Not All of the 1,780 Bills Submitted for the 126th Session of the Legislature Are Designed to Protect People

Lawmakers in Augusta managed to submit 1,780 bills for consideration this session but not all of them have to do with the protection of people.

LR 1423 is An Act To Make Post-conviction Possession of Animals a Criminal Offense and LR 1348 is An Act To Create an Animal Abuse Offender Registry so people in Maine could see who has perpetrated an act of violence against an animal, similar to that of the sex offender registry, which allows us to see who has been convicted of sexual crimes. There's also a piece of legislation aimed at clarifying, streamlining and promoting animal welfare laws in Maine.

Two of the new laws being proposed deal with the slaughtering of horses for the purpose of human consumption.

In November of last year President Barack Obama signed a spending bill into law designed to keep the government afloat but it also quietly lifted a 5 year old ban on funding horse-meat inspections and animal rights activists feared that would lead to slaughter houses opening up. According to a Reuters report, as of July of 2012, a Missouri town was proposing such a slaughter house.

LR 984 is called An Act To Protect Maine Communities from Environmental Hazards by Prohibiting Horse Slaughter in Maine for Human Consumption and the Transport of Horses for Slaughter.

You can search the list of proposed legislation for this session by subject matter or by the name of the legislator who is proposing the legislation.