting simply wasn't worth it?

If it truly was Waide ONLY fueling the fire, the change in regime could be the reason why Ward let it out.

OK, now, I have this mental image of David Waide sitting in a rocking chair on a front porch somwhere, rocking intently back and forth, eyes focused on something only he can see, muttering under his breath "... make it a felony ... animal rights ... PETA ... girls stop shaving armpits ... beef good ..." or the like.

February 18, 2011 at 10:15 AM
Anonymous said...

YAHOOOOOO!!!!! At least something got out of committee!!!!! Kim Wolford

February 18, 2011 at 11:24 AM
Anonymous said...

I've been wondering also about not hearing from MFB on this. I called my reps at the state capitol & left a msg for them to support this bill, and I got my sister and co-worker to do the same. I don't think most people even realized that the most inhuman of cruelty to a dog or cat was only a misdemnor. Power to the people!

February 18, 2011 at 11:30 AM
Anonymous said...

I wouldn't have known about this if it weren't for this site.

I and I'm sure many of your readers "dog cussed" ( sorry, couldn't resist) Farm Bureau and Waide to everyone they could. I saw Facebook postings on this bill as well.

Amazing what an informed citizenry can get done so thanks for informing us!

February 19, 2011 at 11:18 AM
Anonymous said...

Nothing has been passed yet. We still need to keep contacting members of Jud B & our representatives to pass this in the House! Everyone needs to do it and let them know we want a felony bill passed and the people of MS say it is time.

February 20, 2011 at 5:42 PM
Anonymous said...

If you read the bill that was passed you will see that it is very much a pro-farm bureau bill. it actually weakens current law (makes poisoning a misdemeanor instead of a felony) and changed the original language in Dearing's bill quite a bit... The only thing it did for cats and dogs in institute a 2nd offense felony, but it left huge loopholes....

The only good thing is that it advances a bill and hopefully more amendments will make it a better bill in the end...

February 20, 2011 at 7:41 PM
Anonymous said...

This bill is no good. It is backed by HSUS and they aren't what everybody thinks they are. I applaud the MS Canine Coalition for their work. If this passes it will be a devistating blow to dog fanciers and breeders.

February 23, 2011 at 5:15 PM

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