Current News - Washington Federation

Feb 04 2019

Take action before February 6^th to expand veterinary services for low-income pet guardians and recently adopted animals. Senate bill 5004 is scheduled for a hearing on 2/6/19 at 1:30 p.m. before the Health and Long Term Care committee.

You can SUPPORT the bill by submitting a comment or simply indicate your SUPPORT position on the form. If you would like to supply testimony or a story in support of the legislation, please contact Stacey Graham or Kay Joubert as we are coordinating the testimony. Legislators are most interested in hearing from constituents and the animal care agencies that help the animals impacted by this bill.

If one of the committee members is the legislator for your district or your agency’s district, you can also email them directly to alert them to your SUPPORT of the bill: Senate Health and Long Term Care committee Members Cleveland, Chair (D); Randall, Vice Chair (D); O’Ban; Bailey; Becker; Conway; Dhingra; Frockt; Keiser; Rivers; Van De Wege. Thank you for taking action on behalf of the animals!

Jan 14 2019

Monday January 14th marked the start of the 2019 legislative session. There are several great bills this year which promote the welfare of animals in our state. Click on the bill # below to learn more about what is being introduced this year.

Bill #	Abbrev. Title	Short Description	Status	Sponsor	Position	Priority
HB 1007	Animal shelter capital proj.	Concerning dedicated funding for animal shelter capital projects.	H Prefiled	Appleton
HB 1025	Horse slaughter	Concerning the slaughter of horses and other equines for human consumption.	H Prefiled	Appleton
HB 1026	Breed-based dog regulations	Concerning breed-based dog regulations.	H Prefiled	Appleton
HB 1046	Hunting with the aid of dogs	Prohibiting hunting with the aid of dogs for certain purposes.	H Prefiled	Appleton
SB 5000	Veterinarians/HEALWA	Concerning online access to health care resources for veterinarians and veterinary technicians.	S Prefiled	Palumbo
SB 5004	Low-income veterinary srvs	Allowing animal care and control agencies and nonprofit humane societies to provide additional veterinary services to low-income households.	S Prefiled	Cleveland	Support	High
SB 5016	Animal control/firearms	Allowing animal control officers to carry firearms for personal protection.	S Prefiled	Van De Wege

Feb 09 2018

Colleagues – Thank you for your support of SB 6196, designed to expand the limited veterinary services that shelters and animal control agencies can offer to low-income clients.

Senator Cleveland and the five co-sponsors of the bill who serve on the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee had alerted us the bill might not move forward due to the session’s impending cut-off dates. Yet we are very pleased to report that yesterday’s hearing was a very positive start to what we know will be a multi-month process to change the existing law. Representatives from Kitsap Humane Society, Tacoma/Pierce County Humane Society, Humane Society of Southwest Washington (HSSWWA), Idaho Humane Society, PAWS and the Federation presented compelling testimony that was complemented by written testimony sent in by nine or more Federation member agencies. (The Federation written testimony is attached for your reference.)

The team of Stacey Graham and Lisa Feder of HS SW WA must be complimented for the groundwork they’ve already done, and for working with Senator Cleveland to be an amazing champion for this bill. Thank you Stacey, Lisa and the Humane Society of Southwest Washington!

In the upcoming months, Stacey and Lisa will be working closely with the Federation to engage the animal welfare community, pet guardians and veterinarians to better understand why the current law needs to change. We’ve already spoken with the Veterinary Board of Governors/Department of Health and the Washington State Veterinary Medical Association, and will be meeting with them again to address concerns and refine the bill’s current language so we are well positioned to gain support and ideally its passage in the 2019 legislative session.

We’ll be asking for your input, your support and ideas, so please watch for upcoming communication on this effort that will dramatically improve our ability to save more lives and keep pets and their families together.

Best regards,

Kay Joubert, CAWA

Director Companion Animal Services

kjoubert@paws.org

Jan 28 2018

DO YOU WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF ANIMALS IN WASHINGTON STATE?

JOIN US! WASHINGTON STATE HUMANE LOBBY DAY

Join fellow animal welfare advocates from around the State in Olympia this February to learn about issues affecting animals in our State.

Learn about the legislative process and how you can effectively communicate with elected officials to best advocate for laws that benefit animals.

Meet representatives from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Washington Federation of Animal Care & Control Agencies (The Federation) and learn how to get more involved in animal advocacy on a local and State level.

DATE: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 6^TH

TIME: 10AM – 2PM

LOCATION: OB2 AUDITORIUM 1115 WASHINGTON STREET S.E. OLYMPIA, WA (just to the south of the Capital Building) visit http://leg.wa.gov/LIC/Documents/Maps/Capitol_Campus_Map.pdf

Check-In/Registration begins at 9am. Coffee and light refreshments available.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. DON’T DELAY REGISTER TODAY! DEADLINE TO REGISTER IS FEB 2^nd.

Visit https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Ticketing?view=Tickets&id=116857 to register. A $5 registration fee is requested. Contact HSUS Washington State director Dan Paul at dpaul@humanesociety.org for financial hardship registration waiver.

Can’t attend in person? No worries. Visit the Federation Facebook page for day of event live stream video and updates: www.facebook.com/WAFederation

Jan 24 2018

ACTION NEEDED: A hearing is scheduled on February 1^st at 10 a.m. for Senate Bill 6196, a bill that would give shelters and animal control agencies the ability to offer expanded veterinary care for low-income pet owners.

Washington’s current law is extremely restrictive, allowing non-profit animal shelters and animal control agencies to provide only spay/neuter, microchipping and vaccines for pets of low-income clients.

Senate Bill 6196 proposes to expand the law to allow these agencies to help low-income clients with additional veterinary care so they can care for and keep their beloved companions – instead of delaying care, surrendering them to a shelter to get care, or even making the heart-breaking decision of having them euthanized, often referred to as “economic euthanasia”.

Many of your agencies understand the challenges faced by individuals and families who love their pet, but lack the finances to address unexpected medical challenges or even routine medical care. The bill would give non-profits and animal control agencies, whose mission already involves keeping animals with their families, the opportunity to expand their medical services to address many of these scenarios.

The proposed law is not intended to undermine the relationships and client-base of veterinary practices, specialty clinics or emergency practices. Rather to create a needed safety net for animals who would otherwise go without the care or whose care would be delayed while the family worked to scrape together the resources or find a program that funds one-time needs.

We need your agency to take action by submitting testimony to the committee (see below for instructions). If you would like to testify in person or have a client that can come to Olympia to share their story, please let me know as we are gathering a list to ensure the committee hears from a variety of stakeholders.

Have clients you’ve helped with medical expenses? Or have volunteers or supporters who would like to weigh in, please encourage them to do so as they can easily submit a comment on the bill: https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill//6196

As an agency, you might want to send more detailed testimony and then email it to all of the committee members – see below.

We’ve also included some talking points developed by the Humane Society of Southwest Washington, who have been working with committee chair and bill sponsor, Senator Annette Cleveland, to bring this bill before the legislature.

Thank you for taking action prior to February 1^st to voice your support for expanding veterinary care options for pets of low-income clients across Washington State!

Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee Members

Senator	District	Phone
Cleveland, Annette (D) Chair	49	(360) 786-7696
Kuderer, Patty (D) Vice Chair	48	(360) 786-7694
Rivers, Ann (R) Ranking Member	18	(360) 786-7634
Bailey, Barbara (R)	10	(360) 786-7618
Becker, Randi (R)	2	(360) 786-7602
Conway, Steve (D)	29	(360) 786-7656
Fain, Joe (R)	47	(360) 786-7692
Keiser, Karen (D)	33	(360) 786-7664
Mullet, Mark (D)	5	(360) 786-7608
Van De Wege, Kevin (D)	24	(360) 786-7646

Please feel free to share this message with other agencies, as well as veterinarians who you know to be open to the idea of non-profits / government animals shelter helping with additional veterinary care for qualified low-income clients. Key message points can be found here.