CFA Policy and Guidance Statements

CFA Legislative Committee News
Highlights - February Board meeting - 2005

During 2004 the CFA Legislative Group faced numerous legislative proposals extremely detrimental to cat fanciers on the State level and in cities and counties around the country. These proposals often call for mandatory spay/neuter; breeding permits of $100 for each unaltered animal; onerous record keeping, home inspections and other requirements.

In January we receive the 2005 animal related state bill introductions, usually approximately 200 bills; tracking the ones that most directly affect cats, breeders or pet ownership. The Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC) generously provides the tracking system for CFA.

State

In 2004 California was the most active State for us. We monitored or vigorously addressed, with our legislative network liaisons, ordinances in Riverside County, Kern County, Ventura County, San Jose, Pomona, Watsonville, Stanislaus County, Madera County, Pasadena, Santa Monica and Albany, CA. One of the most serious State bills defeated in California during 2004 was Assembly Bill 2513; with breeder "sale permits" costing up to $1000 per year. Current hot spots in California:

• Stanislaus County passed an ordinance, modeled after the City of Los Angeles 2000 revisions, on December 14th with a 4 to 1 vote. A surprise overturn occurred on January 5, 2005. Two new Supervisors attended their first meeting with a 3 to 2 vote against the ordinance. It is now back in the animal control Director's committee. This was a major victory since Madera, Fresno and several other counties had planned to copy the Stanislaus ordinance.

• Madera County, CA, had a hearing and second reading for final voting on a similar ordinance on January 11th. The animal rights activists had already suggested that the Madera County provisions should be passed statewide. The Legislative Group began advising local fanciers and preparing materials to defeat this ordinance. Two cat fanciers hand delivered large CFA "Cat Facts" packets to all Supervisors with CFA's Opposition Statement, wrote letters and a list of alternatives to legislation. The Board of Supervisors rejected the ordinance entirely, mentioning many points included in the packets, and suggested a committee to include all animal interest groups. We are grateful to the cat fanciers who worked hard (over the holidays) to achieve this successful result.

The State of Texas has become another hotbed with communities introducing anti-pet ownership and breeding proposals. In the past 6 months we have addressed several ordinances or provided advice in Texas, including Austin, El Paso, Lubbock, Corpus Christi and other cities with "guardian" proposals. In December members of the "Corpus Christi Animal Rights Effort", announced plans for breeder registration fees and mandatory microchip all cats/dogs. If unsuccessful before the City Council, CCARE plans to go before voters in a special election.

Other states with bills or ordinances addressed by the Legislative Group in recent months include Massachusetts State; Marborough, Mass.; New Jersey State; Bergen County, NJ; Illinois State; Bowling Green, Kentucky; Las Vegas, Nevada; Waukegan, Illinois; Maple Heights, Ohio; St. Louis, MO; Windsor, Ontario, Canada; Wanaque, NY and Woodstock, NY.

Objectives for 2005:

• Be aware of local legislation in time to analyze the proposal and prepare a strategy. Each club should develop contacts at their shelter and/or check their county web site regularly and review upcoming agendas so we do not miss ordinances.

• Bring local fanciers quickly up to speed on issues as soon as an ordinance is proposed.

• Develop better contact lists in each area.

• Improve our grassroots communication system.

• Further establish CFA fanciers as the local experts on cat issues and solutions. When ordinances are opposed the cat fancy needs to be ready with non-legislative alternatives that have worked.

• Reach the general public so pet owners will better understand the cat fancy perspective on laws. We need more letters to the editor, press releases and articles for non-cat fancy publications. The CFA Fanc-e-Mews has a legislative article in every bi-monthly online issue.

Recent CFA Legislative Committee activities:

• Animal Law Symposium - September 15, 2004. Tom Dent and Joan Miller attended a symposium organized by the Animal Health Institute for the alliance/coalition that includes CFA, AKC, AVMA, AAHA, PIJAC, several pharmaceutical companies and others. The purpose was to become more informed regarding tort law and the potential ramifications of the "guardian" term and movement to award non-economic damages.

• SAWA (Society of Animal Welfare Administrators) Annual Conference - November 7-9, 2004. At the SAWA Board meeting Joan Miller was accepted as an Associate Member. SAWA is the most prestigious of the animal welfare groups with seminars and workshops geared to their members who are leading professionals in the field of animal control and welfare.

• National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy - November 12, 2004. A Teleconference meeting was held to discuss projects, including progress on the Shelter Population Index study and the Population Dynamics of Free-Roaming Cats.

• CFA Public Affairs and Advocacy Booth at the International Show - November 18-21, 2004. George Eigenhauser and Joan Miller put together a booth and numerous lobbying materials as an outreach to fanciers. This is part of our effort to increase our legislative network liaisons and it was also an opportunity to talk with the public, Cat and Dog Writers Association members and corporate vendors at the show.

• Fanc-e-Mews articles are prepared by the CFA Legislative Group for every online issue. This e-zine is tailored to the general public and Karen Lawrence does a great job with interesting content. Please encourage friends, all pet buyers and others to go to this site to keep up with legislative issues. Subscription/notification is on the home page. http://www.cfa.org/ezine/

Miscellaneous news of interest to CFA, related to public affairs and advocacy:

• The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) officially merged with The Fund For Animals January 1, 2005. This creates an organization with a combined budget of over $95 million for 2005. A new Animal Protection Litigation section will focus on enforcement of animal protection laws. A separate 501 (c)(4) "HSUS Fund for Animals" will raise funds and greatly increase the lobbying activities to promote their agendas.

• PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) and PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine; an animal rights organization of physicians promoting vegetarianism) have greatly increased their budgets. PETA and PCRM are linked and have both been instrumental in promoting anti-breeder legislation. They have a joint partnership in the Foundation to Support Animal Protection (FSAP) and have now founded a new entity, the PCRM Foundation. Together they raised $23.3 million, spent $17 million with $11.4 on programs. A prominent member is Dr. Richard McLellan, who is the founder of Animal Legislative Action Network -the organization primarily behind the breeder permit proposals in California. A.L.A.N has previously attempted to establish a statewide law and plans to do this again.

Always remember, what you hear can be important - Most local ordinances addressed in 2004 were defeated or withdrawn thanks to our local grass roots legislative teams. We are grateful to every fancier who attends a hearing or writes a letter.

When we lose it is usually because we did not hear of the ordinance until it was too late - often ready for a hearing that day or had already been passed. We have an efficient state bill tracking system, but the only way to know about local proposals is for fanciers to be active on county/city task forces, willing to monitor council meetings on a regular basis, have contacts in Animal Control and to be watchful of the media. Usually a person listening to the radio or seeing a newspaper article is our first information about a city or county proposal and an upcoming hearing. In spite of its shortcomings CFA's Legislative Network continues to be more effective than any other.

Contact CFA when you become aware of any legislative proposal detrimental to pet ownership, the breeding of pedigreed cats or the well-being of feral cats - legislation@cfa.org.

CFA Legislative Committee,
Joan Miller, Chair

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