Texas Dangerous Dog Law passes -- with MANY amendments

TX-RPOA E-News
>From Responsible Pet Owners Alliance,
Permission granted to crosspost.

May 18, 2007
Thanks to all of you, we were able to get significant amendments to HB
1355/SB 411 although the bill with the felony offense for a first incident
did pass yesterday.
Now we have to pay the piper -- the lobbyist hired by Endangered Breeds
Association. We also need donations for the two attorneys representing
Responsible Pet Owners Alliance, who devoted so much time analyzing legal
terms and strategy for us, meeting with legislators and attending hearings
in Austin this session to get these amendments. Jeff Shaver and Mary Beth
Duerler began working with Senator Jeff Wentworth's office a year ago when
Wentworth said in the San Antonio Express News that he would be proposing
Breed Specific Legislation this session.
We knew "something" would pass this session and our only hope would be to
make it something more palatable to Texas dog owners. Jeff Shaver and
Zandra Anderson fought this for their own personal reasons - their dogs! -
but they are due the same compensation as the lobbyist. Both have their own
legal practices.
Send donations for the lobbyist and attorneys to:

Endangered Breeds Association
Rt 1 Box 71
Gore, OK 74435
Note "Texas Fund" on your check.

The balance is now $3,846 and we MUST reach at least $5,000 which will then
be matched by American Dog Breeders Association. EBA donated the $5,000
retainer for the lobbyist. Read Zandra's message below, pat yourself on the
back and most important of
all -- give your dogs a big hug and "do something that's fun" with them this
weekend! But we must remain ever vigilant.

****************************************
>From Zandra,
There was a vote today and HB1355 passed with some significant amendments to
the bill. We made a huge difference in this bill. Your voices were heard,
your barks and whines so noted! I cannot thank you enough for all your
dedication and hard work. I got so many emails of encouragement and folks
saying what they had done. Every bit of it helped as you will see below our
significant accomplishments!

HB1355 as passed:

-- The bill is a Third Degree Felony if an owner fails to secure his/her
dog and it gets out and causes serious bodily injury or death, a Second
Degree Felony if death.

-- Senator Craig Estes (District 30) introduced an Amendment to make the
offense a Class A Misdemeanor, but it did not pass. Sen. Estes is from
Wichita Falls and his district is in north Texas. He is a graduate of
Harvard Business School, so we had someone really smart who "gets it" trying
to get this amendment added. (He helped us in the Amendments that got passed
today--see below.)

-- Sec. 822.007 (Local Regulation) was kept in the bill. We wanted this
section removed so there could be no possible room for debate on breed
specific laws in Texas, but we didn't get it.We have the author's
legislative intent (Gattis) saying the bill is not intended to be breed
specific and another state law says that local laws can't be breed specific.
I strongly contend Texas prohibits bsl, but we will have to watch carefully
to make sure no counties or cities try to make leash or registration laws
breed specific.

Here are the Amendments we got which have changed this bill tremendously.
NONE of these amendments were offered until your voices sent a message. This
bill was voted out of the House Committee unanimously and without ANY
changes. It was not until the bill hit the floor of the entire House of
Representatives that the amendments started being added.

AMENDMENTS:

1. Added Defense for a dog attack during a Criminal Homicide.

2. Added Defense for a dog attack during a Kidnapping or Unlawful Restraint.

3. Added Defense for a dog attack during any Assaultive Offenses.

4. Added Defense for a dog attack during any Sexual Offenses.

5. Added Defense for a dog attack during Arson, Criminal Mischief or other
Crimes Against Property.

6. Added Defense for a dog attack during Robbery. (There were already
defenses for Burglary and Criminal Trespass).

(#1-6 were House Amendments added when debated on the House Floor in front
of the entire House of Representatives.)

7. Changed the definition of "serious bodily injury" to the Penal Code
definition. This is huge. That means that the injury must be the kind that
could cause death, or does cause death. We battled long and hard for this
because without it all dog owners could have become felons for bites that
were no where near life threatening under the original definition. (Thanks
to Sen. Shapleigh)

8. Made the definition of "criminal negligence" the Penal Code definition.
This is an important clarification because "negligence" under the Penal Code
is a much narrower definition. (Thanks Sen. Shapleigh)

9. Added the Defense for Search and Rescue Dogs. This is huge and something
we fought hard for. What out of state SAR folks are going to want to come
help us otherwise? They got the point on that one after our hard work.
(Thanks Sen. Shapleigh)

10. Today added a Defense for dogs that are lawful hunting. Thanks to Sen.
Estes for sponsoring and getting passed this Amendment! Another one we
worked hard to get.

11. Today added a Defense for working dogs on farms & ranches. (Thanks to
Sen. Estes) Sound familiar from our letters?

12. Today added a Defense for dogs participating in an organized dog show.
(Thanks to Sen. Shapleigh) Another one we worked hard to get.

13. Today added a Defense for dogs participating in events sponsored by a
nationally recognized or state recognized kennel club. We lobbied hard on
this one, too. (Thanks to Sen. Shapleigh)

14. Today added a Defense for a dog that is on a leash that was under the
immediate control of a person or if the person was making reasonable
attempts to regain control of the dog. This is really huge and we fought
hard for this. (Thanks to Sen. Estes)

(#7-14 were all added by Senators and all of them are things we lobbied the
Senators to get.)

AND, last but certainly NOT least:

15. There is NO Breed Specific language in this bill--no breed bans, nothing
specifically targeting certain breeds of dogs. As we know, this one is a
tremendous victory for us because there was talk during this bill's long
history about adding that sort of language.

Think about all the sample letters sent out and you will recognize what we
asked for is reflected in the Amendments. Did we get everything we
wanted--no, but when does that really happen? What we got, as you can easily
see, is HUGE and makes an amazing difference in this bill. You made the
difference. If you did not raise your voices to be heard, these amendments
would not have come about.

I sat through hours of testimony in the Public Hearings in both the House
and Senate. I can assure you that we made a huge difference in making this
bill far more fair than it started out. Keep in mind that the bill passed
the House Committee without any amendments. On the House floor, Gattis added
the criminal defenses for attacks during a robbery, murder, etc. (# 1-7).

ALL of the other amendments occurred in the Senate, so you can see we made
tremendous changes to this bill. And importantly, some really important
amendments were added TODAY, so our continued faxing and calling helped give
those amendments the push they needed. We made a difference to the bitter
end and you can see that our persistence paid off.

Sure, we are going to hear the media stories about these attacks being a
felony and what a victory that is for the bill's proponents, but we know
there is a lot more to it than that. And we know the long history fighting
what was initially going to be a bill that could have made us all felons.

I am very proud of you and the difference we have made. Thank you from the
bottom of my heart!

Well, the legislative session is about over, and I am sure you are sick of
all these emails, but guess what? There is a dog bill we can support! I am
going to rest the keys for a tad, but I will tell you about it soon. Hope
you still have the stamina left for one more very deserving bill! Curious?
You BARK!!
Zandra Anderson
www.TexasDogLawyer.com

 

shit that gets complex real fast.

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

Yep, we made BIG changes in this bill. Not everything we wanted was changed but a great deal of it was. Now, citizens of Texas who own dogs won't have to worry about prison time if Fluffy knocks Billy Joe Bob off of his bike & the kid breaks his arm. The way it was written, that was a very real posibility.


Thanks to all who wrote letters, emails, sent faxes, made phone calls. We did it!! We made our voices herard & they listened!!! Thank you all for your help.