| So by now you've probably heard that the Good Guv sent the horse slaughter bill -- HB 418 -- back to the legislature with amendments quashing the bill's extraordinary language that essentially gives any slaughterhouse developer a free pass on health and environmental regulations. HB 418's sponsor, Ed Butcher, plans to fight the amendments.
What with all my b*tching about how this bill gives the horse slaughter industry privileged protection from litigation, it's irked me that most reports talk about the issue as if the legislature is voting on slaughterhouses themselves. So it's a relief to see Schweitzer, with his veto, focus the discussion on the bill's important elements. Schwetizer:
Before addressing my specific amendments, I want you to know that, like you, I believe horse owners must be responsible for the health and care of their animals. Like you, I believe it is unacceptable that any horse would be left starving or to die due to neglect. I also believe owners should have access to a legal method to put their horses down as necessary and appropriate - due to age, infirmity, or other legitimate circumstances.
While I understand the value in licensing horse slaughter facilities, it is equally important that any facility approved to operate in Montana comply with this state's health and environmental laws. Therefore, a person applying to license a horse slaughter facility who wishes to do so in accordance with Montana law has nothing to fear from the amendments I propose.
This isn't a bill about horse slaughterhouses, it's an attempt to gut state regulations for a specific industry -- and, if successful, no doubt a harbinger of a host of similar bills in future legislatures for the worst offenders of environment, health, and safety regulations. If your vision for the future of Montana is a landscape peppered with unregulated horse slaughterhouses, tire-burning plants, and nuclear waste dumps, by all means, support Ed Butcher's opposition to the Good Guv's amendments.
But if you believe that all industry compete on a level playing field, that all businesses should abide by the rules we've set for them, that we shouldn't craft special legislation for the worst industries, you'll support Schweitzer's amendments.
Oh, and as a little added touch of comic relief for a post heavy with serious rhetoric, check out the Missoulian's recent editorial on the bill:
Nobody wants to see these noble animals suffer. We can probably all agree that something needs to be done. We need a way, and a place, to dispose of elderly or infirm horses.
That is why we must once again applaud those who have stepped forward to take on the heavy burden of this responsibility, namely the folks behind Willing Servants, a new organization based in the Bitterroot Valley that helps find homes - or humane ends - for unwanted horses.
We are not so sure about a bill the Montana Legislature approved recently that would make our state the only one in the nation to welcome a slaughterhouse for horses that now awaits only Gov. Brian Schweitzer's signature, or veto. Himself a regular horse-rider (in campaign ads, at least), we imagine the governor, too, is asking himself: What is it about horses?
Those whacky horses!
Way to take a stand, Missoulian. Sadly, this mamby-pamby avoidance of issues seems to be becoming a trend among the state's newspapers... |
