March 16th, 2010

SB 1712 has now been assigned to the Economic Development and Financial Services Committee in the House. The talking points to this bill are posted below, along with contact details.

March 3rd, 2010

Oklahoma fanciers are facing several bills including 1332 which has been carried over from last year. SB 1712 has been fast tracked and already has passed one house. It passed the Senate by a 38 - 8 vote on Monday but has not been assigned to a house committee as yet. Residents of Oklahoma should be contacting their representative. You can find your legislators at http://www.capitolconnect.com/oklahoma/default.aspx and use the talking points below.

Download the OK SB 1712 Talking Points Flyer (PDF, 81k).

Everybody else can use the talking points to have their letters at the ready (except for addressing). When SB 1712 is assigned to committee I will forward the contact information of the committee members to the list.

Kelly Crouch
SC Legislative Liaison

Points to consider:

Commercial breeder should not be based upon arbitrarily low numbers or overly vague concepts such as "engaged in the business of breeding" or "possess" all of which cover many hobby breeders who neither make a significant percentage of their income or even a profit on their activities. The determination of whether someone is a commercial breeder or not should be based solely upon qualitative factors rather than quantitative factors. Many breeders will have another's dog or cat for a temporary time for breeding purposes. Many breeders have co-ownership agreements especially with new breeders so that they can ensure a mentorship relationship with the new breeder. All of these items ensure that this legislation covers far more breeders than is intended by this legislation on its surface.

This legislation deprives covered breeders of their due process rights. A registered breeder inspector should never be allowed to conduct investigations unless they are also police officer trained in due process procedure as these investigations have a strong likelihood of becoming criminal investigations and ANY violation of this may result in imprisonment of up to one year. covered breeders are also forbidden to interfere with, hinder or thwart investigation even to the extent of demanding due process.

Legislators should not abdicate the responsibility of legislating to a "Board". Not only should a workable definition of commercial breeder (such as that for the federal Animal Welfare Act) be determined via legislation but also any conditions and requirements on obtaining any required license should be determined by the legislature through the appropriate processes and not delegated. By delegating the legislative responsibilites to a Board, this legislation denies the citizens of Oklahoma from being allowed to make an informative decision on whether to support or oppose this proposed legislation. Many of these standards, conditions and requirements are already covered by cruelty laws within the state. It also states the USDA requirements will be the minimum requirements under this legislation. This ignores that the USDA facility and care requirements do not take into consideration the actual needs of cats or home breeding environments.

Furthermore this board is flawed by the inequitable representation of the very people to be legislated. Of the 8 positions, only one position is available for an actual representative of the people being legislated. These are the very people who have the greatest knowledge on breeding dogs and cats. However, cats are not little dogs just as dogs are not little steers. A dog breeder will not be knowledgeable of the nuances in breeding cats and vice versa.

Oklahoma has laws on the books, including sales tax laws, that already govern the people this legislation seeks to govern. This legislation is a disservice to the citizens of Oklahoma, inequitable to covered breeders, will be an administrative nightmare to set up and enforce, and will be exorbinantly expensive to administer especially in today's economic times.

Please urge your legislators to vote against this legislation.


Contact Information:

Representative Daniel Sullivan, Chair
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 435
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7361
District Address:
PMB412
4943 S. Peoria
Tulsa, OK 74105
Email: danielsullivan@okhouse.gov
Representative Randy McDaniel, Vice Chair
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 302-B
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7409
Email: randy.mcdaniel@okhouse.gov

Representative John Auffet
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 539-B
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7394
District Address:
Rt. 2 Box 2075
Stilwell, OK 74960
Email: johnauffet@okhouse.gov

Representative John Carey
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 542
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7366
District Address:
P. O. Box 1724
Durant, OK 74702
Office (580) 920-4646
Email: johncarey@okhouse.gov

Representative George Faught
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 301-A
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7310
Email: george.faught@okhouse.gov
Representative Charles Key
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 405
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7354
Email: charles.key@okhouse.gov

Representative Guy Liebmann
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 331
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7357
District Address:
12800 Plum Hollow Dr.
Oklahoma City, OK 73142
(405) 748-4848
fax (405) 962-7638
Email: guyliebmann@okhouse.gov

Representative Skye McNiel
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 300-A
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7353
Email: skye.mcniel@okhouse.gov
Representative Lewis H. Moore
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 329-A
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7400
District Address:
10100 Sunday Drive
Arcadia, OK 73007
Email: lewis.moore@okhouse.gov

Representative Danny Morgan
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 548
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7368
District Address:
NBU 4706
Prague, OK 74864
(405) 567-4786
Email: dannymorgan@okhouse.gov

Representative Pat Ownbey
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 301
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7326
District Address:
2303 Cloverleaf Place
Ardmore, OK 73401
Email: pat.ownbey@okhouse.gov

Representative Ron Peters
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 328
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7359
District Address:
4432 S. Atlanta Place
Tulsa, OK 74105
(918) 749-2658
Email: ronpeters@okhouse.gov

Representative Mike Shelton
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 508
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7367
District Address:
4125 N. Everest Ave.
Oklahoma City, OK 73111
Email: mikeshelton@okhouse.gov
Representative Jabar Shumate
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 510
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7406
District Address:
P. O. Box 48514
Tulsa, OK 74148
Email: jabarshumate@okhouse.gov

Authors

Senator Patrick Anderson
Capitol Address
District Address
Senator Patrick Anderson
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Rm. 417A
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 521-5630
anderson@oksenate.gov
Executive Assistant: Kathie Gasaway P.O. Box 5589
Enid, OK 73702

Representative Lee Denney
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 436
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7304
District Address:
834 E. Sixth Street
Cushing, OK 74023
Email: leedenney@okhouse.gov