Huge amounts of money have been donated or contributed to legislators and others. Who is buying Texas?

Representative Senfronia Thompson, a Democrat Attorney from Houston, has filed HB1451, a bill to regulate dog and cat breeders in the State of Texas. This bill has the support of several animal rights groups, including the Texas Humane Legislation Network (THLN), the ASPCA, PETA and the Humane Society of the United States (H$U$). This bill closely mirrors SB1712 of Oklahoma, which passed last year. It has passed the House and is now on the Senate Intent Calendar for Monday, May 23, 2011. The bill needs 21 votes to bring it to the Senate floor.

Rep. Thompson has stated that she will accept no amendments to her bill, though the cap of 50 intact animals has been removed. All references to Sales Tax have been removed. What have been added to the bill are the “Presumption of Use for Breeding” clause, as well as the addition of an “Advisory Committee” of nine members, consisting of: 2 licensed breeders, 2 veterinarians, 2 animal welfare organization representatives, 2 public members and 1 animal control officer. This committee will adopt the licensing fees and standards according to Sub-chapter E of the bill. The Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation is required to adopt the rules, standards, procedures and fees necessary to implement the Act by March 31, 2012, if passed in both houses.

 HB1451 allows the Department of Licensing and Regulation to solicit and accept grants, donations and gifts from any source to fund this department. Hmmm…Now, let’s consider that Jan Rees-Jones has donated $68,200.00 in political contributions for the year 2010, according to CampaignMoney.com. Let’s add to this a two part contribution from Trevor Rees-Jones to Gov. Perry’s campaign totaling $150,000.00 and a single $10,000.00 donation to Todd Staples, Agriculture Commissioner on August 23, 2010. How about a $5,000.00 donation to Rep. Branch (co-author of the bill), on September 11, 2008, or $1000.00 on July 10, 2006, or another $5000.00 on June 11, 2010? Again, add another $500,000.00 + in donations to various other candidates from Mr. Rees-Jones. Let’s combine this with the Rees-Jones Foundation donation to the Metroplex Animal Coalition of $35,000.00 in 2010. How about the $750,000.00 donation to the SPCA of Texas in 2010, to “fund a program to stop puppy mills”? This is right off of the foundations own website. It will be interesting to see who the “2 public members” of this Advisory Committee will be!

Some of the issues with this bill include, but are not limited to: Full background checks; unwarranted searches; engineering standards in lieu of performance standards; public database which divulges personal information of breeders-making them potential targets of animal rights activists; definitions that are widely open to interpretation; no qualifications of “personnel to carry out the functions and duties of the department”; who are the “third-party inspectors”; what is the definition of a “consumer complaint” (formal or informal); paying for information that will result in disciplinary action; and excessive standards.

Considering this is intended to be a self-funded agency, in the current atmosphere of budget cuts and restraints to human services, what will the licensing fees turn out to be? Texas already has laws on the books (Section 42.09) in regards to animal cruelty, so is another piece of expensive legislation really the answer? This bill is intended to eliminate breeders, not encourage small business. What will it cost the State in loss of revenue, both sales tax and income tax? What will the end cost of Bigger Government ultimately cost the citizens of Texas?

By: Debi R***

Update: HB1451 is reported as "5/23/11 Senate passage as amended."