Response to Opposition to AB 1016

CPOA’s Opposition

• CPOA opposed AB 2187 by Assembly member Liu in 2006, solely on the basis that they believed that “it would open the door for evasion of Proposition 6” which prohibits the sale of horses for slaughter. That bill was very similar to AB 1016,.

• CPOA’s original letter of opposition, to AB 1016, dated April 11th 2007, which was sent to the Assembly policy committees expressed the same concern. (That was the only concern expressed)

• On April 20th, CPOA sent a letter to the author suggesting that the small claims court could resolve the issues we are addressing in AB 1016. Our attorneys are very confident that the existing provisions of small claims court will do nothing to resolve the issues and CPOA appears to agree since they are now recommending that the small claims court statutes be amended.

• AB 1016 was amended on April 23rd at the request of the Los Angeles County DA’s office to require that horses sold under the provisions of the bill, be sold at a public auction. This language came from existing law that applies to veterinarians who exercise liens for abandoned animals, so it is not new language. It does not, as CPOA said in Senate GO Committee “undo thousands of years of due process protections”

• On June 22nd 2007, CPOA raised a new objection in an Email message, citing Food and Agriculture Code Section 24130 (a), saying:
  
  "Food & Ag Code 24130(a) requires that anyone in the business of buying and selling horses (the public sale as required by the bill) must keep records that include “reasonable proof of ownership of the animal”. The purpose of this is to establish that the horse is authorized to be sold. The lien holder has nothing to present to the seller! He can’t show the “non-response” that he received from the seller to the letter that he claims he sent the seller. This is precisely why some type of third party oversight is needed."
  
  Food and Agriculture Code section 24130 applies only to “any person that is engaged in the business of buying or selling animals on consignment at a public or private salesyard. (Emphasis added) It does not apply to any sale conducted under this bill, since the seller is not selling at a public or private salesyard, or selling on consignment.
  
  With regard to CPOA’s statements that AB 1016 would abandon basic constitutional principles of due process, there are two principles: 1. Notice of a claim and 2. opportunity to be heard in a fair forum. AB 1016 requires written notification of the lien holder’s claim, and the animal owner has a right to a court hearing simply by objecting to the sale in writing.

Animal rights extremists opposition
Numerous inaccuracies can be found in the letter from the California Horsemen’s Alliance. Some of the most significant are:

• They state that bill makes no provisions to pay owner for any excess that a horse may bring in a sale.
  Not true Amendment taken in the Assembly on April 23 specifically makes provisions for that on page 5, lines10 through 13.

• They state that sale yards don’t accept severely injured, sick, or crippled horses.
  Totally irrelevant. Horses sold under this bill won’t be going to a sales yard.

• They state that the bill is an effort by a “few” who provide services
  Not true, The bill is sponsored by CTBA and PCQHRA and supported by the entire horse racing industry.

• They state that passage of AB 1016 would bypass current law that makes it a felony to sell horses for slaughter for human consumption
  Ridiculous. It is against the law now and will continue to be against the law. This bill does nothing to affect that and in fact AB 1016 restates Legislative intent opposing slaughter of horses for human consumption.

• They state that there are “humane” reasons to oppose AB 1016 because it is an effort to “dump horses that are incurring unpaid expenses as soon as possible”.
  There is some truth to that statement, however horses that have been abandoned would be much better off being sold to someone who will care for them and use them, than if they are left in a stall or pen and just fed and watered as required by law.