CBO on HR2811

[snakemastercanada]

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/106xx/doc10654/hr2811.pdf

[MissMowgli]

"We expect that H.R. 2811
would apply to a relatively small number of offenders, so any increase in costs for law
enforcement, court proceedings, or prison operations would not be significant."

My foot!

Do these people even do research??

[brainman1000]

It looks like all they did was look at what the bill would end up costing the government. It completely neglected to look at how it would affect everyone involved in the reptile trade industry.

[Kristian]

"Based on information about the cost of permits from the USFWS, and information gathered from industry professionals about the value of shipments, sales, and imports of snakes, CBO estimates that the costs of the mandates would fall below the annual thresholds established in UMRA for intergovernmental and private-sector mandates ($69 million and $139 million in 2009, respectively, adjusted annually for inflation)."

"The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are...and Marin Randall (for the impact on the private sector)."

I wonder where Mr. Marin Randall got his figures.

[Vypyrz]

I wonder where Mr. Marin Randall got his figures.

He probably got his figures and a fat wad of cash from the same source all of the other politicians in D.C. are getting theirs from... Mr. Pacelle...

[pavlovk1025]

It looks like all they did was look at what the bill would end up costing the government. It completely neglected to look at how it would affect everyone involved in the reptile trade industry.

No it didn't. It just doesn't matter to them.
"The cost of the mandate to those ineligible for a permit, including private importers, breeders, retailers, shippers, and owners of those snakes, would be the forgone net income from no longer being able to sell or transport the animals across state lines."

They are only looking to see how the Government will be affected. Interesting that they don't consider how much is paid in state and income tax by all the registered businesses.
Honestly, to keep our rights to keep and breed for all snakes, Id be willing to pay a higher sales tax on reptile sales. It may take a bite out of profits, but we're shooting ourselves in the foot already with the market crashing being done by the quick buck folks. A higher sales tax on reptile sales would mean more revenue for the government, and more money makes them happy. In my opinion, and only in my opinion, Id rather take a cut on how much I profit than from what snakes I can freely keep and sell. Although I only deal with ball pythons, burms are a favorite of mine and a coral sunglow boa has been planned to be bought after I get out the ball python breeding hobby, so it would be rather unfortunate to not be able to purchase or keep em in the future.

What a mess this whole thing is though. *sigh*

[GregBennett]

Man it ain't looking good for the 9 species on that list. Most of my collection consist of Boas so I'm looking to lose a lot also. The damage has already started. Boa sales are down hugely just because of talk about this bill. I wouldn't even wanna know how the retic and burm market is holding up right now.

I hate to say it but our hobby just doesn't bring in enough money for the government to care and the government is not in the business of caring for the small amount of people that are in the reptile biz.

Our government pisses away $150 million dollars a day. It cost more for the president to take a trip to another country. $150 million or even $300 million is nothing to our government. It's like pocket change they give away to them.