PAWS Magazine

Issue 37, Spring 1998

The Legislative Tango

Although PAWS went to Olympia this year to get legislation banning leg hold traps and regulating puppy mills, we found ourselves fighting to preserve progress previously made for animals. SB6256 would have reduced protections for horses under the cruelty statutes. SB6642/HB 2980, also known as the "University of Washington Data Protection Bill" was specifically aimed at PAWS’ previous successful efforts in court to uncover cruel experimentation. HB2807, a bill which started as an effort to regulate possession of tigers as pets in our State, garnered a wide spectrum of agency and public support before it was weakened just prior to a hearing, thereby losing our support. Our efforts at organizing and lobbying against these bad bills paid off as all three died in committee. Additional PAWS efforts this session included lobbying for expanded funding for Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s wildlife conflict resolution education program and successful passage of a Senate resolution stating that gray whales deserve continued protection.