I find it quite amazing that such a seemingly innocuous piece of legislation (AB 1634) has generated such vitriol from its opponents. After all, the bill is modeled from the Santa Cruz ordinance passed 13 years ago, and according to the animal services workers in Santa Cruz, the program has been a huge success: they take in 60% fewer animals compared to 1995, the percent of animals euthanized is nearly ½ what it was, and worker morale has improved. "Killing dogs and cats is a difficult thing to ask good people to do."So why are some fighting it so hard? As in most things, it comes down to money. According to the CA State Board of Equalization (BoE), $14 million of taxes go unpaid each year from animal sellers who -- either through ignorance or willful disobedience -- have not registered with the BoE and do not declare their sales as taxable income. In April 2008, the BoE put out this press release in an effort to raise awareness of the issue.
So if it truly is an issue of ignorance, then the press release and news posts like this one will no doubt educate. I know animal sellers are seeing these posts; they have Google Alerts set up for the keyword AB 1634. and pounce on every blog post with aplomb to spread their message of FUD. Whether or not AB 1634 passes, the BoE will crack down, so there's one fewer reason to oppose the bill.
