Hello everyone,
 
Over 110 bills were heard yesterday in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
About 100 of them went on suspense because the cost of the bills were in
excess of 50,000 or so.  That automatically qualifies a bill for the
suspense file so that's where our bill, and the other 109, went.  BUT,
unlike the past chair of this Committee (Senator Patrick Johnston), the
current chair (Senator Dede Alpert) is in support of this bill In fact,
Senator Alpert is a co-author, so our bill will come off the suspense file
late next month and be voted on.  We believe that we do have the votes to
pass this committee so our bill should proceed to the Senate floor after
that.
 
Testimony in support of the bill came from Californians for Ferret
Legalization, the California Veterinary Medical Association and the Pet
Industries Joint Advisory Committee.  We testified that the 200,000 plus
estimate for the study by the Department of Fish and Game was wildly
inflated since they'd already done a study.  We also pointed out that
contrary to DFG comments that enforcement would be higher, they'd actually
be lower since the majority of the ferrets here would now be legal.  DFG
testified against the bill saying that the study they already performed
didn't cover the same subject matter-- are they joking????  That's a pretty
incredible statement.  What, did they screw up????  Actually you almost,
and I do say almost, had to feel sorry for the DFG person.  The comments
from the members of the Committee made the department look pretty
ridiculous which is a strong signal that the legislature is strongly behind
our issue.  Please make sure that you have written to your State Senator!!!
 
BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE. THE GOVERNOR IS GOING TO BE A PROBLEM!
 
The only negative sign was the fact that the Department of Finance was
allowed by the Governor to opposed our bill even though it's price tag was
considerably lower than most of the bills heard that day, several of which
that had costs in excess of one million dollars and more.  This is just one
mo re signal that the Governor is inclined (at this point anyway) to veto
our bill.  This is why you all MUST work hard, all the way through July, to
collect thousands and thousands of signatures so that we can help show the
Governor that he's been misled by the Department of Fish and Game on this
issue.  Please, don't let our best opportunity in the legislature be wasted
because you didn't spend a few hours on a few weekends in front of a pet
store or supermarket collecting signatures.
 
Go to our website at www.ferretnews.org and download and print several
copies of the petition.  Leave a copy or two at your vet's office.  You can
also ask to work with your local humane association if they are interested
in helping.  In any case, please plan to spend a few hours over several
weekends (the weather's terrific, there's no excuse!) at a large mall,
supermarket or pet store.  You should be able to fill pages and pages of
petitions because when Californians realize that ferrets are legal in every
other state on the continent, they know something is very, very wrong here.
 
Please, all of you must commit to collecting at least 100 signatures if we
are to have any impact at all on the Governor.
 
Jeanne Carley
Californians for Ferret Legalization
410 Mountain Home Rd.
Woodside, CA 94062
(650) 851-3750
www.ferretnews.org
[Posted in FML issue 3405]