Congressional Oversight Hearing - USARK

[USARK.Jonathan.Brady]

On Wednesday September 14 at 09:30 EDT the Committee for Oversight and Government Reform Chaired by Congressman Darrel Issa of California will conduct a hearing entitled "How a Broken Process Leads to Flawed Regulations". This will be a full committee hearing with two panels. The first panel will be Administrator Cass Sunstein of the Whitehouse Office of Management and Budget. The second panel will be four or five expert witnesses testifying on four different agenda items before the committee.

USARK worked with Committee Staff to have the rule regarding Constrictor Snakes included as an agenda item. As most of you know the US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) has done a poor job making it's case for the inclusion of 9 snakes on the Injurious Wildlife List of the Lacey Act. FWS has shown blatant disregard for due process and information quality standards. They have failed to meet their own standards as well as those mandated by several Executive Orders. FWS has not considered the economic impact of this listing, failing, as the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy noted, to fulfill its duties under the Regulatory Flexibility Act. It is based on insubstantial scientific analysis that has not withstood scrutiny or subsequent review. Hopefully this hearing will be the opportunity to shed light on a rule making that could expose over 1 million Americans to potential felony prosecution and destroy thousands of jobs.

Attending the hearing on behalf of USARK will be: Myself, USARK government affairs consultant Joan Galvin of Kelley Drye & Warren and staff attorneys Shaun Gehan and Andrew Minkiewicz of Kelley Drye & Warren. Dave Barker will be testifying as an expert witness.

Kindest Regards,
~Andrew

Andrew Wyatt
CEO & President
United States Association of Reptile Keepers PO Box 279 Grandy, NC 27939
252-207-1041
president@usark.org
www.USARK.org