The May Revisions to the Governor’s Budget (PDF) didn’t say word one about animal control issues, but between then and now, some idiot inserted a provision into the California Budget that would repeal all of the 1998 changes to California’s animal control law. Some of the proposed changes would help balance the budget some, others would have no budgetary impact, and others still - such as the repeal of the law requiring those convicted of animal cruelty to pay for the animal’s care while guilt is being determined- would actually exacerbate it. None of this stuff belongs in the budgetary debate, especially after having been smuggled in in the eleventh hour. The proposed changes include the following:

1. Ending the state’s policy preference of animal adoptions over euthanasia.
2. Abolishing the requirement that people convicted of animal cruelty bear the costs of the animal’s care while guilt is being determined.
3. Allowing parolees convicted of animal cruelty to own animals immediately upon release.
4. Removing the requirement that shelters use all currently acceptable methods of identification (e.g., microchips) to locate the owner of a seized or impounded animal.
5. Allowing shelters to euthanize animals turned in by their owners, without even attempting to adopt them out.
6. Ending the requirement that shelters be required to relinquish animals to non-profit rescue groups upon payment of the requisite fee. The Times article suggests that this law is unlikely to be repealed.

The budget is almost a done deal, so time is of the essence. Call your Assemblyman and State Senator now - and I do mean NOW - to register your opposition to this horrible bill. If you don’t have the names or phone numbers of your representatives handy, you can get them online by following this link and selecting “Find My District” on the side bar. Then call Arnold himself at (916) 445-2841 (Fax: (916) 445-4633) and email him at http://www.govmail.ca.gov/ to tell why even the legitimate issues with the Hayden bill - such as the unintended consequences of the six-day holding period - demand a serious debate of their own, and should therefore not be smuggled in to the budget debate.

After you call your Legislators and your Governor to register your opposition, you will then have more leisure time to read up on the idiocy you’ve just opposed. I’ve reproduced below an email Mrs. X received from Best Friends, and you can read more about this dreadful legislative sleight of hand at Yahoo! (h/t: Spoons), the Los Angeles Times and, allegedly (according to Sen. Ackerman’s assistant), somewhere in the Orange County Register.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, a friendly dog in Toronto just accomplished what Canadian gun laws could not: preventing a shooting rampage (h/t: Dean Esmay).

ANOTHER UPDATE: Joe Gandelman concurs.

FINAL UPDATE: It’s over. Gov. Schwarzenegger has admitted the error of his ways. Thanks to all who made it happen.

Dear Best Friends Network Member ~

Nicole, a concerned citizen, has contacted us regarding an urgent situation that will effect the lives of thousands of abandoned animals in your state. Your immediate help is needed. Decisions are being made by the government THIS WEEKEND.

Nicole writes, “In his effort to solve the budget crisis, California Governor Schwarzenegger has taken a hatchet to years of laws enacted to protect abused and abandoned animals. The result is the “behind closed doors” repeal of the Hayden bill and other pieces of humane legislation, passed through the years. Whether an act of omission or commission, the result will be a return to the horrible pre-1998 status quo for California animal shelters if we don’t act IMMEDIATELY.

The two most disturbing elements of the Governor’s budget are the return of the animal holding period to only 72 hours for all animals (stray and relinquished) and the elimination of the requirement that shelters seek veterinary care for animals at the shelter.

Among the other policies that will be repealed if the current budget is adopted:

*The State’s policy preference for adoption instead of killing animals.
*The law that made it a duty for shelters to use all currently acceptable methods of identification - including microchips – to determine the lawful owner of any seized or impounded animals.
*The requirement that shelters give owner-relinquished animals a chance to be adopted.
*The requirement that shelters allow qualified animal adoption/rescue groups to take responsibility for animals if they pay the required fee.
*The requirement that people convicted of cruelty to animals to pay for the costs of the animals’ care while the issue of guilt is being determined.
*The requirement that as a condition of probation, people convicted of animal cruelty can be prevented from owning animals for three years.

The extent of the repeal caught everyone by surprise. We have only one last chance to have these draconian measures removed from the budget. The budget conference committee meets one final time… this weekend. They must be convinced to revisit the inclusion of the Hayden legislation as part of the budget or at least to only suspend the fiscal provisions of the Hayden legislation until the budget crisis has passed.

Years of your work and the countless hours of hundreds of volunteers can be erased THIS WEEKEND if this repeal is allowed to occur.

Taimie Bryant, a Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law, has reviewed the proposed language submitted by Legislative Counsel, and indicates “it would completely repeal every single provision of the Hayden legislation. It includes repealing even those parts of the law that have no fiscal impact. In fact, if the proposed repeal goes through, people convicted of cruelty to animals will no longer have to pay shelters for the cost of caring for those animals while the trial was on-going. Instead, local government will have to pay for those costs. In other words, the proposed repeal is an extremely blunt axe that does not take into account positive or neutral fiscal impacts of the Hayden legislation. Please note that this is totally unnecessary since, as in this current fiscal year, suspension of those parts of the legislation about which there are fiscal disputes would result in zero financial costs to the State and no accumulation of indebtedness of the State to local governments. It is not necessary to repeal a law in order to deal urgently with the budget crisis. A suspension would keep the law in place until the budget crisis has passed.

I join Nicole in urging you to please write to the members of the Budget Conference Committee by tomorrow at noon so that they will know your views before they vote one last time on whether to submit the repeal proposal with the budget to the Assembly and to the Senate.”

Listed below is contact information for the legislators who will be meeting this weekend to approve the proposed budget. Please contact them as many times as you are able before 5pm Friday, June 25th. Tell them you support the Hayden law and don’t want it dismantled. The Hayden law protects animals in shelters, and requires the shelters to provide some care for the animals whose lives they are charged with. Please take five minutes out of your life to contact these people and speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves.

THE FATE OF MILLIONS OF ANIMALS IS RELYING ON YOUR ACTION. SEND AN EMAIL, SEND A FAX AND MAKE A CALL. Tell them NOT TO REPEAL THE HAYDEN LAW!”

QUESTIONS? Contact:

Rich McLellan,
Animal Legislative Action Network
alan1@ix.netcom.com

OR

Jennifer Fearing,
United Animal Nations
jfearing@uan.org

Conference Committee Members

Chesbro, Wes (D) - Chair
(916) 445-3375 tel
senator.chesbro@sen.ca.gov email
(916) 445-3375 fax

Dede Alpert (D)
(916) 445-3952 tel
senator.alpert@sen.ca.gov email
(916) 327-2188 fax

Ross Johnson (R)
(916) 445-4961 tel
*doesn’t use e-mail
(949) 833-0696 fax

Darrell Steinberg (D)
(916) 319-2009 tel
assemblymember.steinberg@assembly.ca.gov email
(916) 319-2109 fax

Judy Chu (D)
(916) 319-2049 tel
*doesn’t use e-mail
(916) 319-2149 fax

Rick Keene (R)
(916) 319-2003 tel
assemblymember.keene@assembly.ca.gov email
(916) 319-2103 fax

Senate Budget Committee Staff
Keely Martin Bosler
Consultant
(916) 445-5202 tel
keely.bosler@sen.ca.gov email
(916) 323-8386 fax

Assembly Budget Committee Staff
Kasey Schimke
Consultant
(916) 319-2099 tel
kasey.schimke@asm.ca.gov email
(916) 319-2199 fax

Thank you for being part of the Best Friends Network and for any help you can offer in this matter.

Sincerely,

Amy E. Hogg
No More Homeless Pets Coordinator
Best Friends Animal Society
Kanab, UT 84741
(435) 644-3965 x4254
fax: (435) 644-3965 x4951
amyh@bestfriends.org
www.bestfriends.org

Best Friends Animal Society is working with shelters and rescue groups nationwide to bring about a time when there will be no more homeless pets. Best Friends operates the nation’s largest sanctuary for homeless animals, provides adoption, spay/neuter, and educational programs, and publishes Best Friends, the nation’s largest general-interest animal magazine.

“Kindness to animals builds a better world for all of us”