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2005 spring session state legislative achievements
Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue on May 10, 2005 signed into law an income
tax return checkoff to help fund the state Dog & Cat Sterilization
Program. The program has been supported entirely by the sale of commemorative
license plates and unsolicited donations.
The Illinois legislature on June 2, 2005 sent to Governor Rod Blagojevich
a revised state Public Health & Safety Animal Population Control Act.
The act, HB 315, expands the funding sources of the Illinois Pet Population
Control Fund from a commemorative license plate program to include also
an income tax return checkoff, voluntary donations, public safety fines,
forfeited sterilization deposits, and a licensing differential for intact
animals. The act also updates fines and licensing procedures, requires
shelters to offer “adoptable” animals for placement, expands
the definition of dangerous dog and streamlines dangerous dog law enforcement,
exempts feral cat caretakers from the legal definition of an animal “owner,”
and requires shelters to report intake and killing statistics annually
to the state Department of Agriculture. “HB 669 was also passed.
It would provide some funding to wildlife rehabbers,” said American
SPCA senior director of legal training & legislation Ledy Van Kavage,
for whom drafting and lobbying HB 315 to passage has been a multi-year
focal project.
Washington Governor Christine Gregoire on May 16, 2005 signed into law
a bill that increases the penalty for animal fighting from a gross misdemeanor
to a Class C felony. This will raise the maximum prison term from one
year to five years, and raise the maximum fine from $5,000 to $10,000.
Maine Governor James Baldacci on May 10 signed into law a bill to prohibit
remote control hunting.
The Alabama House of Representatives on May 16 gave Allen Layson (D-Reform)
the Shroud Award for introducing a bill to reduce the penalties for cruelty
to dogs and cats. The award is presented at the end of each legislative
session to the author of the bill that attracts the least support.
The Michigan state elections panel on June 2 accepted a referendum petition
submitted by the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban, which will
allow voters to decide whether dove hunting should again be illegal in
Michigan. Dove hunting was prohibited for 99 years before being reintroduced
by the legislature as an intended means of boosting hunting participation,
which has been declining for more than 20 years. Backed by the Humane
Society of the U.S., the Committee to Restore the Dove Shooting Ban collected
275,000 petition signatures, 110,000 more than were needed to qualify
for the ballot.
