Watch the HR669 Hearing LIVE from your PC!

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Originally Posted by Laooda

If I understood correctly, they are going to review all notes and testimonies... they are welcoming advice and suggestions from both sides... can't remember the time frame on the deliberation.

Someone confirm: was it mentioned that this is only geared towards non-native INVASIVE animals? And what's the definition of that?

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I believe this was geared towards determining WHICH non-native speces ARE invasive and so should be on their black list. I also got the impression that they weren't so much worried about species already in this country, but more about species which could be imported at a later date?

I didn't get a chance to see the whole thing because I started watching at home but then had to drive in to work and pick it up again once I got to work. Will there be a chance to see the whole thing? Are these hearings recorded and archived?

Since Adam was sitting at the table, i'm sure he will have some more info for us later today.

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Originally Posted by RoyalGuardian

I so totally wanted to punch dude that said that he didn't have the correct statistic for the dollar value of the pet industry and that most of it was dog and cat. Good job you simple minded moron. We are trying to learn about the money value of the non native species trade and all you can come up with is " I haven't looked.. all I can vouch for is the dog and cat food industry." THATS TOTALLY BESIDES THE POINT!!!!!! These people don't care one lick about anything about the actual issue if they won't even do a small amount of research on both sides.. I AM SO MAD!!!! I can't believe those idiots would go straight from Pythons to tigers and big cats!!!! OMG.. Yes I can see where these old people would feel that there is a problem but most of the species he mentioned was NOT a part of the pet industry at all! Zebra mussels and apple snails were NEVER pets to begin with. I want to beat these idiots over the head with a blunt object screaming MY BALL PYTHONS ARE NOT DANGEROUS!!!!!

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Actually he said it was 43 billion for both Cat/dogs AND the non native species.

Not that 43 billion was just for Cats and Dogs

So he said it was a couple billion for our stuff.

laooda - yes they put on record that this was just for invasive species. But as the pijac guy was trying to say (heres my example) A giant python that is invasive in florida doesnt mean its going to be invasive in colorado. Everyone speaking today thought the bill would be good just rewritten. But they are going to charge you to get a permit and then decide wheter the animal you want is invasive or not. Pretty much all exotics could live in florida if released so does that mean everyone in the other 49 states is going to be subjected to that it could be invasive becuase they could live in florida. Remember the second guy said he would like it to only contain a 10 percent risk factor!

Another thing that was upsetting.

The woman from California was the one that asked, will they take your pets. Answer: NO.
It isn't such a cut and dry answer as such!

Later they went on to say, for those who own these potentially black listed animals, can they transport them: NO, but we are willing to review a permit.

How is that not at odds with the first answer?

Woman from cali: Will this bill target all non natives: No, just the invasive ones.

However, they did say that (dr. science dude) that any animal that is potentially at risk can be black listed. How is that answer not at odds with the first???

Grr...

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Originally Posted by MarkS

I believe this was geared towards determining WHICH non-native speces ARE invasive and so should be on their black list. I also got the impression that they weren't so much worried about species already in this country, but more about species which could be imported at a later date?

I didn't get a chance to see the whole thing because I started watching at home but then had to drive in to work and pick it up again once I got to work. Will there be a chance to see the whole thing? Are these hearings recorded and archived?

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Yes, it will remain open for 10 days.

So will they re-write this bill, or move on to a full commitee hearing, guess I need to start printing more letters.

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Originally Posted by ScottyBoa

I got the email from USARK saying they think the sub-committee will pass it and it'll get killed in the full committee. If it does pass today do not despair, it still has many hurdles it'll have to get over and we're going to make sure they are too high.

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I think if it passes this committee, it's a done deal.

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Originally Posted by grammie

I think if it passes this committee, it's a done deal.

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Where is school house rocks when we need it? Bills go through a long tough process before they are passed. So truly, lets not call defeat just yet.... ;)

Watching that display was pretty rough. I missed the first half, but I saw a lot of the wrong questions being asked, and a lot of bogus and contradictory answers being given, like Connie said. And I still don't understand why a representative from Samoa cares about any of this when it's already illegal to bring any animal into Samoa.

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Originally Posted by PythonWallace

Watching that display was pretty rough. I missed the first half, but I saw a lot of the wrong questions being asked, and a lot of bogus and contradictory answers being given, like Connie said. And I still don't understand why a representative from Samoa cares about any of this when it's already illegal to bring any animal into Samoa.

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Samoa was clearly against the bill as written, and I think it was a GOOD thing he was allowed to speak up during.

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Another thing that was upsetting.

The woman from California was the one that asked, will they take your pets. Answer: NO.
It isn't such a cut and dry answer as such!

Later they went on to say, for those who own these potentially black listed animals, can they transport them: NO, but we are willing to review a permit.

How is that not at odds with the first answer?

Woman from cali: Will this bill target all non natives: No, just the invasive ones.

However, they did say that (dr. science dude) that any animal that is potentially at risk can be black listed. How is that answer not at odds with the first???

Grr...

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Seriously!!!

They didnt ask the RIGHT questions! Just questions for people that arent concerned with the business/breeding aspect of this hobby. Can your pets be taken from you? No... but with the wording of the bill you cant travel with them. Thanks... but no thanks...

Whos going to pay for the research of this stuff? what about the implementation of a FEDERAL permit system? How much is THAT going to cost? and why do we need MORE insanely high paying federal jobs???( might be a bit of an over exaggeration there :) ) That.. ( was he Asian?? ) guy was being kinda lame about stuff too... Who cares if there are fifty different states regulating themselves with their OWN permit systems? why do we need ONE? how are they going to regulate ALL the people that are under one system, as opposed to the states regulating themselves? Massachusetts is FAR different than Florida!

UGH.

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Originally Posted by RoyalGuardian

I so totally wanted to punch dude that said that he didn't have the correct statistic for the dollar value of the pet industry and that most of it was dog and cat. Good job you simple minded moron. We are trying to learn about the money value of the non native species trade and all you can come up with is " I haven't looked.. all I can vouch for is the dog and cat food industry." THATS TOTALLY BESIDES THE POINT!!!!!! These people don't care one lick about anything about the actual issue if they won't even do a small amount of research on both sides.. I AM SO MAD!!!! I can't believe those idiots would go straight from Pythons to tigers and big cats!!!! OMG.. Yes I can see where these old people would feel that there is a problem but most of the species he mentioned was NOT a part of the pet industry at all! Zebra mussels and apple snails were NEVER pets to begin with. I want to beat these idiots over the head with a blunt object screaming MY BALL PYTHONS ARE NOT DANGEROUS!!!!!

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But besides my attack on that dude I think it went well but I kept saying over and over again " your not looking at the issues of pets the way you should." As you saw in my above post I am NOT a happy camper and I do not like having my snakes in the same accusing sentence as a lion or tiger. Yes tilapia is a problem and yes we have to import fish but isn't that what our country is?! We are a jack of all trades nation and to shut that down would make us totalitarianists(sp?) and that is NOT what the Founders of our nation wanted. EVERYTHING is a biohazard. People just living together closely is a biohazard. My question was when he said that there was no regulation on the imported fish. I was like "WHAT!?!?!?!" are there no inspections?! I'm all for not having ball pythons imported from the wild but my snakes are captive bred!!! They are not "wild animals" and the only threat they pose is to make me clean their stinky cage when they poo. All in all I'm more confused than I ever was before. They are trying to cover too much. they are trying to prevent a problem but all they are doing is incurring the wrath of protective pet owners such as myself. What did they decide?! Whats going on? I would go to jail for murder before I would see my snake babies and my betta fish taken away from me, destined for an incinerator. I'm becoming more and more ashamed of this country by the day....In conclusion, I'm not happy one bit and felt that representatives of all forms of animals should have been present because as it was most of those people looked like dog or cat people. I mean come on guys! Are ball pythons really in the same category as big cats?! Rant finished.

Sorry bout that I had to get that off my chest. *sigh*

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Samoa was clearly against the bill as written, and I think it was a GOOD thing he was allowed to speak up during.

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But it sounded like he was for stricter federal regulations. I could be wrong, I missed a lot.

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Originally Posted by PythonWallace

But it sounded like he was for stricter federal regulations. I could be wrong, I missed a lot.

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I could have been wrong who was speaking, but I was certain Samoa was FOR state by state legislation. :/

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Originally Posted by ScottyBoa

I got the email from USARK saying they think the sub-committee will pass it and it'll get killed in the full committee. If it does pass today do not despair, it still has many hurdles it'll have to get over and we're going to make sure they are too high.

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

I could have been wrong who was speaking, but I was certain Samoa was FOR state by state legislation. :/

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I understood it the other way, I thought he asked why have 55 regulations when you could have one so that everyone understood the rules.

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

I could have been wrong who was speaking, but I was certain Samoa was FOR state by state legislation. :/

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there was quite a bit that was said on both sides, by mostly all of the parties. It could have been both. I will have to rewatch it.

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Originally Posted by grammie

I understood it the other way, I thought he asked why have 55 regulations when you could have one so that everyone understood the rules.

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Was that the "asian" guy that i was talking about? i didnt catch his name....

He was FOR FEDERAL regulation not individual states.

Samoa seemed to take into consideration the states ability to decided on regulatory functions based on their regional enviornment as part of or working in conjunction with some sort of base federal regulation guildelines. He wasn't really clear, I got the impression he wanted State and Fed to working together in deciding what should be invasive.

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Originally Posted by filly77

any1 know if any of the big breeders are there?

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Adam Wysocki and Pete Kahl were there, don't know about anymore.

Like Marshall said why would Michigan care about banning species can thrive in the warm climates of Florida and Visa verse

i live in Michigan and the weather in winter can drop -20oF below zero for weeks at a time. Even in spring right now at nights im getting temps of 30oF.

They need to leave this to the states. as most reptiles kept as pets would die in one week of winter here.

OK, wasn't too fond of the American Somoan Rep when I was writing out his LONG name over and over again on Saturday, but I feel that he was asking the right probing questions, and I liked him today! LOL

I would like to know where the rest of the sub-committee member were.

Just got a twitter update from Adam and he seems to think we did very well. Full update coming soon. That gives me some peace. Just a bit, but better than none.

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Originally Posted by waltah!

I would like to know where the rest of the sub-committee member were.

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THeyr were too lazy to get up and speak as they could care less about it. They make tons of money speaking for this country doing nothing but sit on their asses,while we make a honest living to provide for our family and pets at mediocre jobs..

The other members that were not there should have no part in the decision now since they didnt bother to come in

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Originally Posted by waltah!

I would like to know where the rest of the sub-committee member were.

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Yeah I was thinking the same thing.

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Originally Posted by FatBoy

Adam Wysocki and Pete Kahl were there, don't know about anymore.

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oh were they? I missed a lot of it all throughout (broken computer/toddler/YM/phone..)

Cant wait to hear from Adam!! TY FB for the info

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Originally Posted by flameethrower

THeyr were too lazy to get up and speak as they could care less about it. They make tons of money speaking for this country doing nothing but sit on their asses,while we make a honest living to provide for our family and pets at mediocre jobs..

The other members that were not there should have no part in the decision now since they didnt bother to come in

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To be honest we have no idea what the reason for their absence may be. There could be a number of reasons why people at their level could not attend the sub committee meeting. Everyone is upset but we need to all remain level headed and continue forward no matter what the result of this meeting is. Getting angry will do nothing for our cause but make us look irrational and belligerent.

Anyone have a copy of the video?

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Originally Posted by Clear

Anyone have a copy of the video?

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I'm not sure when they are going to post the vid and audio. I have been checking the Multimedia page and there is nothing new since the 1st over there. :/

I think Michelle.C was trying out something new to try and record it. I wonder if she was able to...?

Archived video is up!

http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/...view&extid=246

i'm at work and can't watch the vid until this evening, but can someone summarize what happened this morning?

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

i'm at work and can't watch the vid until this evening, but can someone summarize what happened this morning?

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This.

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Originally Posted by llovelace

So will they re-write this bill, or move on to a full commitee hearing, guess I need to start printing more letters.

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How a Bill Becomes a Law

Also, there was a sort of live blog running over at kingsnake, it has a pretty good written summary of what went on...

http://www.pethobbyist.com/sitenews/...H.-R.-669.html

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Originally Posted by ScottyBoa

I got the email from USARK saying they think the sub-committee will pass it and it'll get killed in the full committee. If it does pass today do not despair, it still has many hurdles it'll have to get over and we're going to make sure they are too high.

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For failure in sub-committee: From your mouth to God's ear!!!

Pray to whatever deity(ies) you like that this POS ...DIES IN COMMITTEE!!! :skullbone: :explosion

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Originally Posted by flameethrower

i live in Michigan and the weather in winter can drop -20oF below zero for weeks at a time. Even in spring right now at nights im getting temps of 30oF.

They need to leave this to the states. as most reptiles kept as pets would die in one week of winter here.

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AGREED 110%!!!

and if it is state by state I can see lots of breeders/hobbiest relocating to the colder states so they can continue w/ their hobby/passion. Its pretty here everyone! :) (no hots are legal here and anything larger than a reb tail boa is illegal also)

How would reptile businesses work, would shipping to other legal states be allowed? Im sure the said animal would possibly go through banned states or would it be like that other bill they wanted to pass, no transporting/shipping across any state lines...

Sucky (am I allowed to use that word?) thing would be, if those who do want to relocate because of this crap.. Would they have 2 rehome their current animals and start over elsewhere just to continue it? I think they should allow transporting out of and through other banned states w/ lets say a permit as long as the hobbiest can show proof of a new allowed state/residence.

I know Im jumping the gun and none of us could possibly know the answers to any of these questions, Im just thinking outloud.. food for thought if you will..

I think one of there biggest concerns in not for pet owners but how they could actually reinforce this bill. It would cost millions of dollars to reinforce this bill and they made that clear this morning saying they would need the extra funds to carry this out and thats also how they came up with the applicants paying for the application for permit. Which usually when you apply for a permit you have to pay. I applied for a permit to obtain an endangered species and had to pay 250 dollars for it. But hopefully they relize the affect this would have on all of us and the jobs that are in this industry and also relize how much it would cost to regulate all this and they all vote no to it. But I have a feeling even if it dies today. It will keep coming back over and over again until something is done. Theres just to much bad press out there for all of us and not ANY good press.

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Originally Posted by Denial

But I have a feeling even if it dies today. It will keep coming back over and over again until something is done. Theres just to much bad press out there for all of us and not ANY good press.

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Ditto to everything you said especially the last part!!