For Californians: !! AB 1634 Alert !! - Page 1

-- permission to cross post is granted --

AB 1634 will face its final hurdle in the California state legislature
over the next few weeks. The bill was "gut amended" in June into a
different bill, one that on the surface appeared to remove many
objections. Unfortunately the new AB 1634 is arguably worse than the
old bill. If Californians don't seriously step up the response, this
bill will soon pass the California state legislature. If that happens
it will become illegal to own an intact dog or intact cat in
California.

As Assembly member Levine explained in his testimony before the Senate
Local Government Committee several weeks ago, AB 1634 makes owning an
intact dog or intact cat a "secondary offense", analogous to the seat
belt law which made driving without a seat belt a secondary offense.

Make no mistake about what this means. It means that owning an intact
dog or cat will be illegal in California, no exceptions. No
exceptions for registered purebreds. No exceptions for dogs or cats
owned by responsible breeders. No exceptions for police dogs,
search-and-rescue dogs, detection dogs, hunting dogs, working farm and
ranch dogs, or any other dog. There are no longer any exemptions or
ways to obtain intact permits in AB 1634. All that was removed when
the bill was gut amended.

Furthermore, the primary offense that activates the fines and
sterilization mandate in AB 1634 includes "complaints" -- mere
allegations that need not be valid or proven. Your neighbor can
complain that your intact dog was in his yard, and even if you can
prove the allegation was untrue, even if no one believes the
allegation, you can still be fined or ordered to sterilize your dog.
Mr. Levine used this very example in his committee testimony.

AB 1634 will be voted on in the full California State Senate sometime
between August 5 and August 31 (the deadline). It already passed the
Assembly.

The State Senate is not receiving as much opposition to the new AB
1634 as they had about the previous versions. I have spoken with
Senate staff and heard this message. I am seeing only a small
fraction of the response that we had last year. Your letters, faxes,
and emails sent last year don't count anymore.

If Californians don't seriously step up the response, this bill will
pass the California state legislature. We managed to stop the old
bill and can stop this one. We cannot stop it with well-reasoned
arguments alone. It doesn't work that way. We can stop it if those
arguments come from tens of thousands of Californians. If you own an
intact dog or intact cat in California, if you want responsible dog or
cat breeding to continue in California, or if you just don't like the
idea of the state government declaring all intact dogs and cats
illegal, then please take action now. There is no longer any time to
wait.

Ways that you can take action are on the home page of the Save Our
Dogs website.
http://saveourdogs.net/
Some of them only take a few minutes of your time (a brief phone call
to your state senator's office and a customizable email usi

Pet owners family & friends as well as non dog owners should bombard them with responses. I cant belive something like this is being entertained, what kinda nut case politicians & legislators are out there?  Is AKC involved?

Yes AKC is involved and unfortunately this same bill was passed locally in SO. Cal.  It is being passed all over the US and people are not paying attention to their rights being ripped away from them.  It is sad at how many apathetic people we have who do nothing until it is too late then they bitch and moan!

PETA is HUGE supporter'

AKC AGAINST

http://saveourdogs.net/     Check out this website.  I recommend that any working dog owner/breeder/competitor get involved (again) because it WILL affect you...

Please keep this topic at the top of the food chain even if it means just submitting a comment without a comment.  Thanks...  It's just a matter of time before other states are affected.   Just think about the BSL... it CAN happen!  We have to pull together so it doesn't.  

bump

I did my part. I have sent several emails to my senator and said that I opposed this bill.

AKC has been a day late and a dollar short on this whole thing right from the start. Last year they did not even get involved until late in the game - refused to contribute money to the ads PetPac ran against this bill and showed up THE DAY BEFORE the vote to lobby - when the rest of us had been lobbying for months(and no one is around the afternoon before an important vote anyway).  But they were very quick to claim credit for the "victory" - yet they disappeared into the wood work once again and have left us high and dry. Thus the current situation. The driving force against this bill has been www.saveourdogs.net; www.Petpac.net  and CDOC(tho I disagree violently with their tactic of trying to appease Levine, Didn't work for Chamberlain and won't work here and their refusal to work with other anti 1634 orgs).

The reason this bill was TEMPORARILY defeated last year is because of the hell we raised. We literally broke fax machines in the capitol.  That is the level of attention it takes to get the legislators to listen and we need to do that again!!!  

Jyl may I suggest you need to do more.  Make an appointment with YOUR senator and go visit him on this issue - in his home office if you can't get to Sacramento.  CALL every other day ( they keep track of pros and cons).  Call both his local office AND his Sacramento one. They usually do not ask your name - just pro and con and your zip code. CALL every Senator's offices - local and Sacramento.  Write up 2,3,4 or more different letters and FAX them a day at time to BOTH of his offices AND to EVERY Senator ( you can set up a list on your fax machine and it will do it automatically. REPEAT ONE OF THE ABOVE every single day until the vote. Then get your family , friends, dog trainer, boarding kennel, groomer, vet etc etc etc to do the same.

They pay little or no attention to emails.

This sucks...too bad all us responsible breeders/owners/trainers can't somehow get together in our areas and sneak out in the middle of the night and neuter or spay the very people supporting this bill. I don't see PETA and many of the animal shelter people supporting this bill fixing themselves so they don't reproduce and tax this earth more......

You may want to print out a copy of this article and send it with your letters. http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/Story?id=3765973&page=1   300,000 Imported Puppies Prompt Rabies Concerns

We have documented importation of dogs into California shelters from Mexico, Romania, China, Taiwan to name a few. In addtion a number of California city/county shelters go to other counties ( for ex in the Central Valley) and "cherry pick" adoptable dogs out because they can not supply the demand in their own counties. Yet we are told constantly that there is an "overpopulation" of dogs.

Part of the reason the current version of AB1634 needs to be defeated is that shelter population issues in California vary greatly from place to place. This is a local jurisdiction issue and there are sufficient laws on the books ( if they were enforced) to deal with any problems as shown by the counties that go elsewhere to get adoptable dogs . We need to tell our legislators that this is a local jurisdiction issue and there is no need for a state mandate that will impose horrendous costs ( monetary and constitutional). It ignores the facts that California shelter populations have FALLEN by 76% over the last thirty years (official state statistics) and it penalizes the communites that have done a good job by imposing regulations and costs that they don't need.

Yes...PetPac and SaveOurPets have been AMAZING!  They are my go-to for info.  Keep it going!  Thanks -