Anti-fur legislature

[hotzcatz]

I just stumbled across some upcoming legislature here in Hawaii. Some sort of bill to ban fur farming. Of which there isn't any in our state so why they feel the need to ban in via laws, I haven't a clue! It would keep the ranchers and shepherds from being able to sell hides and pelts, though.

Here's what they're considering: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2021/bills/SB969_SD2_.HTM It looks to me like they got it from somewhere else, probably California or some other over regulated state. I just found out about it, not sure if there's still time to do anything about it or not, but for the rest of the livestock community out there, keep an eye on those political folks, they need watching.

 

[kotapony]

City folk with perhaps good intentions but no clue how farming actually works…

It did not pass in 2021 - the legislature adjourned April 29, so no more new laws will be passed this year.

You can follow the path of the law and it’s amendments here:

https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=969&year=2021
I looked around a bit there and have my doubts this will actually pass any time soon. They will have to reintroduce the bill and start all over next year - they don’t pick up where they left off.

But if you notice, early on in committee amendments the bill in Section 5 goes from “takes effect immediately” to “takes effect July 1, 2050”. What’s the point of kicking it almost 30 years down the road? Did they know that would stall it out eventually? But if so, why keep passing it through committee? Why not just vote no? Seemed quite odd to me, but then, seldom does anything the government does make sense to me. On the other hand, it did pass all the way through committee which is a step most bills don’t survive.

Another thing is that in the testimony archives is a letter from the HI Department if the Attorney General. They point out that to meet the bills requirements they would need additional staff and perhaps a new department. That requires a budget, and it just doesn’t seem like HI is going to figure out how to pony that up when they don’t even have any fur farms.

But certainly, the political folks always do need watching!

 

[ladysown]

good on you for keeping watch!

 

[hotzcatz]

Thanks, KotaPony! I feel a lot better after your assessment. Thank you for looking into it!

I just accidentally stumbled over it the other day and asked the Hawaii Sheep and Goat Association if they knew anything about it and they hadn't heard about it either. Apparently, what with all this virus running about, they've closed the legislative sessions on Oahu so it's even harder for everyday folks on our island to keep up with what the political folks on Oahu are up to.

Small kid time, we always just assumed adults knew what they were doing. Which, when we ourselves became adult, some of us figured out the flaws in that reasoning. However, just in the past several years, I'm becoming aware of how appallingly inadequate many of the civic people are.

 

[kotapony]

There was a law here in WV (about selling raw milk through herd shares) that I was quite vested in a few years ago. I learned a lot about how the state governments work. It’s really quite horrifying.

My husband said his dad had an entire year in school learning about how the government operated. By the time my husband and I went through the same school system, it was no longer taught. I didn’t have a clue until a few years ago when I started watching that bill roll through the system.

What astounds me is how many new laws get passed every single year. Year after year after year. How on earth did people manage to function in the 50s without all the laws that have passed since?

Here in WV:

2021: passed 282 bills
2020: passed 368 (!!) bills
2019: passed 294 bills
2018: passed 260 bills
1993: passed 186 bills

Even at 200 a year average that’s 12,000 in the last 60 years. Seriously??? We really need all these to function as a society? Apparently so.

In some fairness a lot of them each year are regulatory updates to existing laws. But still…

And that’s just on the state level. I have chosen not to dig into what the Feds are really up to.

 

[Zee-Man]

Kotapony, your history does not surprise me. I firmly believe that many of those laws are simply "look what I can do" legislation. Some constituent whines about the latest hot topic so the legislator throws a bill together so he can say, "I's not my fault, see I made a law!"

 

[GBov]

And when "they" lose, they never give up so when "we" defeat a stupid bill like this one and move on to other fights they just slip it back into play when we are distracted.

Witness the rollback on women's reproductive rights to see it in action.