Oklahoma city, ok

[JoJo]

This is getting extremely out of hand!!!!

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK

The House Economic Development and Financial Services Committee has set a hearing for Tuesday (February 10, 2009) on House Bill 1332, sponsored by Rep. Lee Denney and also known as the “Oklahoma Pet Quality Assurance and Protection Act.” The 4:30 p.m. hearing is open to the public.
HB 1332 is before the House Economic Development and Financial Services.Committee. Rep. Denny has cut a deal to circumvent the Agriculture Committee.


This legislation:
Prohibits an out of state breeder from transporting dogs into or through Oklahoma, which would effectively destroy dog shows, field trials and other canine events in the state. If a hobby breeder were to bring dogs to an Oklahoma event, the dogs could be confiscated and the owner would face heavy fines and penalties.
Gives any animal control officer, peace officer or animal cruelty investigator unrestricted access to a kennel owner’s home, facilities, animals, records and property. The bill denies kennel owners constitutional right of protection from unreasonable searches and seizures, as no warrants are required.

Effectively prohibits any Oklahoma resident from buying a puppy or dog from another state, as the breeder would have to be licensed in Oklahoma.
Requires every breeder, rescue organization, animal shelter and pet store to be state licensed – not just dealers or commercial kennels – if they sell, give away or adopt out 25 or more animals a year. This would destroy many rescue programs.

Says that a license will not be issued to anyone who has or has ever had a federal kennel license through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This provision will destroy many well-run kennel businesses that meet or exceed all legal requirements for the care of animals, and result in the owners of those businesses losing many thousands of dollars that they have invested in land and facilities, also losing their livelihood. However, all kennels will be required to follow federal regulations for housing, care and other management issues.

Gives the state the authority to implement complete regulations for the management of all kennels and the care of the dogs, with no provision for legislative approval or input from dog owners.
Requires extensive record keeping, and kennel management and medical practices to be approved by a veterinarian. The legislation changes the legal status of dog owners to that of guardians, and removes all decision-making power from the hands of kennel owners. Dogs effectively become wards of the state under this legislation.

Denies a license to anyone who is on probation or parole for any offense, even if they have nothing to do with animals. Licenses also are denied for anyone who has been found guilty of violating any statute pertaining to animals, including relatively minor offenses such as leash laws, local licensing laws and noise ordinances. In addition, purely technical or minor violations of state kennel regulations would cause mandatory denial.
Provides fines of up to $2,500 for each violation, while granting the kennel owner only the right to an administrative appeal. Placing liens against a kennel owner’s property is authorized to collect fines, penalties and costs for seizing dogs. Several provisions allow the state to seize, confiscate and euthanize animals.
Here is a link to the text of HB 1332: http://www.okvma.org/associations/25...2009HB1332.pdf.

(Please note that this is on the Oklahoma Veterinary Medical Association site, as the official state legislature site requires a complex search. The veterinarians’ group is pushing this legislation. The sponsor, Rep. Denney, is a veterinarian. The OVMA and its allies have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into promoting this legislation, and have hired a full-time professional political lobbyist.)

Big Brother is now foregoing our Constitutional rights!!! Oh people we are on a very slippery slope, on so many issues!!

[jlhnokc]

Holy CRAP! I'm in OK, and work in OKC-what can I do? Where do I start? I don't know anything about how to go about fighting something like this...

[JoJo]

Originally Posted by jlhnokc

Holy CRAP! I'm in OK, and work in OKC-what can I do? Where do I start? I don't know anything about how to go about fighting something like this...

I'd start by this:

The House Economic Development and Financial Services Committee has set a hearing for Tuesday (February 10, 2009) on House Bill 1332, sponsored by Rep. Lee Denney and also known as the “Oklahoma Pet Quality Assurance and Protection Act.” The 4:30 p.m. hearing is open to the public.
HB 1332 is before the House Economic Development and Financial Services.Committee. Rep. Denny has cut a deal to circumvent the Agriculture Committee.

Call his office and get anyone else to call and flood his phones/email. Not much time as this is happening TODAY!!! If you can be there, better yet!!!

[jlhnokc]

I have found her email address by googling her and getting her home page. Would it help for out of state people to email as well? I mean, this would be an impact on OK's tourism, would it not?

[JoJo]

I'd let the whole world know!!! I was just trying to find her email address. Why don't you post it, please.

[jlhnokc]

guys I'm having a hard time composing this email-I need some help as I am not very good at this. I feel like I don't really know what I'm talking about (which is my fault since I haven't done more research on what's going on)..

here's what I have so far-

I urge you to not pursue this bill. This bill will put the “dog world” in Oklahoma to nothing. It is our rights as Americans to choose where we purchase our dogs from, whether it is in state or out of state. It will destroy any dog shows, field trials and other canine events in this state which will take away from our tourism revenue. Have any statics been run on what all the dog trials and shows do for Oklahoma? Do you have any idea how many out of state breeders bring their dogs into Oklahoma to show? We should be opening our arms to these types of events, not banishing out of state breeders from them. Why in the world, would we want to prohibit an out of state breeder from transporting their dogs through Oklahoma? Or bringing their dogs to their family members for a visit? This is a completely outrageous bill and I pray it does not get passed!

Your efforts need to be going to fighting the amount of animals in shelters and rescues and harsher prosecution for those that commit animal cruelty. You are going to destroy our rescues. What then? Are you okay with having more and more animals euthanized and shelters more over populated than they already are?

A VERY concerned dog owner-

[jlhnokc]

Originally Posted by JoJo

I'd let the whole world know!!! I was just trying to find her email address. Why don't you post it, please.

SURE!!! lee@leedenney.com

[jlhnokc]

I'm on the phone with her now...

[jlhnokc]

Okay, I just spoke to her-what she explained is this bill will not keep an out of state breeder from transporting dogs into or through OK, or keep any out of state breeders from coming to any dog shows or any trials-it also does not keep anyone in oklahoma from buying a puppy/dog from out of state. What it does do is keeps an out of state breeder from bringing more than 25 puppies in a calendar year into the state to sell, and anyone who sells more than 25 puppies in a calendar year cannot do it in the state of Oklahoma with out have an ok license. She said they welcome out of state breeders to dog shows and trials, they just can't bring a slew of puppies in and set up a sign for sale in the Wal Mart parking lot. She said they are still working through the wording to make it more understandable as well so there is less confusion. She also said this would be driven by complaints...she said the regulations they are setting forth are minimal such as a clean enviroment, food, water and shelter.

I also asked if I could call her back if I had any questions and she said yes...

[Shane]

What she says it means and the way it reads are two very different things, IMO.

Did she say anything about the warrantless searches of breeders' homes?

[jlhnokc]

Originally Posted by Shane

What she says it means and the way it reads are two very different things, IMO.

Did she say anything about the warrantless searches of breeders' homes?

That's what I thought as well, and she said they will be rewording it...I did not ask about the searches, I was going to call her back and ask about that, but I wanted to feel like my ducks were more in a row instead of just shooting from the hip like I did my first phone call...

[Lila's Mom]

Originally Posted by jlhnokc

Okay, I just spoke to her-what she explained is this bill will not keep an out of state breeder from transporting dogs into or through OK, or keep any out of state breeders from coming to any dog shows or any trials-it also does not keep anyone in oklahoma from buying a puppy/dog from out of state. What it does do is keeps an out of state breeder from bringing more than 25 puppies in a calendar year into the state to sell, and anyone who sells more than 25 puppies in a calendar year cannot do it in the state of Oklahoma with out have an ok license. She said they welcome out of state breeders to dog shows and trials, they just can't bring a slew of puppies in and set up a sign for sale in the Wal Mart parking lot. She said they are still working through the wording to make it more understandable as well so there is less confusion. She also said this would be driven by complaints...she said the regulations they are setting forth are minimal such as a clean enviroment, food, water and shelter.

I also asked if I could call her back if I had any questions and she said yes...

I'm no lawyer, but from a cursory reading of the text of the law from the above link, it looks to me like what Rep. Denney said about that part is correct. Without more knowledge of OK law, I cannot say if the law allows officers to enter a property at any time for any reason. This would be a good thing to ask the Representative.

The text reads as if it were made in good conscience, but it would not be the first time a malicious agenda was hidden behind the guise of good intentions.

[jlhnokc]

Okay, I just spoke with her again, she said the 2 main points that will be amended are that breeders transporting their dogs through the state and the inspection part. She said this will not be a type of the inspector shows up unannounced and has the ability to come into the home/facility, she said the inspections would be just like any vet clinic, nursing home or any other place that would have to have inspection set up on a schedule. This only applies to those with a license.

[JonandMichelle]

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Committee approves puppy mill regulations
The Hays Daily News

The bill was supported by veterinarians and animal rights activists but opposed by some dog breeders and others who said it would punish legitimate breeders and force USDA-licensed breeders who are already inspected by federal regulators to endure a second round of inspections.