Home » » LA Pet Evacuation Bill to be heard by Senate Finance Committee Monday. Immediate help is needed to get it past this hurdle!

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LA Pet Evacuation Bill to be heard by Senate Finance Committee Monday. Immediate help is needed to get it past this hurdle!

May 19, 2006, 12:0AM MT

By Michelle Buckalew

Article by Claire Davis

Article by Claire Davis

Photo: Best Friends CEO Paul Berry lifts dog to safety in the aftermath of Katrina. Photo by Tony Snow.

Immediate help is needed one more time to push through the progressive Louisiana Pet Evacuation Bill, which is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Finance Committee Monday afternoon.

Unprecedented grassroots support for the bill, SB 607, helped it to pass easily through the Senate Judicial Committee last month, but more help will be needed as it faces a tough hearing in front of the finance committee. That hearing will be made all the more difficult by the fact that the bill does not have a designated funding source, and an estimated budget has been prepared that grossly exaggerates actual costs.

“The bill is going to die, or not, on Monday, and if enough support is not shown by Monday, I fear it will not go any further than the finance committee,” says New Orleans resident Shannon Moore, founder of Save Our Pets, noting that the bill has gotten no support from the governor’s office as far as funding.

The bill will be heard in Louisiana Senate Committee Room E at the State Capitol in Baton Rouge, on Monday, May 22.

Backers of the bill ask supporters who can come to the hearing to do so. Although supporters will probably not be able to testify, their presence will remind the committee of the overwhelming public support backing this measure.

Those who cannot attend the hearing can still help support the bill by immediately phoning, emailing, and faxing the chairman of the finance committee, Senator Francis C. Heitmeier. Many other senators have indicated they will follow Heitmeier’s lead on how to proceed with the bill. (See contact information below story.)

Sponsored by Sen. Heulette “Clo” Fontenot (R-Livingston), SB 607 calls for the state Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness to develop emergency operation plans that provide for the humane evacuation and sheltering of pets.

These plans are to include the establishment of multiple “side-by-side” emergency shelters that would allow pets to be housed near their owners, as well as requiring that service animals always be evacuated along with people with disabilities, and that all other pets be evacuated along with their owners, whenever it can be accomplished without endangering human life.

The bill also requires that pets in carriers be allowed onto public transportation during time of emergency, or that separate transportation to shelters be provided. In addition, it mandates that the state establish an identification system that will ensure that owners are able to find their pets if they are separated from them during an evacuation.

A cost estimate prepared by the Legislative Fiscal Office puts a whopping $2.2 million per evacuation price tag on the legislation. With an estimate of seven evacuations per year, this sets the total yearly cost of the measure at $15.4 million. These figures are based on the assumption that approximately 10,000 animals will need to be sheltered for seven days during each evacuation, in shelters located in Shreveport, Monroe, Alexandria, Baton Rouge, and Lafayette.

A quick look at the fiscal note shows that those cost estimates are overblown, according to senate aide Cathy Wells, who drafted the measure. Wells says Laura Maloney, executive director of the Louisiana SPCA, took a look at the cost estimate and was able to make several significant reductions.

Best Friends Animal Society has also been asked to look at the fiscal note and see where cost savings could be made. “I think the costs are way overblown,” Moore says. “I don’t know how they can have such inflated figures, unless they really don’t want to do it, and this is a way to kill it.”

Even a quick look from a layman’s eye reveals some easy ways to cut the price. For example, $135,000 is budgeted per evacuation for veterinarian staffing to care for an estimated 10,000 animals over seven days. (Nearly $1 million for seven evacuations.) This budget item could be slashed if the state would reverse its previously announced policy to reject the help of out-of-state veterinarians during the next disaster – as hundreds of such veterinarians demonstrated during Katrina that they are willing to help at no charge.

As the fiscal estimate recognizes, Best Friends and other animal organizations have indicated their willingness to donate time and resources toward the plan. However, since no such agreements have been signed and finalized, the fiscal note assumes that all expenses for pet evacuations will be borne by the state – without contributions of time or money from private citizens and national organizations. Once again, the outpouring of public support during Katrina proves that Louisiana will not be forced to bear all these costs alone.

“Any time any kind of emergency strikes, the nonprofits jump up and hold up their end of it,” Moore says. She says she fears that the bill may not make it past the finance committee on Monday.

“I don’t think it will make it, and everyone was counting on it. It is the only way I can see that we can make sure that what happened during Katrina will never happen again. If it doesn’t pass, we’re going to end up right back where we were,” she says.

To read the fiscal note on the bill:
click here

To read the text of the bill:
click here

Want to help make sure the animal tragedy of Katrina is not repeated?
Then please attend the committee hearing in Baton Rouge if you can on Monday, and contact Sen. Francis C. Heitmeier immediately with faxes, emails and phone calls. Your voice has made a difference before, it can do so again. Tell Senator Heitmeier that this bill is important to Louisiana, and important as an example to the rest of the country.

Senator Francis C. Heitmeier (Finance Committee Chairman)
Phone 1: (504) 361-6014 (local office)
Phone 2: (225) 342-2040 (Senate switchboard)
Fax: (225) 342-0617 (Senate fax – please specify recipient)
Email: heitmeierf@legis.state.la.us

Louisiana State Capitol
State Capitol Drive
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70808
Tel: 225-342-7317

Louisiana State Legislature
Click Here

Comments

Posted May 19, 2006, 10:38PM by doggoneguy

I can easily believe the Governor doesn't care abit..see my other comments posted on recent prvious articles on this site...my email was given the old "rubber stamp" job by a lacky! WHO ELECTED THIS WOMAN GOV?

Posted May 20, 2006, 12:54AM by shannonginson

Please help us NOW.
By Monday it may be too late.

Our Government needs to know that the whole country IS watching and that if they don't pass the Pet Evacuation Bill they State of Louisiana will look like complete idiots and they will end up having to spend the money to go in after a diaster anyway if they do not pass this bill.

Please fax, email and call everyone that you can.

We just cannot go through this ever again.

Thank You, Shannon

Posted May 21, 2006, 1:19AM by shannonginson

It amazes me that the government of Louisiana does not have more faith and gratitude towards the non-profits that went beyond the call for help after the hurricanes.

It is past time to give credit and faith where it is due.

Posted May 19, 2006, 10:56PM by doggoneguy

Once again into the breech,men (and women)!
Here is my letter to the Senator sent a few minutes ago...please JOIN me . Cut and Paste if you Like!

Subject: Pet Evac Bill 607
To: heitmeierf@legis.state.la.us

Dear Senator,

It is with utmost seriousness that we implore you to fund the Pet Evac Bill607.

As a member of Best Friends Animal Society for over 15 years, a grass roots organization with over 250,000 members that was responsible for the rescue of over 4,200 of the animals in New Orleans, post Katrina, I remind you that this tragedy can HAPPEN AGAIN ! Over 80,000 animals PERISHED due to the incompetence of government at all levels during Katrina. I ask you if YOU want this on YOUR concience the next time a hurricane strikes the state ?! In addition Hundreds of people died because they refused to leave their beloved pets behind.

FUND IT !!!

THE WHOLE COUNTRY IS WATCHING YOU !

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