2009 Legislative Session Report
Jump to the summary of bills
THLN-Supported Bills:
HB 853 - A bill to include companion animals in domestic violence protective orders - Failed
HB 1320 - A bill to strengthen existing cockfighting laws - Failed
HB 3180 - A bill to regulate puppy mills and pet sales - Failed
HB 3713 - A bill to make technical changes to assist animal control departments in euthanizing animals by allowing them to handle controlled drugs used for sedating animals prior to euthanasia - Failed
SB 554 /HB 1147 - A bill to allow dog fighting to be classified as organized crime and additionally allows for the forfeiture of all property including cash, vehicles, etc. associated with dog fighting - Passed
SB 634 - A bill relating to the unlawful restraint of a dog - Failed
SB 1845 - A bill relating to the sterilization of dogs and cats; providing a penalty - Failed
Bills/Amendments Opposed by THLN:
HB 836 - A bill relating to sport hunting of feral hogs by helicopter - Failed
HB 1500 - A bill that would allow hunting, trapping and capture of reptiles, amphibians and insects from public roads or right of ways - Failed
HB 3117 - A bill relating to the possession, custody, or control of a bobcat, cougar, or coyote - Failed
SB 408 (amendment) amends the current civil seizure statute to give the animal owner an appeal from the justice court order dispossessing the owner of ownership in the animal - Passed (HB1046 was the original bill in the House where it failed, but the language of 1046 was attached to SB 408 as an amendment - which passed)
Horse Slaughter: Our lobbyists monitored legislation throughout the session to guard against any attempts to legalize horse slaughter for human consumption. The current ban will remain upheld.
Final Results:
This year's legislative session was a devastating loss for Texas animals and the animal welfare community. Good animal protection bills were killed -- not because they lacked merit and support -- but because they fell victim to House and Senate trade-offs and bill sabotage that served neither the interest of the decent people of this state nor the animals.
To this end, the puppy millers and the cockfighters, who shared the same legislative counsel, are savoring their joint victories as the clear winners of the 2009 Legislative session.
The losers? The dogs and cats who will continue to languish in the cruel and squalid conditions of mass breeding facilities and the gamecocks that will continue to be flayed to death with razor sharp steel blades in staged bloodsport events throughout the state.
The profiteers of such cruelty portray themselves as "pet lovers" and "game fowl raisers" to the media and the outside world, but it is by their actions and not their words that they will come to be known.
We will rebound from our defeats and begin our work anew, strengthened by the knowledge that there are more of us who oppose puppy mill cruelty and staged animal fighting than there are those who make their living from these reprehensible industries.
We will regroup, continue to increase our numbers statewide, strengthen our political relationships with our legislators - and be ready to work even harder and more effectively in the 82nd Legislative Session.
We have some exciting events in the planning stages for the months ahead to engage our newly formed regional chapters and to help raise public awareness about THLN and our fight against animal cruelty.
Thank you for ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK this session and please know that your local efforts helped win the support of many of your legislators. Both the puppy mill and the cockfighting bills passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming support, which was no easy feat.
Many good bills take more than one session to be successful, so let's build on the groundwork we've laid and move ahead.
House Bills
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Bill No. HB 243
Sponsor(s): Alonzo - District 104
Summary: “Relating to equipping each K-9 law enforcement vehicle with a heat alarm system.”
Analysis: Public Safety: This bill requires each K-9 law enforcement vehicle to be equipped with a heat alarm system.
THLN supports this Bill
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. HB 375
Sponsor(s): S. Miller - District 59
Summary: “Relating to classifying farm elk as livestock under the Agriculture Code.”
Analysis: Agriculture & Livestock: This bill would allow elk to be captured, bred and slaughtered like cattle and also allow canned hunts. THLN opposes this Bill.
Final Status: PASSED
Effective Date: 5.27.09
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Bill No. HB 435
Sponsor(s): Lucio III - District 38
Summary: “Relating to the penalty for theft of a pet.”
Analysis: Criminal Jurisprudence: This bill makes the penalty for theft of a pet a state jail felony. THLN supports this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. HB 455
Sponsor(s): Leibowitz - District 117
Summary: “Relating to creating an offense for the trapping of wild deer by a deer breeder and to the civil and criminal consequences of engaging in certain conduct associated with deer breeding; providing penalties.”
Analysis: Culture, Recreation & Tourism: This bill creates an offense for the trapping of wild deer by a deer breeder. THLN supports this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. HB 836
Sponsor(s): Laubenberg - District 89
Summary: “Relating to sport hunting of feral hogs by helicopter.”
Analysis: This bill allows sport hunting of feral hogs from a helicopter. THLN is opposed to this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. HB 853
Sponsor(s): Laubenberg - District 89
Summary: COMPANION TO SB 1840 - “Relating to inclusion of pets and other companion animals in protective orders; providing a penalty.”
Analysis: This bill will allow courts to protect companion animals in domestic abuse situations. THLN supports this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. HB 1046
Sponsor(s): Homer - District 3
Summary: “Relating to the appeals process in the disposition of cruelly treated animals.” - Update: HB 1046 (which would have allowed appeals in civil seizure cases) is dead. This is a huge victory for the animals.
Analysis: This bill will open up the appeal process for owners who have been found to have cruelly treated their animals. This will allow them to draw out the proceedings and will be a detriment to getting law enforcement to seize cruelly treated animals. This is a very bad bill and THLN strongly opposes it. UPDATE: Although HB1046 was the original bill in the House where it failed, the language of 1046 was attached to SB 408 as an amendment – which passed.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. HB 1147
Sponsor(s): Frost - District 1
Summary: COMPANION BILL TO SB 554 - “Relating to conduct constituting the offense of dog fighting and to the criminal and civil consequences of committing that offense.”
Analysis: This bill allows dog fighting to be classified as organized crime and additionally allows for the forfeiture of all property including cash, vehicles, etc. associated with dog fighting. THLN supports this Bill.
Final Status: PASSED
Effective Date: 6.01.09
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Bill No. HB 1320
Sponsor(s): Christian - District 9
Summary: COMPANION TO SB 2282 - “Relating to the creation of offenses relating to cockfighting and to the forfeiture of cockfighting equipment.” - Update: HB 1320 has passed the House and is now in the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice. Our Senate sponsor is Senator Rodney Ellis. We hope to have a Committee hearing on this bill soon.
Analysis: This bill would outlaw certain cockfighting support activities, such as owning or operating a facility for cockfighting, owning cockfighting equipment, owning or training a cock to fight, or attending a cockfight. It would also cause these activities to be classified as a criminal conspiracy and allow the seizure of cockfighting equipment as contraband. This is a THLN sponsored bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. HB 1472
Sponsor(s): Jones - District 83
Summary: “Relating to the offense of cruelty to non-livestock animals.” - Update: HB 1472 (which allows a person to kill a dog if the dog is "harassing" his animals) passed the House despite our efforts to defeat it. We will continue to try to defeat this bill in the Senate and will no doubt be asking for your help in that regard.
Analysis: This bill expands the existing defense to prosecution for persons who kill or injure a dog that is injuring or killing their livestock. This expands that defense to a dog that is "harassing" their livestock. Harassing is so subjective that this would create an open defense for killing dogs in the country. THLN opposes this Bill.
Final Status: PASSED
Effective Date: 6.01.09
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Bill No. HB 1500
Sponsor(s): T. King - District 80
Summary: “Relating to certain exceptions to the prohibition on hunting from a public road or right-of-way.”
Analysis: This bill will allow the hunting, trapping and capture of reptiles, amphibians and insects from public roads or right of ways. If passed, it will make it very difficult for game wardens to cite hunters from hunting from the roads since they can claim they were hunting reptiles, amphibians or insects. THLN opposes this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. HB 1562
Sponsor(s): Aycock - District 54
Summary: “Relating to the confidentiality of investigation records of the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners and clarification of the regulatory authority of the board.“
Analysis: Currently all investigation records of the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners are confidential and not available for inspection. This bill makes certain exceptions to allow the complainant to see the veterinarian’s response, to allow the board to share information discovered during the investigation with other governmental agencies and to publish the results and summary of the facts of the offense. THLN supports this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. HB 1595
Sponsor(s): Tracy O. King - District 80
Summary: “Relating to a documented member of the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas hunting certain deer.“
Analysis: This bill would allow year round hunting of deer by Kickapoo Indians - in other words, there would be no hunting season for deer by this tribe. THLN opposes this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. HB 1701
Sponsor(s): Laubenber & /Eissler - Districts 89 & 15
Summary: “Relating to the regulation of certain activities on a public highway or road, the right-of-way of a public highway or road, or a parking lot.”
Analysis: This bill would allow all counties to regulate the sale of animals from public roads or rights of way or parking lots. Currently this is possible only in counties with a population of more than 1.3 million. This bill would make it applicable to all counties. THLN supports this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. HB 1982
Sponsor(s): Martinez Fischer - District 116
Summary: “Relating to the regulation of dangerous and vicious dogs; providing penalties.”
Analysis: This bill creates changes to the dangerous dog statute to create a new category of dog called a “vicious dog”. It effectively allows a dog to be declared “vicious” and have all of the same requirement for its owner that a dangerous dog has. The difference is that a vicious dog can be determined without any type of aggressive action of bite. THLN opposes this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. HB 2001
Sponsor(s): McCall - District 66
Summary: “Relating to the unlawful restraint of a dog.”
Analysis: COMPANION TO SB 634 - This bill strengthens the anti-tethering law that was passed last session. There are many loopholes in the current tethering law and this bill closes those loopholes and makes it unlawful to restrain a dog unless the owner is present. It also requires for proper housing of dogs kept outdoors. THLN supports this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. HB 3117
Sponsor(s): Homer - District 3
Summary: “Relating to the possession, custody, or control of a cougar, bobcat, or coyote.”
Analysis: This bill would exempt from regulation under the Dangerous Wild Animal Act trappers who trap cougars, bobcats or coyotes from under a depredation program or to produce urine pest repellants. THLN opposes this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. HB 3180
Sponsor(s): Thompson - District 141
Summary: COMPANION TO SB 1910 - “Relating to the licensing and regulation of commercial dog and cat breeders and the regulation of dog and cat dealers; providing penalties.” - Update: HB 3180 has passed the House and is now going to the Senate. The House version was amended with two amendments that weakened the bill. We will work to correct those in the Senate and will be contacting you with action alerts for Senate action as needed.
Analysis: This is a THLN sponsored bill that would require the licensing and regulation of puppy mills and would also provide a puppy and kitten lemon law to provide consumers with remedies for defective dogs and cats. THLN actively supports this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. HB 3713
Sponsor(s): Bolton - District 47
Summary: “Relating to the possession or distribution of certain controlled substances by certain persons for purposes of a humane society or animal control agency.”
Analysis: This bill was requested by the Texas Animal Control Association to allow them to use Ketamine and Telazol to sedate animals prior to euthanasia. THLN supports this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. HB 4277
Sponsor(s): Menendez - District 124
Summary: COMPANION TO SB1845 - “Relating to the sterilization of dogs and cats; providing a penalty.”
Analysis: This bill would require all animals leaving animal shelters to be sterilized and would also require owners of unsterilized animals to purchase an intact animal permit from their local animal control authority. THLN supports this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Senate Bills
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Bill No. SB 408
Summary: “Relating to the appeals process in the disposition of cruelly treated animals.”
Analysis: SB 408 (amendment) amends the current civil seizure statute to give the animal owner an appeal from the justice court order dispossessing the owner of ownership in the animal - Passed (HB1046 was the original bill in the House where it failed, but the language of 1046 was attached to SB 408 as an amendment – which passed)
Final Status: PASSED
Effective Date: 6.03.09
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Bill No. SB 554
Sponsor(s): Whitmire - District 15
Summary: COMPANION TO HB 1147 - “Relating to conduct constituting the offense of dog fighting and to the criminal and civil consequences of committing that offense.”
Analysis: This bill allows dog fighting to be classified as organized crime and additionally allows for the forfeiture of all property including cash, vehicles, etc. associated with dog fighting. THLN supports this Bill.
Final Status: PASSED
Effective Date: 5.22.09
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Bill No. SB 634
Sponsor(s): Seliger - District 31
Summary: “Relating to the unlawful restraint of a dog.”
Analysis: COMPANION TO HB 2001 - This bill strengthens the anti-tethering law that was passed last session. There are many loopholes in the current tethering law and this bill closes those loopholes and makes it unlawful to restrain a dog unless the owner is present. It also requires for proper housing of dogs kept outdoors. THLN supports this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. SB 1262
Sponsor(s): Uresti - District 19
Summary: COMPANION TO HB 1595 - “Relating to a documented member of the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas hunting certain deer.“
Analysis: This bill would allow year round hunting of deer by Kickapoo Indians - in other words, there would be no hunting season for deer by this tribe. THLN is opposed to this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. SB 1840
Sponsor(s): Uresti - District 19
Summary: COMPANION TO HB 853 - “Relating to inclusion of pets and other companion animals in protective orders; providing a penalty.”
Analysis: This bill will allow courts to protect companion animals in domestic abuse situations. THLN supports this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. SB 1845
Sponsor(s): Van de Putte - District 26
Summary: COMPANION TO HB 4277 - “Relating to the sterilization of dogs and cats; providing a penalty.”
Analysis: This bill would require all animals leaving animal shelters to be sterilized and would also require owners of unsterilized animals to purchase an intact animal permit from their local animal control authority. THLN supports this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. SB 1910
Sponsor(s): Whitmire - District 15
Summary: COMPANION TO HB 3180 - Relating to the licensing and regulation of commercial dog and cat breeders and the regulation of dog and cat dealers; providing penalties.
Analysis: This is a THLN sponsored bill that would require the licensing and regulation of puppy mills and would also provide a puppy and kitten lemon law to provide consumers with remedies for defective dogs and cats. THLN supports this Bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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Bill No. SB 2282
Sponsor(s): Ellis - District 13
Summary: COMPANION TO HB 1320 - “Relating to creating an offense for engaging in certain conduct relating to cockfighting and to the criminal and civil consequences of committing that offense.”
Analysis: This bill would outlaw certain cockfighting support activities, such as owning or operating a facility for cockfighting, owning cockfighting equipment, owning or training a cock to fight, or attending a cockfight. It would also cause these activities to be classified as a criminal conspiracy and allow the seizure of cockfighting equipment as contraband. This is a THLN sponsored bill.
Final Status: FAILED
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House Joint Resolutions
THLN would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to all of our legislative volunteers who worked so hard this session and responded so well to our action alert requests. We can assure you that when we asked for your responses they were heard in Austin - loud and clear!
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