From Responsible Pet Owners Alliance
Texas Outreach
April 8, 2015
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
nothing!" Edmund Burke
Responsible Pet Owners Alliance Texas Outreach has a great new logo with a
Texas theme -- a cowboy juggling a dog, cat, bird and ferret! Our logo
artist is Chris Maroney, who did the "collectible" River City Cluster of Dog
Shows t-shirts each year in the past. You may remember! You'll see it when
you check out our website:
www.rpoatexasoutreach.org for the 2015 Texas
Legislature information below. Gib Lewis, former House Speaker, is our
lobbyist once again this session. The Legislature adjourns June 1st, with
the governor having until June 22nd to sign or veto bills. Unfortunately
Rep. Senfronia Thompson has blocked our efforts for a bill to move the
misnamed 2011 "Puppy Mill" Bill administration under Texas Department of
Agriculture instead of Licensing & Regulation with her usual threats to
legislators. (More later on this.)
March 13th was the last day to file bills and we've had 25 animal bills to
analyze for positions. Thirteen bills are posted "For Information Only" if
you wish to read them, but we will "only" be monitoring a separate list of
12 Bills, including House and Senate. Four bills to support and eight bills
to oppose. Those bills link to a PDF file for printouts, with our position,
analysis, and bill text. You can send them to media and your personal
legislators easily. There is a very bad bill to establish a state "Animal
Welfare Commission" which would undoubtedly be an "Animal Rights Commission"
-- judging from past experience with the HSUS/Texas Humane Legislation
Network Dog and Cat Breeder Law.
You can find everything you ever wanted to know about the Capitol in Austin
on our website and we'll cover the bills in Action Alerts along the way.
RPOA has a very diverse membership of animal owners and I wish to thank all
of you who replied to my request for feedback on the bills! None of us is
as good as all of us! We'll send out action alerts for all committee
hearings but it's usually very short notice, so be prepared. Primarily RPOA
covers pet issues, not exotics, simply because of time constraints. But all
Texas animal ownership is under attack. There will be no official "RPOA
Lobby Day" at the Capitol this session because so many of our members are
employed and can't attend weekdays. However every day is "Lobby Day" for
RPOA! (More info on the website.)
http://www.rpoatexasoutreach.org/Legislature2015/Lobby_Day.htm HSUS, Texas
Humane Legislation Network and ASPCA held their joint Lobby Day as usual.
YOU'LL FIND LINKS ON THE WEBSITE TO:
RPOA Positions on 25 Animal Bills Filed, Lobby Day, Legislators Packet,
Dates of Interest, Suggested Dialogue, Find Your Legislator, House
Committees, Senate Committees, Available Parking; Maps for Capitol Complex,
Exhibit Space, Capitol Ext. Level E1 and E2 and all 4 Floors. Maps include
Cafeteria and Restroom locations. All of the links go to PDF Files for easy
printouts. Contact us anytime for more information at
rpoa@texas.net .
To subscribe to TX RPOA E-News, send a blank message to:
TX_RPOA_E-News-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To donate with PayPal or mail:
www.rpoatexasoutreach.org Mary Beth Duerler
Volunteer Executive Director
