Maryland End of Session
Action Needed: Contact Governor O’Malley and your state legislators to thank them for an outstanding year for animal protection in Maryland.
Maryland’s legislative session recently came to a close, but not before the General Assembly passed—and Governor O’Malley signed—five critical animal-protection bills into law!
Dog Bite Liability Compromise to Reverse Solesky Decision (S.B. 247/H.B. 73)
Sponsored by Senator Frosh and Delegate Simmons; establishes a breed-neutral law that is fair to dog owners, victims of dog bites and landlords.
Restrictions on Roadside Zoos (S.B. 827/H.B. 1124)
Sponsored by Senator Pugh and Delegate Luedtke; improves public safety and animal welfare at Maryland’s roadside zoos.
Devocalization Ban (S.B. 660/H.B. 667)
Sponsored by Senator Gladden and Delegate Kramer; prohibits “devocalization,” a painful surgery to remove dogs’ vocal cords, unless it is medically necessary.
Surgical Procedures Performed by Veterinarians Only (S.B. 659/H.B. 665)
Sponsored by Senator Gladden and Delegate Kramer; ensures that only licensed veterinarians can perform certain surgeries on dogs.
Reporting of Animal Cruelty to School Officials (H.B. 222)
Sponsored by Delegate Dumais; requires certain animal cruelty crimes committed by juveniles to be reported to school officials.Maryland is making great progress for animals, but there is still much work to be done. These bills didn’t quite make it over the finish line this year:
Costs of Care (H.B. 93)
Sponsored by Delegates Murphy and Waldstreicher; would have clarified that judges are allowed to order convicted animal abusers to reimburse animal control agencies for the costs of caring for seized animals.
The House and Senate passed different versions of this bill and couldn’t work out the differences. Thank your legislators for supporting this bill and urge them to return to this issue in 2015!
Prohibiting Local Breed-Specific Legislation (H.B. 422)
Sponsored by Delegate Hixson; would have prohibited a dog from being deemed dangerous based solely on breed and prohibit counties and municipalities from adopting breed bans in the future.
This bill did not receive a vote on the Senate floor and died when the Legislature adjourned.
What You Can Do
It is important for your elected leaders to be made aware of which issues are important to you and to let them know you’re watching how they vote on animal welfare bills. You can look up how your state legislators voted on the bills listed above by visiting the Maryland legislature’s website. (You can also email chloe.waterman@aspca.org for help finding this information.) If any of your legislators voted against any of the bills, please call them to politely express your disappointment. If any of yours legislator are listed as a supporter or a sponsor to any of these bills, it is critical that you call to thank them for their leadership! Find your legislators’ names and phone numbers here.
In addition, please use the form below to quickly email your state legislators thanking them for taking steps to protect Maryland’s animals by passing the five bills listed above. Our letter also urges them to address the costs of caring for seized animals issue when they return to Annapolis in 2015.
If you can, please also take a minute to contact Governor O’Malley’s office at (410) 974-3901 to thank him for signing these bills into law!
Thank you, Maryland!
6 comments:
I will not call O'Malleys office and thank him for anything.
They actually did something positive!
Too bad they can't do anything for the people.
Is this headline serious?
Are they referring to Baltimore city?
P.G. County?
All the while the homeless population here is skyrocketing!
The only thing I would ever thank O' Malley for signing would be his resignation
3:22....homeless people have avenues they can take to get help for themselves, IF they want help. They have voices, they can ask for help. Animals cannot speak for themselves, they are at the mercy of humans. Unfortunately, some humans enjoy mistreating innocent animals and even children.
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