Hello everybody.

California has a massive budget crisis and since our state is in a state of
gridlock where Democrats refuse to concede cuts to their pet causes and
Republicans failing to fund the expansive state budget, our Governor is trying
to find so many small items to cut to help to provide substantive fiscal
relief. The issue that has gotten thousands of animal welfare advocates
mobilized is the movement to repeal the Hayden Law for shelter animals that
was passed in 1998 and signed by Governor Wilson. Haydens legislation was
intended to help reunite pets with their owners in the instance they may have
become lost and also to encourage animal shelters to focus on working on
adoptions instead of putting animals down.

In an effort to trim costs, the governors budgetary staff has stricken out
particular parts of the law in their trailer bill that will likely be part of
the next state budget. First, animal shelters will not be mandated to provide
necessary and prompt care when an animal needs medical assistance so if an
animal is in needed for treatment it will either suffer in pain or be the
first one to be put down. Second, animals that are not traditionally dog or
cat will not be guaranteed the new 72 hour hold period, if the shelter is in
danger of running out of space they will likely be put down. Third,
regulations that require accountability in our animal shelters will be
repealed so we will not find out the status of any animal medically treated or
impounded. Four, there will not be a six business day holding period if your
animal runs out of your home. If you are on vacation and your pet is impounded
on a weekend expect your animal to not see Monday. The new rule will be 72
hours from the date of impoundment including days animal control may be closed
to the public.

The Hayden Law is still needed, and repealing the Hayden Law is very drastic
when we can suspend relevant clauses until our state is in better fiscal
health. Even so, shelters in various parts of our state have violated the
Hayden Law for shelter animals and without the law expect it to happen across
the state. We should be able to provide dignity and respect for the companion
animals that many of us value. We should keep the law on the books to further
the cause of adoption and reduce the instance of putting animals down. We need
to clamp down on animal shelters that deny volunteers, refuse the acceptance
of blankets to help keep animals comfortable in concrete or outdoor kennels
and refuse to cooperate with rescue organizations that want to save animals
from being put down due to crowded kennels.

Budget analysiss claim that these changes will save 46 million dollars, but
there are much bigger fish to fry for the state of California to have
meaningful budget reform such as dealing with the looming public employee
pension crisis or curtailing the spiraling costs of high speed rail. However
the thousands of shelter animals do not have a lobby as viable as the SEIU or
the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Organization. That is why people like you and me
who live in our state are encouraged to lobby their state legislators and our
governor to reject this misguided proposal. First, look up your state
legislator and find out if they are a member of the state budget committee for
the assembly or senate. If they are then its strongly encouraged to lobby them
because they are able to kill the proposal before it gets to a full vote. Even
if your legislator is not on the budget committee, if the misguided proposal
passes, we need them to defeat it at the full floor vote.

Crossposted from Orange Juice blog.


Matt

... Stay tuned as The Canadiens take on Matt Munson's team.
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