Joe Simitian's AB1634 public forum

[Guest guest]

I just got back from Joe Simitian's AB1634 public forum in Palo Alto. The opposition to the bill is clearly mobilized and motivated. They outnumbered supporters by about 2:1. But Joe was great – very even tempered, listening patiently, and giving time to all who wanted to talk (72 constituents alone and even more non-consitituents. I left at 1:40PM when the last consituent talked.

 

I feel the opposition was all over the map, grasping at anything that could possibly paint the bill in a bad light. Talking first about how the law is unenforcable on the one hand, and then about how it will lead to the extinction of pets on the other, and everything in between. They talked about how education and low-cost spay neuter was the solution to the problem of "irresponsible" pet owners (but of course everyone there was a "responsible" pet owner, as were all of their customers I'm sure.)

 

I was heartened to see more pro- speakers get up at the end who said they hadn't intended to speak but wanted to voice their support to balance out the discussion. I spoke talking about how the current system generates this enormous external cost, little if any of which is borne by the people with in-tact animals who are the root cause of the overpopulation. I urged Senator Simitian to pass the bill to help internalize these costs, just like we have done with our smog check laws for those owning motor vehicles.

 

The best speaker by far, though, was an animal enforcement officer from Santa Cruz (which is actually part of the Senator's district!). He spoke very specifically about how the law has helped him close down ignorant backyard breeders, how he give out more warnings and information than tickets, and how the fines of issued tickets are waived as long as the owner comes into compliance. He also talked about ferral cats (which the opposition claimed were not helped by the bill) stating that Santa Cruz considered anyone feeding ferral cats for more than 30 days as those cats "owner" and were responsible for spay/neuter. It was a wonderful fresh breath of truth and pragmatism in a forum otherwise polluted by a lot of emotion, misinformation, and exaggeration.

 

The bill still has a long way to go before it is passed – More amendments, more discussion, more votes. Please continue to voice your support for the bill to help balance out the well funded and organized opposition. (I only wish they'd spend this much effort and money on actually helping to fix the problem, rather than fighting a workable solution.)

 

·Dave