Page 1 of 330 The Monthly National Legislation Report 7/5/2010 ...

The Monthly National Legislation Reporthttp://mnlreport.typepad.com/Page 207 of 3307/5/2010Fax: (916) 327-5989Senator.Florez@senate.ca.govSenator Jenny Oropeza, Democrat Caucus ChairState Capitol, Room 5114Sacramento, CA 95814Phone: (916) 651-4028Fax: (916) 323-6056Email: Senator.Oropeza@senate.ca.govThanks to Sarah Sprouse, Manager, AKC Government Relations for the update and alert !!SB318 - (5/2/09) - The second time is the charm for state Sen. Ron Calderon's anti dog-fighting bill. The Senate Public Safety Committee on a 6-0 vote Wednesday approved his legislationto require forfeiture of property and proceeds used in dog fighting after rejecting it last week. However, in order to get SB 318 approved, Calderon, D-Montebello, conceded that forfeiture willno longer apply to money spent promoting and facilitating dog fighting. In 2008, the committee wanted Calderon to put his provision into existing legislation dealing with criminalprofiteering and organized crime, Rushing said. "This amendment is short of that," he said. "It only requires law enforcement to show that the seized property was acquired through thecriminal activity. There is no requirement on behalf of law enforcement to provide there is an underlying conspiracy with organized crime and racketeering." The bill next goes to theAssembly Appropriations Committee.LaJolla - (5/30/09) - Neither the pro-seal group or the pro-”children’s cove” are happy with the way city leaders have handled the battle over the Children’s Pool in La Jolla. At a cost ofnearly $700,000 the city wants to use a loudspeaker that emanates a barking dog sound and have police personnel on site to protect the person carrying the device. UPDATE - (5/31/09) -The fight card changes: It's dogs vs. seals, not kids vs. seals.Los Angeles - (5/6/09) - Dogs traveling with their owners through Los Angeles International Airport would be required to stay in a crate or kennel under a proposal that will be consideredtoday by a Los Angeles City Council committee. The proposed ordinance, approved in March by the Board of Police Commissioners, is intended to protect law enforcement dogs from beingattacked by pets that are curbside or inside the terminal facilities at LAX. The new law would not apply to certified service dogs. If approved, the ordinance would allow police to fine petowners $25 for failing to cage their dog. A second offense in the course of a year would be a $45 fine and a third offense would result in a $65 penalty.Sacramento - (5/28/09) - (AG) - A bill to ban "docking" the tails of dairy cows was passed by the state Senate Tuesday on a 25-12 vote. State Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, the author ofSenate Bill 135, hailed the vote as a significant victory for animal welfare. However, a dairy industry official said the matter wasn't very important because very few dairies still employ thepractice. Florez said eliminating tail-docking has been a priority for the Humane Society of the United States, which sponsored the legislation. So far, Florez said, there hasn't been any formalopposition to SB135. UPDATE: (5/30/09) - California voters' landslide support last November of an initiative on the treatment of farm animals appears to have helped a state legislaturebitterly divided over the budget find common ground. So far this year, bills have sailed from one chamber to the other that would ban docking the tails of milk cows, stop the import of out-ofstateeggs from hens kept in cramped cages, end large-scale puppy mills and up the penalties for poaching wildlife. Working through committees are bills that would stop the common feedlotpractice of feeding antibiotics to food animals that aren't sick, prevent felons convicted of animal cruelty from owning animals for a court-ordered period and require the neutering ofunlicensed dogs and cats, which advocates argue would reduce euthanasia of unwanted animals. Proposition 2 was "the equivalent of the earthquake that shook the legislature, as Prop. 13did," said Democratic Sen. Dean Florez of Shafter, comparing the landslide victory for animal welfare with the one in 1978 that capped property taxes at 1 percent. Florez, whose district ishome to the state's highest concentration of mega-dairies and feedlots, including Harris Ranch, in February introduced S.B. 135, the ban on tail docking. Tails fling feces, say some dairymen,but they also flick flies that bite and annoy the animals, say animal welfare advocates. Removal is painful. The bill passed the Senate 27-12 on Tuesday with no organized opposition stated onthe bill. Michael Marsh, CEO of Western United Dairymen, told the Capitol Press that tail docking is rare in California. "It sounds to me that (Florez) is following the lead of what dairyproducers here are already doing," he said. Of the bills passed on the floor, only the neutering one has been opposed - by the American Kennel Club, the Miniature Schnauzer Club ofNorthern California and a half dozen others. "We are undergoing a real monumental shift in attitudes for a legislature either unaccustomed to hearing animal welfare legislation or one thatjust didn't care," Florez said. "People are becoming much more attuned."COLORADODenver - (5/27/09) - Opponents of Denver's ban on pit bulls have won another chance to challenge the law in court. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday revived a lawsuitfiled by three former Denver residents who moved out the city to avoid having their dogs euthanized. A federal judge dismissed their lawsuit in March 2008. A three-judge panel of the 10thCircuit said the residents could proceed on their claim that Denver's breed-specific prohibition is irrational.AKC PRESS RELEASE: AKC AND DOG OWNERS WIN RULING GRANTING A TRIAL TO CHALLENGECONSTITUTIONALITY OF DENVER BREED BANNew York, NY- The American Kennel ClubR is pleased to announce that United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has ruled in favor of plaintiffs Sonya Dias, Hillary Engel, and SherylWhite in their appeal challenging the constitutionality of the Denver breed ban. This ruling reverses the United States District Court of Colorado's 2007 dismissal of the suit.The Denver ordinance bans ownership or possession of the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Bull Terrier and the American Pit Bull Terrier and/or any dog with a majorityof physical traits of one or more of these breeds within the City and County of Denver. Since 2005, as a resultof this ordinance, more than 1,000 dogs within the city limits have been euthanized.In July 2008, the AKCR joined Karen R. Breslin of the Progressive Law Center, LLC of Lakewood, Colorado, and retained the Washington D.C. office of Kaye Scholer LLP to represent dogowningplaintiffs Dias, Engel and White in their appeal in which they asserted that the Denver ordinance banning pit bulls within the city limits is unconstitutional. The original lawsuit statedthe owners were forced to move out of Denver with their dogs because of the ban which they asserted was a violation of, among other things, their constitutional rights."The AKC has always opposed breed bans on the basis that there are no baddogs, just bad owners. We support reasonable, enforceable,non-discriminatory laws to govern the ownership of dogs," said MargaretPoindexter, General Counsel for the AKC. "We also have serious concernsabout AKC breed standards being used by law enforcement to identifydangerous dogs. Breed standards are intended to serve as the written idealof a dog which breeders can aspire to, not a benchmark for definingdangerous dogs."In fact, the Tenth Circuit Court's decision quotes the AKC breed standardfor the Staffordshire Bull Terrier: "with its affections for its friends,and children in particular, its off-duty quietness and trustworthystability, [the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is] a foremost all-purpose dog."The AKC supports laws that: establish a fair process by which specific dogs