PA House bill 1398

Pennsylvania residents, beware. A sleeper bill has been moving through the legislature that is going to outlaw nearly all reptiles.

On April 27, 2011, Representatives Edward G. Staback (D), Thomas R. Caltagirone (R), Mark B. Cohen (D), John R. Evans (R), Patrick J. Harkins (D), John D. Hornaman (D), Babette Josephs (D), Sid Michaels Kavulich (D), William F. Keller (D), Thaddeus Kirkland (D), Thomas P. Murt (R), Bernie O’Neill (R), Ken Smith (D), John Taylor (R), Mike Carroll (D) and Jennifer L. Mann (D) introduced Pennsylvania House Bill 1398.

HB 1398 will operate as a ban on all species of reptiles as well as many other species of animals. It is strongly supported by the Humane Society of the United States.

HB 1398 defines as “Exotic Wildlife” (but is not limited to) all of the following: all bears, coyotes, lions, tigers, leopards (including snow leopards and clouded leopards), jaguars, cheetahs, cougars, wolves, nonhuman primates and any crossbreed of the afore mentioned which have “similar characteristics in appearance or features.”

The definition also includes “all nonindigenous animals.”

Birds, horses, zebras, donkeys, camels, alpacas, llamas, deer, moose, elk, wild cattle, spiral horned antelope, rats, mice, chinchillas, viscachas rabbits, hares, hedgehogs, moonrats, gliders, striped possums, guinea pigs, and domestic animals as defined in the Pennsylvania animal cruelty statute are exempted from the definition.

Any person in possession of “Exotic Wildlife” will be required to have a permit. Any person that imports, possesses, buys, sells, locates or finds for a fee, barters, donates, gives away at least five “Exotic Wildlife” animals shall be considered an “Exotic Wildlife Dealer.”

No new possession permits will be issued after January 1, 2013. Only renewals of possession permits issued before December 31, 2012 will be issued after that date. Propagation permits shall be permissible under the existing Code, 34 Pa.C.S. § 2930. However, since no one in the state will be able to obtain a possession permit after January 1, 2013, having a propagation permit seems rather pointless.

The United States Association of Reptile Keepers (USARK) took early and swift action against HB 1398 in 2011 and had been assured that HB 1398 was tabled. This was not the case. After its April introduction, HB 1398 was amended on May 25, 2011. It passed out of the Pennsylvania House unnoticed on January 24, 2012. It was referred to the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee on February 21, 2012. It passed out of Committee on March 28, 2012 (the day after the Ohio Senate held Committee hearings on SB 310 until after 6:00 p.m.) and was first considered on the Pennsylvania Senate floor on the same day.

HB 1398 needs only two more considerations before the Senate before a vote is taken. The next two considerations must be before the full Senate. (To learn how a bill becomes a law in Pennsylvania, click here.) If it passes in the Senate, it will go before Governor Corbett who can sign HB 1398 into law. The Pennsylvania legislature reconvenes on April 30, 2012.

HB 1398 is vague, over broad, burdensome and will divest Pennsylvania residents of the right to own reptiles and other animals. It is a total ban.

It is imperative that Pennsylvania residents make their opposition to HB 1398 known. To find out who your senator is, please click here. A full list of email addresses for Pennsylvania senators can be found here.

USARK will be in Pennsylvania when the session resumes in April to protect your rights to keep your reptiles. Join us by contacting your legislators and voicing your opposition to HB 1398.
http://erikanwalsh.wordpress.com/201...xotic-animals/

This bill is really scary. It would make it a misdemeanor to have tropical fish in your household fish tank. Anything that isn't native to the state of PA would be banned except for the very few animals given specific exemptions.

I am truly amazed that the bill will make gliders and hedgehogs illegal since the PA Fish & Gaming commission have been adamantly opposed to making them legal here. Yet here a bill does that while simultaneously outlawing all non-native reptiles!? :tears:

Just so everyone is aware of the level of absurdity we're dealing with... there are labor laws for horses in Pennsylvania...

(f) Hours of labor of animals.--A person commits a summary offense if he leads, drives, rides or works or causes or permits any other person to lead, drive, ride or work any horse, mare, mule, ox, or any other animal, whether belonging to himself or in his possession or control, for more than 15 hours in any 24 hour period, or more than 90 hours in any one week.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Trogdorpheus

Just so everyone is aware of the level of absurdity we're dealing with... there are labor laws for horses in Pennsylvania...

(f) Hours of labor of animals.--A person commits a summary offense if he leads, drives, rides or works or causes or permits any other person to lead, drive, ride or work any horse, mare, mule, ox, or any other animal, whether belonging to himself or in his possession or control, for more than 15 hours in any 24 hour period, or more than 90 hours in any one week.

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IIRC That's because of the Amish, some of whom at one time were literally overdriving horses to exhaustion & then beating them to death in the streets, in public, in front of people. So the non-Amish middleclass pressed their politicians to do something about it and that law [or I might be thinking of a different one?] was the result.

The current push for "puppy mill" laws in PA is also because of views the public in PA have of the way the Amish breed & care for dogs [whether these public perceptions are accurate are a whole different thread].

I got a response from Senator Jay Costa (D-Allegany) today.

The response reveals, and I would argue is proof-positive that the law will in fact ban everything not native to the state of PA [except for the animals given specific exclusions in the bill, such as cows, cats, dogs, etc].

Quote:

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Dear Ms. Gath:

Thank you for contacting me to relate your concerns about House Bill 1398, which would prohibit Pennsylvanians from keeping certain exotic animals as pets. I appreciate your interest in this matter and I understand your concerns about this bill.

As you are likely aware, House Bill 1398 has passed the House and the Senate Committee on Game and Fisheries and was considered by the Senate for the first of three times on March 28, 2012. I expect that this bill will next be considered by the Senate Appropriations Committee, as most bills are. In light of recent events and a substantial amount of anecdotal evidence that keeping these animals as pets is an ill-conceived idea, I agree that it is appropriate for the Commonwealth to evaluate its policy on these pets. I will keep your concerns about this bill in mind, however, as it moves through the legislative process.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me about this matter. Please feel free to contact me if I can assist you in any way.

Sincerely yours,

Senator Jay Costa, Jr.

43rd District

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So in other words, because of Zanesville they want to ban ALL non-native species from captivity in the state of PA. Including all reptiles, amphibians, spiders and all fish. That's right, you'd be liable to fines or prison for keeping a betta.

This was my response. We shall see if I am given a reply:

Quote:

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Senator Costa,

By "keeping these animals as pets is an ill-conceived idea" do you really mean to include under the scope of this bill tropical fish kept in household fishtanks, frogs, tarantula spiders kept as pets by school children, and small turtles & lizards?

Because HB1398 will ban everything except the specific animals given specific exemptions in the bill, this will be a defacto ban of all amphibians, reptiles, spiders, and fish. Not just the animals you believe to be dangerous.

Your citizen,

S. Gath

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Wrong.....HB1398 is set up to regulate and tighten laws on "wild mammals" only....the Game Comm. of PA has no territory on reptiles....I spent time on the phone today with the liaison for the Game Comm. and he told me that they met with "Pet Smart" when this bill was still in its first step to let them know it would not affect they way they operate their business....

Reptiles are controlled by the Fish and Boat Comm. of PA and they are the only ones that can change laws to regulate ownership. Now when I spoke to her, the liaison for Fish and Boat, there are House Bills that are in the process of going to Step 1 to regulate the ownership of Venomous and Crocs/alligators but not regular reptiles such as boids/pythons and lizards.
It takes a Bill 7 steps to pass into law and there are quite a few that have been written up but never even made it to Step 1.
Travis
Lair of Dragons

correct me if I am wrong but they want to pass laws against
"The definition also includes “all nonindigenous animals.”

Birds, horses, zebras, donkeys, camels, alpacas, llamas, deer, moose, elk, wild cattle, spiral horned antelope, rats, mice, chinchillas, viscachas rabbits, hares, hedgehogs, moonrats, gliders, striped possums, guinea pigs, and domestic animals as defined in the Pennsylvania animal cruelty statute are exempted from the definition. "

that seems pretty darn drastic to me for a state that freely allows people to own just about every and anything under the sun at this current point in time. Heck I know that at the hamburg reptile show, they sell tons of hots and I dont recall their being a need for a permit in that state.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lair of Dragons

Wrong.....HB1398 is set up to regulate and tighten laws on "wild mammals" only....the Game Comm. of PA has no territory on reptiles....I spent time on the phone today with the liaison for the Game Comm. and he told me that they met with "Pet Smart" when this bill was still in its first step to let them know it would not affect they way they operate their business....

Reptiles are controlled by the Fish and Boat Comm. of PA and they are the only ones that can change laws to regulate ownership. Now when I spoke to her, the liaison for Fish and Boat, there are House Bills that are in the process of going to Step 1 to regulate the ownership of Venomous and Crocs/alligators but not regular reptiles such as boids/pythons and lizards.
It takes a Bill 7 steps to pass into law and there are quite a few that have been written up but never even made it to Step 1.
Travis
Lair of Dragons

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Sen Costa disagrees with you. My reason for contacting him to begin with, was to point out that the [possibly intentionally] vague wording of the bill would amount to a ban on all non-native reptiles after 2013.

His response was what I posted to this thread: That exotic animals are dangerous, and that he supports this proposed law.

He did not say "This won't effect reptiles" instead he said "We need to ban exotics"

I cannot say whether this bill could ban reptiles, amphibians, and fish that aren't native to PA but the state senators & representatives in favor of the bill certainly believe & intend that it will.

USARK has been saying on facebook that the wording of this bill has the potential to be as bad as I am saying/worrying about here. It will/can be a backdoor route to banning just about everything.

Btw, in the original post in this thread it shows that the supporters of this bill have already been caught lying to people:

Quote:

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The United States Association of Reptile Keepers (USARK) took early and swift action against HB 1398 in 2011 and had been assured that HB 1398 was tabled. This was not the case. After its April introduction, HB 1398 was amended on May 25, 2011. It passed out of the Pennsylvania House unnoticed on January 24, 2012. It was referred to the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee on February 21, 2012. It passed out of Committee on March 28, 2012 (the day after the Ohio Senate held Committee hearings on SB 310 until after 6:00 p.m.) and was first considered on the Pennsylvania Senate floor on the same day.

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Did you notice this part? They told USARK that they were going to table the bill, only to sneak it in and pass it later while USARK would be distracted by Ohio.

If they lied to them, they can/might lie to Petsmart. Their assurances are not legally binding and are worth nothing if this bill is used in the manner I fear.

The PA Game Comm does not have the authority to pass or implement laws that pertain to reptiles...that honor belongs PA Fish and Boat Comm.
HB1398 is only drawn up to "tighten regs on wild mammals"
As I stated before it takes a bill 7 Steps to pass into law....this bill is on its way to Step 4.
If you like you can call/text me and I will give you the contact info for the liaison for the Game Comm. that will tell you it has nothing to do with Reptiles....not their Dept.
Travis
717-608-7424
Lair of Dragons