REXANO Another win for Ohio House bill 446 defeated

ANOTHER WIN FOR OHIO - HOUSE BILL 446 IS DEFEATED

By Polly Britton, December 21, 2008

It is with a glad heart, tremendous gratitude and a marked sense of relief that I am able to share with our membership a summary of how the Ohio 127th General Assembly ended with regard to animal legislation.

This without a doubt has been the busiest legislative session we’ve seen since our organization was formed in 1990. This two-year session saw no less than ten animal bills introduced that dealt with everything from dog and kennel licensing to exotic animal ownership to dog fighting.

Many OAAO members and Trustees have spent an incredible amount of time working to defeat these bills that threatened to put huge regulatory and financial burdens on our animal businesses, our pet ownership, or both. Whether you breed, sell, train, show, or exhibit animals, or simply have a beloved pet or two, you have directly benefited from the continued presence of the OAAO at our Ohio Statehouse.

We have seen two new trustees elected to our Board during the past year – Norma Bennett Woolf and Amy Rausch. Norma has worked alongside the OAAO for many years, sharing her expertise in dog legislation while supporting OAAO’s position on all animal ownership. It is a huge asset to have her also serve on our Board. Amy has diligently worked with her state and local officials and is one of the best “go-to” people I know when you need something done in a hurry. Her heart is in this organization and we are very fortunate to have her on the Board.

With this year’s General Assembly drawing to an end, I believe it’s appropriate to let our members (and those who are not members) know just how critical these last two years have been. We came dangerously close to seeing a horrendous dog kennel licensing bill (House Bill 446) pass during the very last days of this legislative session. That bill would have increased dog kennel licensing fees and individual dog registration fees to the point that literally hundreds of hobby and commercial dog breeders across the state would have been forced to close. Every dog and every cat in the state would have had to be packed up and taken to a veterinarian to be rabies vaccinated, and those of you who’ve been administering your own rabies vaccinations could no longer do so. This is the closest we have come to losing since 1990 when Senator Charles Horn’s exotic animal bill failed on the very last day of the Senate session.

As often happens, the moment this bill was killed, several people and organizations rushed to claim credit for the victory; but the truth is, no one group or individual could have accomplished what we were able to accomplish together. While the Ohio County Dog Wardens Association testified as an “Interested Party” throughout the hearings, there was never any doubt that they strongly opposed many provisions in the bill. The Ohio Gamefowl Breeders Association presented strong testimony against the bill, even though it was not a poultry bill, pointing out the huge expense to farmers across the state who would have to take all their barn cats to a veterinarian to be rabies vaccinated. The Ohio Professional Dog Breeders Association worked long and hard both behind the scenes and at the committee hearings, and Michael Glass of America’s Pet Registry, Inc., was our “One Call” voice to the commercial dog breeders, providing them with the names and phone numbers of all the senators so that they would be bombarded with calls (which they were) to vote ‘no’ on the bill. Ohio Valley Dog Owners did a superb job of enumerating the many problems with the bill, and OAAO took the bull by the horns and made it undeniably clear to the Senate that the rabies provision of the bill directly targeted our commercial breeders while exempting or making special provisions for everyone else. In addition, there were paid lobbyists who each did their part to represent their own members. It's sort of like the Academy Awards -- once you start thanking everyone who played a part, you're sure to forget somebody.

If I could have one wish, it would be that the various animal interest groups, individuals and lobbyists would present more of a united front against legislation that threatens animal ownership in Ohio. While many different parties (probably the largest number I’ve seen in the 18 years OAAO has been around) testified on the dog and cat bills in this General Assembly, many could not resist the urge to denigrate the commercial dog breeders while asking for exemptions or special provisions for their own people. I am thoroughly convinced that, if all these parties would take a united stand against just one of these bills and resist the temptation to obtain exemptions for themselves while tossing the rest of us to the wolves, we would be able to squash these animal rights bills so fast it would make the legislature’s heads spin. This trend of beating our heads against the wall for two years and winning in the very last days of the legislative session is NOT the way to do it, folks. Granted, a victory’s a victory and I’ll take it over a loss any day; but if we’re going to maintain our rights of animal ownership in this state, we need to alter our approach beginning now. We can’t continue to depend on a handful of our members and Trustees to carry the entire burden of protecting YOUR rights of animal ownership. You stand to lose those rights, and many of you stand to lose your animal businesses, if we don’t get on the ball and do what it takes to protect our animals and our livelihoods.

We must be prepared for the legislative session that lies ahead, because it without a doubt is going to be the toughest one ever. Proponents of the dog and cat bills that failed this time around are already gearing up to have their bills re-introduced in the new legislative session. We have many new Representatives and Senators coming in and we need to get to know them now, plus we need to ensure that those who already know us are either supportive of us or are at least aware that any animal rights legislation they attach their name to will be met by the strongest opposition ever.

The OAAO is considering some changes in our organization that will enable us to have an even stronger voice in Columbus. We need animal owners in Ohio to stand solidly with us to ensure that a year, two years or ten years from now, you and your kids and grandkids will still be able to enjoy the many pleasures and benefits of owning animals in this state.

Polly Britton is a board member of Ohio Association of Animal Owners (OAAO)

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