CFA Policy and Guidance Statements

CFA Legislative Committee News
Highlights - October Board meeting - 2004

Federal

Currently there are no federal bills pending concerning cat or dog issues.

• The Minor Use Minor Species Animal Health Act ("MUMS") bill was recently signed into law. This important legislation will begin the process of developing regulations to increase the availability of drugs for uncommon conditions or diseases in "major" animal species like cats and dogs. CFA was a member of the MUMS Coalition, led by the American Veterinary Medical Association, which was responsible for almost 3 years of work to see successful passage of this bill. We appreciate those fanciers who responded to Alerts and wrote letters.

• The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has announced a plan to merge with the Fund For Animals through a joint 501 (c) (4) political arm. The new organization expects to spend 10 to 15 million dollars per year to lobby for animal related causes and to provide support and materials to activists.

State

Almost all state legislative sessions have now ended. CFA successfully opposed many detrimental proposals this year without a single bill that directly affected breeders or domestic cats being enacted in any state.

California

• CFA helped to defeat California AB 2513, which would have created an extremely high excise tax on the sale of unaltered cats or dogs, along with other requirements. The bill would not have alleviated the homeless cat/dog problems in the state as claimed, yet it would discourage any conscientious breeding of pedigreed cats/purebred dogs. CFA continues to oppose seller taxation and intrusive inspection of individual breeders' private homes or their sale/purchase records by animal control agencies.

• A bill that will ban declawing of wild cats passed (similar to last year's defeated declaw bill but with the domestic cats removed). AB 1857 barely achieved the needed votes in the Senate and was signed into law by the Governor. CFA's opposition to this bill was fundamental - we object to the unprecedented criminalization of a lawful surgical procedure that is safe when competently performed. Passage of this bill now sets the stage for later amendments leading to government intrusion into veterinary medical practice. .

Gradually we must make legislators in every state aware that home breeding of pedigreed cats is not a business but instead an unprofitable hobby and that all previous attempts to impose seller or breeder permits have failed to achieve worthwhile goals for animals.

Local

We constantly receive notification of local jurisdictions with task forces that propose monumental ordinances. Many are in areas of the country where there are few cat fanciers willing or able to take the lead and to monitor commission meetings or attend city council hearings. With even a single person's help we can provide the information, legal analysis and tools necessary to defeat these ordinances.

• Currently we are facing a variety of proposals for mandatory spay/neuter, limits on numbers of cats/dogs, breeder permits, cat rescuer regulation and other restrictive ordinances in Lubbock, Texas; El Paso, Texas; and Austin; Texas; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Las Vegas, Nevada; Pierce County, Washington; Clark County, Washington; Champaign, Illinois, Mt Vernon, New York, Bowling Green, Kentucky and Stanislaus County, California.

Strategy

• The campaign to insert the "guardian" term in ordinances continues around the country. Pasadena, California has recently rejected this; Greenburgh, New York is considering legislation; Richfield, Wisconsin Board of Supervisors rejected the addition of the term.

• CFA has joined a coalition of organizations to address the "guardian" campaign and non-economic damages (emotional distress) awards for animals. Tom Dent and Joan Miller attended a symposium and meeting in Washington, DC in September sponsored by this group.

The Sy Howard Legislative Fund

This fund is necessary for our development of long term strategy and to increase the effectiveness of CFA's overall legislative effort. Raising the number of donations has been extremely difficult because clubs and individuals are pressed to donate to other worthy CFA related programs. We need more support. The Almanac published a complete outline of the Sy Howard Legislative Fund - "What is it and What Can it Do For You" (November 2002). Several activities have recently received funding or are ongoing:

• The Santa Clara County Study - Everyone working to oppose detrimental ordinances begs for data and it is not easy to come by. This ten year follow-up study on the ground-breaking survey of a major California County to assess pet owner attitudes and acquire data will be executed by Phillip Kass, DVM, PhD, University of California, Davis, in conjunction with Karen Johnson. The survey is an exact repeat of the 1993 questions with many others added. The grant has been awarded and the study is now underway.

  We appreciate the donations that made this project possible from Tails & No Tales Cat Club, Fort Worth Cat Club, Santa Clara Valley Cat Fanciers, Carolyn Merrill, many exhibitors at the December 2003 Maine Attraction Cat Club show, the City of San Jose, the County of Santa Clara and the Center for Companion Animal Health - U. C. Davis Vet School.

• Pet Night on Capitol Hill - The Sy Howard Legislative Fund matches club donations to make CFA's sponsorship possible and to provide gifts in the goodie bags for this important event in Washington, DC. On September 14th CFA was an Affiliated Sponsor for the 8th Pet Night giving us the opportunity to meet with over 700 members of Congress, staff, spouses, USDA agency heads and others who will be there, along with CFA legislative network liaisons from the DC/Virginia area, Joan Miller, our President, Pam DelaBar and Executive Director, Tom Dent. We appreciate the Washington, DC, Virginia and Delaware clubs who provide donations to cover the costs of sponsorship and gifts.

• The National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy - CFA is a member of this Council of 11 organizations, including national humane organizations, veterinary medical associations, animal control and the pet industry. The National Council works on our mutual goals regarding the issues of homeless cats and dogs through gathering and evaluating available national pet population data and establishing strategies. Research supported by this group has significantly improved the understanding of why animals enter shelters. The latest project approved and awaiting funding is "Population Dynamics of Free-Roaming Cats", by Margaret Slater, DVM, and others. CFA's dues and participation is covered by the Sy Howard Legislative Fund.

What you hear can be important - contact CFA when you become aware of any legislative proposal detrimental to pet ownership, the breeding of pedigreed cats or the well-being of feral cats - legislation@cfa.org

CFA Legislative Committee,
Joan Miller, Chair

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