HB 2150
HB 2150 is a misguided bill that weakens our laws against animal abuse. It reduces felony penalties for
various acts of cruelty to farm animals, omits the crime of “abandonment” of farm animals and prevents
any city or county from enacting reasonable cruelty ordinances.
What you should know about HB2150:
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HB 2150 is what is called a striker bill, which means that when the bill originally passed through
the House of Representatives last week it was an unrelated bill on administration of pesticide
complaints and had nothing to do with animal cruelty. However, when the bill moved to the
Senate, there was a striker amendment. This is when all existing language is struck and new
language is added.
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Despite what you may hear from bill proponents, the bill is strongly opposed by law enforcement
and did NOT include any humane or law enforcement organizations in the stakeholder meetings.
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This bill is a solution in search of a problem.
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The agricultural industry will tell you that federal regulations govern their industry. They’ll say that
the type of feed given is checked and regulated. Vaccines are provided and veterinarians are on
duty as well. And we have no doubt that all of that is true. But it misses the point.
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Of course the overwhelming majority of ranchers don’t engage in heinous acts of cruelty. It is
also true that the overwhelming majority of our citizens don’t rob banks – but we still have laws
against bank robbery and we need to have laws against cruelty to animals – even farm animals.
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What’s more, the new language states that the Department of Agriculture Director must be
notified of any investigation of livestock abuse. Not only is this of questionable legality (potentially
endangering the active investigations of law enforcement), but it is moving dangerously close to
the fox guarding the hen house.
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Arizona’s current animal cruelty codes are time-tested – striking the right balance between the
unique aspects of agricultural production in the livestock and poultry industry and stopping cruel
behavior that has no place in our state.
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HB2150 would destroy this balance. Even a child in kindergarten knows that cattle, sheep and
horses are animals. However, under HB2150, livestock and poultry would be excluded from
Arizona’s definition of animals found in our criminal code. Since they will no longer be considered
animals, the 13 categories of animal abuse currently on the books will no longer protect these
animals.
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Instead, they will be protected by just two new standards of abuse that have not been tested in
the courts. This will create loopholes that will allow heinous abuses to go unpunished.
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For example, under current law, ‘abandonment of animals’ is specifically referenced in statute
and it is a felony. HB2150 does away with that definition of cruelty for livestock and poultry. The
new standards don’t even reference abandonment.
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There is also no specific reference in these new standards for failure to ‘provide medical attention
necessary to prevent protracted suffering’ to animals, which is a misdemeanor under our current
cruelty law. If a dog is required to have veterinary care to prevent suffering, shouldn’t a horse
have the same protection?
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Which leads us back to where we started … what problem are we fixing here?
Preempting local government
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Another problem with this bill is it preempts counties and cities from enacting ‘an ordinance that
regulates livestock or poultry. So if a person wants to slaughter goats in the parking lot of their
apartment –a city would be powerless to stop them.
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And if you think this example is ridiculous think again – such an ordinance already exists in
Phoenix BECAUSE this has been a problem in the past.
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Arizona is a big place. What might make sense in rural Cochise County or Mohave County makes
no sense in central Phoenix. We can’t think of an issue that is better left to local authorities.
Hoarding
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There is one part of this bill that we do support and that is the section on hoarding. This is a huge
problem that we have to tackle, however, it is not necessary to separate livestock in order to
address hoarding.