Have Mercy Foundation

"This has truly been a landmark year for the animals of Texas," said Randy Turner, president of
Texas Humane Legislation Network. "We commend our state legislators for giving innocent
creatures the protection they deserve from senseless acts of violence."

Thanks to your hard work and determination in fighting for the animals of Texas, we can all
celebrate the most successful legislative session to date for animal protection. With your help,
good bills were passed and bad ones were defeated.

Topping the list of good bills was the passage of HB 2328, the animal cruelty bill, which
strengthens our current animal cruelty statute by closing loopholes that have allowed many
heinous crimes against animals to go unpunished.

HB 2328, sponsored by State Rep. Beverly Woolley and State Sen. John Whitmire:

        lowers the required mental state for proof of animal cruelty from "intentional or knowing" to
"reckless" which will make proof of animal abuse much easier;
        specifically protects homeless dogs and feral cats from acts of cruelty;
        makes it a felony to kill, administer poison to or cause serious bodily injury to an animal
without the owner's consent; and
        adds "water" to the list of required care for an animal in a person's custody.

A prosecutor must still prove "torture" in some cases involving cruelty to animals classified as
"livestock" (including horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, goats); however, "torture" is now defined as "any
act that causes unjustifiable pain or suffering", which will make proof of "torture" much easier. The
animal cruelty bill will take effect September 1.

Several other significant animal bills passed this session include:

        In the state budget bill, the legislature freed up over $2 million from the Animal Friendly
License Plate Fund to help address the statewide pet overpopulation crisis. This money will now
be available for distribution to low and no-cost spay/neuter programs throughout the state.
        HB 916, sponsored by State Rep. Jose Menendez and State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte,
increases the penalty for dog fighting from a Class A misdemeanor to a state jail felony and
increases the punishment for attending a dog fighting exhibition from a Class C misdemeanor to a
Class A misdemeanor.
        SB 1562, sponsored by State Sen. "Chuy" Hinojosa and State Rep. Phil King, provides for
training and certification of animal control officers. This bill also increased the penalty for killing or
seriously injuring a police service animal from a third degree felony to a second degree felony.
        HB 1411, sponsored by State Rep. Buddy West, prohibits an owner from tethering a dog
outside between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am and during extreme weather conditions.
        HB 88, sponsored by State Rep. Dan Branch, requires that companion animals and service
animals be included in evacuation plans in the event of natural disasters.
        HB 1728, sponsored by State Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, allows certain confidential
information in rabies vaccination certificates and in municipal or county dog and cat registries to
be disclosed to third party contractors who are performing animal control services or animal
registration services for a city or county; but requires those third party contractors to maintain the
confidentiality of that information and use that information only in connection with the performance
of their duties under the government contract.

And, we can now breathe a sigh of relief that horse slaughter in Texas is dead! Efforts waged by
some of the most influential lobbyists in Austin to save Texas' two notorious horse slaughter plants
were defeated once again. You made your voices heard and the legislators listened.

Last, but certainly not least, we defeated an attempt to give owners of cruelly treated animals the
right to appeal the court's decision to remove those animals from their custody. This bill would
have had a huge negative effect on the ability of law enforcement to seize cruelly treated animals
because of the time and costs involved in housing and caring for these animals during protracted
appeals.

"This has truly been a landmark year for the animals of Texas," said Randy Turner, president of
Texas Humane Legislation Network. "We commend our state legislators for giving innocent
creatures the protection they deserve from senseless acts of violence."

Have Mercy would like to THANK all the people who effortlessly lobbied with us for the protection
of all animals!