Alabama animal rights groups ready for Senate decision on dog chaining
Animal welfare activists are preparing for a critical decision from the Senate this week in the push for stronger animal rights legislation in Alabama. In a Facebook message this week, Alabama Voters for Responsible Animal Legislation (AVRAL) called on its 7,000 members to reach out to lawmakers in support of Senate Bill 468, also known as the Alabama Dog Tethering and Outdoor Shelter Act. The bill would make it illegal for dog owners to tie their pets to stationary objects and says that any pet kept outside must have adequate food, water, and shelter. An owner who violates the statute could be charged with a Class B misdemeanor and face up to six months in jail, according to the Alabama criminal code. The Senate Judiciary committee is scheduled to vote on Senate Bill 468 this Wednesday. With the 2015 legislative session drawing to a close, the dog chaining bill could be the last of four closely-watched protections against animal cruelty before lawmakers this year: Earlier this month, a measure to set care, confinement, and breeding restrictions on Alabama puppy mills failed in the House Agriculture and Forestry Committee when chairman Rep. David Sessions refused to put the bill on the agenda. Rep. Paul Beckman sponsored House Bill 548 and told AL.com that the chairman thought it was a “’bad bill’ that makes criminals out of dog breeders.” Legislation filed by Rep. Patricia Todd and Rep. Howard Sanderford would ensure that only veterinarians can make surgical or medical decisions for animal treatment and allow veterinarians to work at nonprofit spay/neuter facilities. House Bill 563 is Rep. Todd’s third attempt at strengthening regulations on Alabama spay and neuter clinics. A House committee gave the bill a favorable report last week, but with so few days left in the session, Rep. Todd told AL.com the bill may not get much further. She indicated that she may try the legislation again next year. President of Animal Advocates of Alabama Joey Kennedy said, however, that another bill may not be necessary. In a statement on the organization’s website, Kennedy said: “The nonprofit spay/neuter clinics are operating now and can provide more services than would be allowed even under Todd’s bill. Plus, there is more scrutiny of the state Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, which has spent years and hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to shut down the clinics.” That scrutiny, Kennedy said, might be enough to protect the clinics. The fourth bill, Senate Bill 51, would force shelter operators to publish monthly census reports, detailing how animals enter the facility, the number of adoptions or transfers, and reasons the animals were euthanized. The companion bill was voted down in the House in March. AL.com reported concerns from members that the bill would encourage lawsuits from animal activists and that moving from yearly to monthly reports would add to shelter workloads. Senate Bill 51 has passed the Senate and is now pending in the House committee on public safety and homeland security. The bill is not on the committee’s agenda for the coming week.
This week at the Alabama Statehouse: May 12-14
All eyes will be on the Republican leadership this week as competing solutions to the state’s budget shortfall make their way through the House and Senate: At 1 p.m. Tuesday the Senate Tourism & Marketing Committee holds a public hearing on Senate Bill 453, Sen. Del Marsh’s proposal to legalize casino-style gambling in Alabama. Marsh is expected to ask the committee to vote on the bill the same day. At 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, a House panel on boards and commissions will consider a handful of bills. Included on the agenda is House Bill 563. Rep. Patricia Todd and Rep. Howard Sanderford sponsored the legislation to ensure that only licensed veterinarians can make medical or surgical decisions on the treatment of animals. The bill also says spay and neuter clinics would be regulated as veterinary facilities. House Bill 14 by Rep. Randall Shedd will also be heard. It makes revisions to the state cosmetology and barbering board by removing the licensing for barbers and changing details related to who can be appointed and for how long to the renamed cosmetology board. At 3 p.m. Wednesday, the Senate committee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development will hear Senate Bill 452 offered by Sen. Bill Holtzclaw, which would change the law for brewpubs to allow allow them to sell beer not just for on-premises but also off-premises consumption. A slate of proposals to boost tax revenue are expected on the House floor this week. House Republicans unveiled their budget plan last week, including $151 million in tax revenue and a recommendation to accept an offer from the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in exchange for exclusive gaming rights. The Times Daily is reporting that the tax measures are likely to fail in a Senate unconvinced of the need to boost revenue. A full committee meeting schedule can be found here. Keep checking ALToday.com for updates.
Pulitzer winner Joey Kennedy, wife launch animal advocacy website
A new website focusing on animal rights launched this week, though the man behind will be familiar to most Alabama advocates and lawmakers. Pulitzer Prize winner Joey Kennedy and his wife Veronica, a freelance editor and former social media marketer, have launched ALAnimals.com to spotlight animal welfare and protection issues across the state. Kennedy spent more than 33 years as at the Birmingham News and was on its editorial board from 1989 until early this year. In a conversation with ALToday.com, Kennedy said the site will be a clearinghouse of information for animal owners and advocates. “Right now there are dozens of great resources out there, but you’ve got to go to each one,” Kennedy said. “We want to bring that all together so a person can go to our site and get what they need.” One of the site’s major functions will be to spotlight state laws and municipal ordinances concerning treatment of animals and to advocate for stronger protections. “In Alabama, we don’t have a lot of laws that govern animal abuse,” he said. “We finally got a pretty strong abuse law, though it isn’t aggressively enforced.” Among the legislation the group will watch at the state level are Rep. Paul Beckman’s House Bill 548 to place restrictions on puppy mills and Rep. Patricia Todd’s House Bill 563 to treat spay and neuter clinics as veterinary facilities. Kennedy said both proposals sound promising, but may have come too late in the season to be passed this year. “It sounds like it’s on the right track. It’s a baby step, but it’s a good thing. Sometimes you have to go (through the legislative process) three or four times before it finally clicks. What you have to do is introduce it and start walking it through.” In his first post for ALAnimals.com, he called the website a continuation of the animal issues journalism he and his wife have both done over the years. “We have so far to go as a state, on many issues,” Joey Kennedy said. “Animal welfare and protection is among those issues. While we do not have felony laws against animal abuse, many law enforcement officers and prosecutors are slow to make cases, even when the evidence is clear.” While still writing for the Birmingham News and AL.Com Joey Kennedy frequently used his voice and platform as a strong advocate for animals. He was a constant voice in support of legislation to protect nonprofit spay/neuter clinics. Photo credit: By Pugman at en.wikipedia [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons
