“By Barbara Phillips Long
Shippensburg Bureau Chief

“I think the dog law can be passed in a couple hours,” Gov. Ed Rendell said Wednesday during a conference call with Pennsylvania Newspaper Association Foundation members. “We all know what needs to be done.”

Referencing the 78 dogs killed in Berks County, the governor added: “I don’t think we have a day to waste on getting the dog legislation.”

Lawmakers representing Cumberland, Franklin and Perry counties agree legislation is needed, but they have various concerns about the bill, numbered HB 2525.

State Rep. Mark Keller, R-86, whose district includes Perry County and part of Franklin County, said Monday in a phone interview that the bill is now in the hands of the state House Appropriations Committee. “The (House) leaders decide whether or not it comes out of appropriations,” he said.

Keller would like to see the dog law overhaul passed, but he doesn’t want the bill to put new breeders out of business and he, like state Rep. Rob Kauffman, R-89, wants to see the bill revised to meet concerns raised by veterinarians. Both representatives sit on the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee and were at the one hearing held for the bill.

“When they held the hearing, there wasn’t enough room to house all the people, so they televised it out to the rotunda of the Capitol itself,” Keller said. He favors holding hearings in various parts of the state so more people can bring up their concerns regarding the bill. “This is a statewide issue. This is not just a local issue.”

State Rep. Will Gabig, R-199, said in a phone interview Tuesday he is less familiar with the bill, since he is on the House Judiciary Committee.

Gabig said when the bill gets to the floor, he will take the time to study it and discuss the bill with area lawmakers, including Keller and Gabig and also state Rep. Jerry Nailor, R-88, a co-sponsor of the bill. Gabig noted that his wife Patricia is a veterinarian.

“Certainly my heart is in protecting animals” and treating them humanely, he said. Gabig has heard some “horrific news reports recently that show we need some reform in that area. On the other hand, you don’t want to be a burden on legitimate businesses and farms.”

Gabig is concerned about the loss of the lame-duck session this year. The state Senate voted not to go back into session after the Nov. 4 election. “It has traditionally been a time when we get a lot of work done,” Gabig said, and measures like HB 2525 might have been thrashed out and passed in the House and Senate after the election.

“What’s disheartening about the whole situation is the misinformation being spread out there,” Keller said.

Keller, who lives on a farm where he raises beef cattle and whose couch at home has been taken over by the family’s Doberman, is concerned that people who have set up kennel operations that are in compliance with U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations in the year before the bill is passed will not be able to afford to make all the changes required by HB 2525 within a year of the bill’s passage.
He would like to give the business more time to work out a plan to meet the new regulations in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, which enforces the state dog law and wrote HB 2525.

“Let’s use a little common sense here, too,” Keller said. If the commercial breeder then doesn’t meet the goals set by the negotiated plan, then “they’re shut down.”

Veterinarians differ with the bill’s proponents on the issue of cage flooring, exercise, water supply and other issues. The Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association has listed numerous concerns about the bill on its Web site at http://www.pvma.org; click on the link at “PVMA Talking Points” on the home page.

While dog owners and humane society representatives gave vocal support to solid flooring at a meeting Sept. 4 in Chambersburg, the PVMA favors mesh flooring that will allow urine and feces to drain from the cage, but the association said the mesh must have a soft coating and be small enough so the dog’s paws do not slip through it.

The PVMA would also prefer that water be available to dogs at all times, rather than being limited to a certain number of hours. The issue was brought up in relation to a proposed amendment.

The negotiations on the amendments and the amount of time needed to vote on them makes passage unlikely this session, Kauffman and Keller said. Speakers at the Chambersburg rally on Sept. 4 also said they thought the Legislature would not find time to resolve all the conflicts and act on the bill this session, despite concern about the issue among voters and lawmakers.

“There’s not a member of the legislature that doesn’t want to do the right thing” for dogs, said Keller.