NEW NATIONAL LEGISLATION

Updates from the 2006 Elections: In this year's elections, voters in Michigan and Arizona made backyards and farmyards safer, with well-organized and strong support for animal welfare. Michigan voters have protected the mourning dove --- the state's official bird of peace --- from being used for target shooting. The mourning dove had been a protected species until 2004, when special interest groups including the National Rifle Association successfully championed a law to reclassify the mourning dove from a song bird to a game bird. In the fall of 2004, hunters killed more than 28,000 doves. The law that Michigan voters rejected would have opened the first target-shooting season on the mourning doves. Instead, thanks to support in all 83 counties and a "no" vote that exceeded the "yes" vote by 1.3 million, Michigan's tradition of protecting this backyard songbird was restored. Arizona voters supported Proposition 204, the Humane Treatment of Farm Animals Act, which bans gestation crates for breeding pigs and veal crates for young calves. The proposition puts Arizona on a par with the European Union, where both practices are banned. The proposition met with stiff opposition: agribusiness and other special interests spent $2.5 million in an effort to defeat it. But Proposition 204 passed with 62 percent of the vote. Arizona is the first state to protect young calves from the cruel fate of veal crates. And Arizona is only the second state to ban gestation crates for pigs: in 2002, Florida voters were first in the nation in supporting more humane treatment of pigs on industrial factory farms. Other updates:   The PETS Act                         The US Senate recently approved The Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act ("PETS Act").  The PETS Act will require local and state disaster plans to include provisions for household pets and service animals in the event of a major disaster or emergency.  Furthermore, the Senate version of the PETS Act will (S. 2548):                         (a) grant FEMA the authority to assist in developing these plans;             (b) authorize financial help to states to create emergency shelters for people with their animals; and             (c) require the provision of essential assistance for individuals with household pets and service animals, and the animals themselves, following a major disaster.               The passage of this vital legislation by the Senate serves as a reminder that people are not the only victims of natural disasters.  This was evidenced by the number of dogs and cats who were killed or displaced by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.  Our pets are our family and no one should be forced to leave them behind.  The passage of this legislation is yet another example of how coordinated efforts work to advance the cause of animal rights and animal welfare not just in Florida, but across the nation.  The full Congress will take up the PETS Act when it returns in September.               For more information on the PETS Act, check out the following web sites: http://www.hsus.org/pets/pets_related_news_and_events/no_pet_left_behind_the_pets.html http://www.house.gov/shays/news/2005/september/PETS.pdf http://www.hsus.org/legislation_laws/federal_legislation/companion_animals/2005_PETS_evacuation.html               Provision in Pension Reform Act                         Both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed legislation to include a provision in the Pension Reform Act that will close the loophole that existed in the tax code that had been used and exploited by trophy hunters and allowed them to unfairly deduct the cost of their hunting expeditions.  According to the Humane Society of the United States, the inclusion of this provision will help protect wildlife around the world and save American tax payers an estimated 49 million dollars over the next decade.                 There appear to be a number of trophy hunting outfits that are exploiting a section of the tax code, essentially allowing trophy hunters to go on exotic game hunts at taxpayer expense, said Congressman Moran.  Exorbitant appraisals for trophy mounts by some unethical individuals are allowing hunters to gain tax breaks by donating their taxidermist prepared mounts to pseudo-natural history museums.  "Of all the tax scams that have ever been exposed, this must be one of the most unconscionable. These people are not only cheating the system, but they're squeezing the U.S. Treasury to finance their killing safaris around the globe," (Washington Post, Wayne Pacelle, HSUS president and CEO)             For More information, check out the following web sites:   http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/press_releases/congress_shoots_down_taxidermy.html http://www.easyvegan.info/2006/08/04/hsus‑updates‑on‑the‑pets‑act‑tax‑deductions‑for‑trophy‑hunters/ http://www.hsus.org/legislation_laws/federal_legislation/companion_animals/2005_PETS_evacuation.html http://www.hsus.org/legislation_laws/federal_legislation/companion_animals/2005_PETS_evacuation.html http://www.birderblog.com/post.php?id=233  _____________________________________________________________________________   Series of Laws Toughen Animal Protection in California By JESSE McKINLEY                                                             Published: October 2, 2006 SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 1 - Of all the constituents Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hoped to please in a recent marathon bout of bill signing, he only petted one. And he had four legs. The object of the governor's attention - not a voter, unfortunately - was a golden retriever named Tucker, who panted loudly as the governor patted his head. "I'm going to sign a bill for you," said the governor, beaming. "What do you say?" The bill in question was just one of a series protecting animals and pets signed over the last two weeks by a governor who counts two dogs among his closest friends (a yellow Labrador named Spunky, and a white cockapoo that answers to Sarge). Among the new laws is one forbidding the tethering of a dog unattended for more than three hours, one of the first in the country to set a rigid rule on the amount of time an animal can wait on a leash as a master runs errands. Mr. Schwarzenegger also recently signed a bill that makes it a crime to leave animals unattended in vehicles in hot or cold weather, or without adequate ventilation, food or water. Violators of the law, which also allows the police to break windows and take animals away to safety, face fines and up to six months in jail. And taking his lead from several neighboring states, the governor recently stiffened the penalties for those engaged in illegal animal fights like cockfighting, which animal rights advocates say is a common underground activity around the state. While all of this no doubt pleases anyone with a tail, fur or a beak, it probably pleases the governor's pollsters even more. "It sends a signal to the moderate and swing voters that he's a different kind of Republican," said Mark Baldassare, the director of research at the Public Policy Institute of California. "And people involved in animal rights issues tend to be more left of center, so it again demonstrates that he's politically flexible." It seems to be working. According to a Field Poll released Wednesday, Mr. Schwarzenegger holds a 10-point lead over his Democratic opponent, Phil Angelides, less than six weeks before Election Day. The governor dominated the campaign spotlight last week, signing hundreds of new laws before Saturday's deadline. He packed his schedule with a number of high-profile events, including Wednesday's signing of a law curbing greenhouse emissions (with a satellite-linked appearance by Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain) and a star-studded ceremony alongside George Clooney concerning pension divestment from Sudan. But few of those issues draw anywhere near the kind of across-the-aisle support that pet-friendly laws can, animal rights advocates say. "By and large, these are popular bipartisan issues," said Michael Markarian, executive vice president of the Humane Society of the United States. "It doesn't matter if you're a hawk or a dove, you can care about animal welfare." They can also make for strange legislative bedfellows, like Senators Rick Santorum, Republican of Pennsylvania, and Richard J. Durbin, the Democratic whip from Illinois, co-authors of a bill this year increasing oversight of so-called puppy mills. Mr. Markarian said animal care was also politically popular lately because of Hurricane Katrina, during which many pet owners were forced by the authorities to leave their animals behind. In August, the Senate unanimously passed a bill requiring emergency agencies to draw up plans for pet evacuations, care and shelter, and on Sept. 20, the House of Representatives sent it on to President Bush by a vote of 349 to 24. Mr. Schwarzenegger signed a similar bill for California on Friday. The state's new cockfighting law, meanwhile, comes after several neighboring states passed tougher measures, driving the illegal fights into California, which had previously doled out only light sentences for offenders. Under the new law, a second conviction can be a felony, resulting in prison time or a $25,000 fine.