UPDATE 4/4: Oregon had an April 4 deadline for bills to clear their first Committee. This bill failed to meet that deadline so it is now dead. Thank you to everyone who testified and opposed this bill!
UPDATE 3/25: This bill was removed from the 3/30 meeting agenda and it should be dead for this session. Thank you to everyone who testified and opposed!
TAKE ACTION NOW: Hearing on March 30 (CANCELLED)
MOST IMPORTANT: Follow the steps below to post your opposition directly to the House Judiciary Committee!
Step 1: Click here: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023r1/Testimony/HECDSB
Step 2: Choose a Committee: select House Committee on Judiciary
Step 3: Choose a meeting date: select 3/30/2023 8:00 AM
Step 4: You are submitting testimony for: select HB3214
Step 5: Fill out your name, email address, and city fields.
Step 6: Position on this bill: select OPPOSE
Step 7: Choose either text or PDF testimony. If text, you will type your testimony or copy/paste/edit what we have below.
Step 8: Fill in the text box (if submitting testimony on the website and not by PDF).
Step 9: Click “Submit Testimony.”
Hearing details: You can speak in person or virtually must you must register to speak prior to the hearing. See below.
Register to speak at the hearing (virtually/internet or in person):
Step 1: Click here: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023r1/Measures/Overview/HB3214
Step 2: Click “Register to Testify” 3-30H under “Measure History.”
Step 3: Fill out the form.
Step 4: Position on the measure: select OPPOSE
Step 5: Click “Submit Registration to Testify.” You will see a confirmation screen and receive an email with meeting details.
Send emails using our easy alert below.
Step 1: In less than a minute, send emails to the Committee and your Oregon legislators at https://ujoin.co/campaigns/2121/actions/public?action_id=2236.
Step 2: Send emails from this alert. Just scroll down!
Step 3: Share this alert on social media and ask people to take action!
Step 4: Be sure you are following USARK for updates.
Step 5: Calling and visiting legislators are also hugely helpful. You can find your legislators and their contact details below.
Final action: Come back here and send emails using the copy/paste email address list and sample language below.
UPDATE 2/28: The bill was moved to the Judiciary Committee.
UPDATE 2/24/23: This bill should be reassigned to the Judiciary Committee on Feb. 28 during a “work session.”
Oregon House Bill 3214 (HB3214) is sponsored by Representatives Zach Hudson and David Gomberg. HB3214 prohibits using certain animals (list below and even includes tortoises and small monitors) in “traveling animal acts,” which will include the educational outreach programs provided by many animal keepers. It authorizes the forfeiture of animals used in violations. Punishment is a maximum of six months imprisonment, a $2,500 fine, or both, plus legal seizure of your animals.
Regardless of what species are involved, this bill is unnecessary, redundant, and a waste of Oregon tax dollars. Animal welfare laws are already in place and measures like this bill only punish responsible citizens instead of actually penalizing criminals.
The unintended consequences are many. It is a ban on taking a Greek tortoise into a classroom for an educational program about turtles and tortoises. It is a ban on taking a dwarf monitor lizard into a library or to a Scout troop meeting for an educational show discussing reptiles.
“Traveling animal act” means a performance of an animal to which the animal is transported. This qualifies all outreach and educational programs that are not on-site where the animal is permanently housed. They would all be banned.
While the definition for “performance” may seem to disqualify general educational outreach programs, there still remains ambiguity and enforcement could certainly take place at the whim of any enforcement officer as terms are open for interpretation at will. For example “trick” is not defined so an animal standing on its back legs to get a treat, walking to a red laser dot, or jumping from one person’s shoulder to another are tricks and these are commonly seen in educational and outreach programs. Also, a performance includes any program in which an animal “entertains or amuses an audience.” Most are entertained and amused simply by having the incredible experience of seeing animals in person!
Please note that “education programs” are only exempt if you qualify with an entity included in the below exemption list. We have seen misinformation on this being posted on social media.
The only exemptions are accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), or Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS), along with a 12-hour of travel exemption for state-licensed wildlife rehabilitation centers, certain academic/medical/research facilities, veterinarians, and falconers.
Species included in the bill (we highlighted the reptile species):
(a) Any member of the family Canidae, except the species Canis familiaris (domestic dog);
(b) Any member of the family Cetartiodactyla, except the species Bos taurus (domestic cow), Lama glama (domestic llama), Lama pacos (alpaca),
Ovis aries (sheep), Rangifer tarandus (reindeer) and Sus domesticus (domestic pig), and the subspecies Capra aegagrus hircus (domestic goat);
(c) A member of the order Crocodylia;
(d) A member of the subclass Elasmobranchii;
(e) A member of the family Elephantidae;
(f) A member of the family Felidae, except the species Felis catus (domestic cat);
(g) A member of the family Hyaenidae;
(h) A member of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia;
(i) A member of the family Mephitidae;
(j) A member of the family Mustelidae, except the subspecies Mustela putorius furo (domestic ferret);
(k) A nonhuman primate;
(L) A member of the order Perissodactyla, except the subspecies Equus ferus caballus (domestic horse),
the subspecies Equus africanus asinus (donkey), a pony and a mule;
(m) A member of the clade Pinnipedia;
(n) A member of the family Procyonidae;
(o) A member of the group ratite;
(p) A member of the family Spheniscidae;
(q) A member of the family Testudinidae;
(r) A member of the family Ursidae;
(s) A member of the family Varanidae;
(t) A member of the family Viverridae; and
(u) A member of the clade Xenarthra.
Find your Oregon Legislators
Just click this link to find your one Oregon Senator and one Oregon Representative: https://geo.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=fd070b56c975456ea2a25f7e3f4289d1
Sample Messaging
Remember to be civil and professional at all times!
Email list: Rep.JasonKropf@oregonlegislature.gov, Rep.TomAndersen@oregonlegislature.gov, Rep.KimWallan@oregonlegislature.gov, Rep.JanelleBynum@oregonlegislature.gov, rep.farrahchaichi@oregonlegislature.gov, Rep.CharlieConrad@oregonlegislature.gov, Rep.RickLewis@oregonlegislature.gov, Rep.LilyMorgan@oregonlegislature.gov, Rep.LisaReynolds@oregonlegislature.gov, rep.thuytran@oregonlegislature.gov
Committee members and full contact information: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Committees/HJUD/Overview
If this bill is assigned a hearing date, you should submit your comments through the legislature website here: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023r1/Testimony/HECDSB
Subject line:
NO to HB3214
Dear House Judiciary Committee Members,
As an Oregon animal welfare advocate, I oppose HB3214. Oregon Revised Statute Chapter 167, titled Offenses Against General Welfare and Animals, protects animals from animal cruelty by allowing punishment to those violating animal welfare laws. Current laws need to be enforced rather than passing this overreaching and unjust legislation.
The Committee was misinformed during the March 16 hearing many times. You were told that educational programs are exempt. This is false! Those programs are only exempt if you are an accredited facility or licensed party (with most listed accreditations being impossible unless you are a large, public facility). What it does ban is me taking a turtle and a tortoise into a classroom to teach children about the differences between turtles and tortoises. It bans me from taking a three-ounce pygmy Mulga monitor and a four-ounce sugar glider to a Boy Scout meeting to discuss how reptiles are different than mammals.
HB3214 lacks research and several radical animal rights groups are misrepresenting what this bill does. The Committee was continually misinformed during the March 16 hearing and those who could actually educate about what the bill does and the affected species were not permitted time to speak. Instead, the Committee heard that only “giant” and “large and wild” animals are covered under this bill. As examples, the bill would ban educational programs including any tortoise or monitor lizard; some species weigh less than one pound as adults for both groups of reptiles. One species of banned marsupial, the sugar glider, only weighs four to five ounces! There certainly is no public safety concern and if animal cruelty is happening, then current laws can be enforced.
The bill is written poorly and rife with overreach. The fact is that this legislation is unnecessary. Punish the “bad actors” and the criminals. No new law is needed to protect animals as Oregon can already prosecute animal abusers.
Collective punishment is becoming an accepted practice in our government. Instead of focusing on criminals, many new laws punish good citizens because everyone is assumed to be guilty of criminal activities.
Thank you for your time and consideration on this matter. Please realize that HB3214 is illogical and unjust, and that legislative intent does not matter when law enforcement officers must enforce what the law actually says and not what legislators intended through poor bill language. Have a good day.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
MORE DETAILS
Bill TEXT: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023r1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB3214/Introduced
Bill full details on Oregon Legislative website: https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023r1/Measures/Overview/HB3214
Link to the sponsor’s info page, Representative Zach Hudson: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/hudson
