Humane PA

Welcome to our Furry Friday weekly update! Every Friday we provide updates on animal legislation, campaigns and elections, as well as noteworthy news and events. If you would like to receive this blog directly in your inbox, please click the “Follow” button on the right hand side of this page to stay up to date.

Legislative update:

An exciting week for the animal vote!

• Rep. John Evans persevered with HB 165, the Service Dog bill, it heads to the House on June 4th for concurrence and then hopefully on to Gov. Corbett for his signature, more about this at the Philly Dawg

We would like to thank Rep. Evans for his hard work on this bill and wanted to share with you a quote from Jennifer Warsing Hampton, whose service dog was a victim of an attack by another dog. Her heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who helped to pass this bill: 

• the Humane PA Scorecard is now updated – reflecting Senate votes on HB 165
• the Exotics Bill, HB 1398 was re-referred to appropriations this week and will hopefully be up for a vote soon

Campaigns and Election update:

• the Humane PA Candidate Survey is now available for any candidate who seeks our endorsement for the fall election, please forward the link and have your candidate take the survey to be considered for endorsement

Breaking News:

• The Animal Rescue League of Berks County invited Humane PA to be part of their weekly tv show to let voters know how they can impact animal welfare legislation, check out the video here: ARL of Berks County

Welcome to our Furry Friday weekly update! Every Friday we provide updates on animal legislation, campaigns and elections, as well as noteworthy news and events. If you would like to receive this blog directly in your inbox, please click the “Follow” button on the right hand side of this page to stay up to date.

Legislative update:

• the legislature was on break this week, no animal bills passed
• legislature returns on Monday May 21st
• the Guide Dog bill  HB 165 – on the Senate calendar and ready for a possible vote when they reconvene, great blog by the Philly Dawg
• the Humane PA Scorecard is now updated – reflecting votes on the amendment to HB 2150 Rep. White offered for his Tax Credit for adopting a cat or dog from a shelter (HB 1765) that lost by only one vote

Campaigns and Election update:

• our humane candidates are kicking off their campaigns and have already begun asking not only for our volunteer support, but our financial support in order to win, a secret donor offered to match all donations this week. We’ve received a few donations, and because our secret donor is so impressed with our work that they have extended their match until Sunday evening and will triple any donations made – $5 becomes $15, $10 becomes $30, etc. Please help us continue our work to help elect humane legislators by donating today, no amount is too small
• the Humane PA Candidate Survey is now available for any candidate who seeks our endorsement for the fall election, please forward the link to your candidate to be considered for endorsement

Breaking News:

• junior lobbyist alert- Shippensburg area Girl Scouts advocate for animals with their Silver Award project “Animal Hope” - watch for an in-depth blog here on Sunday about their project

Welcome to our weekly updates! Every Friday we will provide updates on animal legislation, campaigns and elections, as well as noteworthy news and events. If you would like to receive this blog directly in your inbox, please click the “Follow” button on the right hand side of this page to stay up to date.

Legislative update:

• The Legislature is on break next week and will reconvene Monday May 21st
• No animal bills passed this week
• the Guide Dog bill  HB 165 – on the Senate calendar and ready for a vote when they reconvene
• the Humane PA Scorecard is now updated – reflecting votes on the amendment to HB 2150 Rep. White offered for his Tax Credit for adopting a cat or dog from a shelter (HB 1765)

Campaigns and Election update:

• the Humane PA Candidate Survey is now available for any candidate who seeks our endorsement for the fall election, please forward the link and have your candidate take the survey to be considered for endorsement

Breaking News:

• USDA issues new rules to target internet puppy sales, more info. at The Philly Dawg
• In York County – Spring Garden Township commissioners unanimously passed yet another anti-tethering ordinance which prohibits tying dogs outside 24/7

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Dog Law Enforcement Office is frequently referred to as “Dog Law”, but what is it?  According to PDA “The Dog Law Enforcement Office is responsible for ensuring the welfare of breeding dogs and puppies in commercial breeding kennels. The Office also regulates activities pertaining to dogs that are classified as dangerous, and oversees annual licensure and rabies vaccinations for dogs.”

PA used to be known as the “Puppy Mill Capitol of the East”, but in 2008 Gov. Rendell signed into law one of the strongest dog laws in the country. It was aimed at protecting dogs in commercial breeding kennels by providing them with more cage space, access to outdoor exercise areas, two yearly kennel inspections instead of one and mandatory veterinary checks.

When the law was passed Dog Law was the “Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement”, yet when the Corbett administration took over in 2011, the Bureau was changed to an “Office.” The Special Deputy Secretary for the Bureau, that Rendell had appointed back in 2006 was replaced last July by Lynn Diehl, a banker with no law enforcement experience. She supervises the Dog Wardens who make up the enforcement team, three of which are Kennel Compliance Specialists in charge of inspecting the commercial kennels. Since Diehl was hired more than 10 wardens have left and a top administrator was fired. Ideally there should be one warden for every county, but several wardens cover more than one county due to many leaving and none being replaced.

The Dog Law Advisory Board met for the first time in 16 months last Wednesday, the first time since Corbett took office. According to Diehl, only 17 of the 52 commercial kennels are in compliance with the new law and wardens still don’t have or aren’t using equipment necessary to check for proper ventilation in kennels.

In 2009 $4 million was removed from the Dog Law restricted fund to help bridge the budget deficit caused by the recession. These funds were a vital component in implementing the new regulations required by the new dog law and have never been replaced. Dog license sales along with kennel licenses help fund Dog Law. However, little is being done to promote the sale of dog licenses and many dog owners don’t know they need a dog license. By law, any dog 3 months of age and older must be licensed or face a $300 fine.

According to the 2011 Dog Law Annual Report it issued 2182 kennel licenses, down 64 from 2010, and 920,797 individual dog licenses, down 26, 759 from 2010. The 2011 Annual Report states:

Recommendations for 2012
The Dog Law Enforcement Office’s main focus for 2012 is to restore the solvency of the Dog Law Restricted Account. Enforcement of the dog law must be maintained and the increased sale of dog licenses is vital to financial future of the office.

However, with more than half of the commercial kennels still not in compliance, the new law is not being enforced and dogs are suffering. Numerous articles have been written in the last week about Dog Law and the lack of enforcement. We’ve listed several here along with a video clip from ABC27 news in Harrisburg.

What can you do to help dogs in PA’s commercial breeding kennels? Please contact your legislators and ask them to look into the lack of enforcement by the Dog Law Enforcement Office.

Pennsylvania dog law enforcement under fire, finally

Compliance and fiscal crises at dog law: Musings on fiery meeting

Who’s running PA’s dog law agency?

MLAR: PA Department of Agriculture Refuses to Enforce Laws Protecting PA’s Puppy Mill Dogs

Dog laws were made for a good reason … so let’s enforce them

Dog lovers fear Pa. slipping in kennel inspections – ABC27 WHTM2

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Humane voters took to the polls and helped deliver wins for 20 of our Humane PA Endorsed Candidates in Tuesday’s Primary election. Congratulations to all of our winners and a huge thank you to all of our members for voting for them!

We who care about the animal bills moving, or not moving, in the legislature cannot complain if we don’t vote. By voting we are giving a animals a voice in Harrisburg, so thank you all for speaking up loudly with your votes and getting our humane candidates on the ballot in November.

 A special thank you to all of the numerous volunteers who helped our candidates by working the polls, phone banking and door knocking. We could not have had so many successful wins without your tireless efforts. You are truly make a difference for animals in Pennsylvania by not only raising awareness, but building a base of humane voters who will make PA a more humane state for animals.

In honor of Volunteer Week, Humane PA would like to thank all of our many volunteers who take time out of their busy schedules to help build our organization and help to elect humane candidates – THANK YOU for all you do!

Our volunteers don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk! They have been busy going door-to-door canvassing for candidates, phone banking, putting up yard signs, attending fundraisers and donating money to help elect animal friendly candidates. As a non-partisan committee we have endorsed candidates from both parties. Some of our volunteers are so amazing, they have even switched their party registration in order to vote for a humane candidate in the Primary to help get them on the ballot in November!

Mary Kennedy Withrow from Pittsburgh is just one of our talented volunteers. She is busy sending e-mails, calling friends and making phone calls to inform voters of incumbent candidates’ voting records with regard to animal cruelty. Mary also says “I post comments to candidates’ Facebook pages thanking them for their voting records or ask them to please support our work to make Pennsylvania the most livable state for the beautiful animals that call PA home! I am also working the polls for John Maher and Mark Mustio all day long on Tuesday in various locations! AND – retweeting our tweets like crazy! #endcrueltyinpa.”

Charlotte Bloom Grimme, our Western PA Director works tirelessly building up our Facebook page and encouraging our members to get more involved in the political process. She has helped to build Facebook pages for Rep. Mark Mustio and Sarah Speed. She is hosting a phone bank on election day to help our candidates get out the vote in addition to working the polls for Rep. John Maher running for Auditor General and Rep. Mark Mustio running for Senate. Charlotte also had published a terrific letter to the Editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in support of Rep. Maher.

Melissa Hall is another one of our standout volunteers working for our candidates by posting on their Facebook pages, participating in the phone bank with Charlotte and helping Sarah Speed‘s campaign.

Humane PA President, Elissa Katz is busy campaigning and working the polls for candidates in the Philly area including Madeleine Dean who is running in the special election for State Representative of the 153rd District vacated by Josh Shapiro. Elissa is so dedicated to helping elect humane candidates that she met with Madeleine in person to discuss her position on humane issues and help educate her about the problems facing animals in PA “Just returned from meeting with Madeleine Dean, I was impressed by her knowledge, thoughtfulness, interest, and sincerity. We have a great opportunity to elect a terrific State Representative, so I hope that all my friends in the 153rd will make sure to get to the polls and vote for Madeleine Dean on 4/24!”

We have many more numerous ‘boots on the ground’ volunteers making a concerted effort to help get our endorsed candidates elected. THANK YOU ALL for your efforts and on to victory for our Humane PA Endorsed Candidates!

Would you like to become a volunteer with Humane PA? We have become the leader in Pennsylvania for information and awareness about animal legislation and electing humane candidates. If you would like to be more involved to help us help animals, please fill out the form below.

Our outreach efforts have turned our endorsements into a primary prize sought by many more candidates this election cycle, but who are the real winners? The animals. Sometimes people feel helpless that they can’t do more for animals that they see suffering en mass. Just by voting for humane candidates, your vote helps to give those animals not only a voice, but hope that one day we can end their suffering. By electing humane legislators we will get there much faster and be able to help more animals with better laws.

We hope to see all of our endorsed candidates win, but they need your votes to make that happen. A vote for a humane candidate is a vote for the animals.

What about the new Voter ID law? This law goes into effect beginning with the General election in November, not the Primary on April 24th. However, all newly registered voters are required to show ID if they are voting for the first time in the Primary. More information can be found on the VotesPA website.

Don’t know where your polling place is? You can find out where to vote here.

And most importantly – vote Humane PA!

You may think the important election in Pennsylvania is the general election in November. You would be wrong. Thanks to the endless cycle of partisan carving up of districts, the vast majority of elections are decided in primary elections, not in the general election.

While you hear a lot about challenges to the electoral maps between the parties, don’t think these fights are about making races fairer or more competitive. The intent of redistricting is to first ensure the biggest margin for the majority party- and both parties do this when they get the chance. The second intent, and the way in which the party in power gets the votes it needs from the minority party to pass these new districts, is to preserve the existing seats of current legislators.

If you looked at the recent court overturned redistricting effort, you’ll note that while it would have improved the chances for Republicans across the board (they are, after all the majority so it is their turn to rig the game), they very carefully strengthened the election chances of several Democrats by consolidating Democratic strongholds in certain areas. Why would the party in power do this? Because it plays to the desire to maintain incumbency. If they do it in a place the Democrat would likely have won anyway, they lose nothing.

Here is our list of Humane PA Endorsed Candidates for the PA Primary election on Tuesday April 24th. You may print this list and take it with you to the polls. *Please note the Primary is a closed election (see below) and we only endorse candidates in contested Primary races. Our full endorsement list will be available for the general election in November.

At Humane PA we take our endorsements very seriously. We had tough choices with many excellent candidates – we weighed previous records as well as their answers.  Greater weight was given to incumbents who have stood with us particularly on tough votes where they had opposition. If there is not an endorsed candidate in your district it means either there is no primary opponent, no one took the survey or they did not rate well. Many factors go into determining our endorsements including the following:

1.  Humane PA Candidate Survey
2. for incumbents their Humane PA Scorecard votes on animal bills
3. in  very close races a follow-up telephone interview

Our survey queried candidates on 4 pieces of pending animal legislation, to Lead, Support or Oppose said legislation, as well as a question about animals in their household. There were some excellent responses and if all of our endorsed candidates win, we should have a very animal friendly legislature. All responses were kept strictly confidential.

If your candidate is not on this list please contact them and let them know animal welfare legislation is important to you, their constituent, and should they win in the Primary and move on to the General Election, you hope they will complete our Humane PA Candidate Survey  to be considered for endorsement in November.

These are changing times and as evidenced by our following in social media – the “animal vote” is growing by leaps and bounds. We had some pretty incredible responses to our survey questions and we are finding that candidates who care about people, care just as much about animals. We will be profiling some of these candidates and sharing their stories in future blogs. We thank all of the candidates who took the time to complete our survey. Good luck to all of our Humane PA Endorsed Candidates!

*PA’s Primary is a ‘closed’ primary, meaning only persons registered for one of the two major political parties, Democrat or Republican, are eligible to vote for candidates running in that party. For example, if you are a registered Democrat you can only vote for candidates running as a Democrat, and if you are registered Republican you can only vote for candidates running as a Republican in the Primary. Essentially you are deciding your party’s candidate for the General Election in the fall.