Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Animal Cruelty

The long awaited legislation making first offense cruelty to animals a felony will be voted on in just a few moments. Although I predict 75-80 yeas today, I also predicted the Patriots would win last years Super Bowl. You never know. I'd be surprised if it doesn't generate some debate, but I don't see any major roadblocks.

I expect we should get Rep. Sample's immigration bill in Judiciary next week, and other than the cigarette tax, nothing has produced quite as much e-mail as this issue. I'm looking for lively and passionate debate on this one.

Also, we will be getting a bill related to concealed handguns. The bill, filed by Rep. Beverly Pyle (R)-Cedarville, allows you to carry a concealed weapon into church while attending services. I'm sure everyone recalls the tragedy in Tennessee last year, and I suppose this is a reaction to that event. I'm not sure where I stand on this, and there should be some interesting back and forth here too.

The vote is in, and and with 88 yeas, 9 nays and 1 present, animal cruelty will be a first offense felony once the Governor affixes his signature. Congratulations to the Attorney General, Senator Madison, Rep. Adcock and all those who had a hand in getting this important legislation passed.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is wonderful news,...but what about the horse-slaughter plant some AR legislators want to build in their state? On one hand there is good work being done in the AR legislature for the animals,....but on the other side of the legislative fence, there are those bloodthirsty, money-hungry callous non-caring individuals (politicians) that are proposing to build a horse slaughter plant in Ar. PLEASE DO NOT let this happen. There will be hell to pay, for sure! Americans DO NOT want American horses slaughtered, for any reason. Slaughter is reserved for food animals only and of course, the horse is not a food animal in the good ole USA.