Ed Dwyer and his dog Daniel, the inspiration for SB 1329 (Daniel survived a gas chamber in Georgia)
Senate Bill 1329 aka Daniel’s Law, sponsored by Senator Dinniman, was unanimously approved last week by the Appropriations Committee. The section that I had spoken to Dinniman’s office earlier this year, concerning commercial kennel operators to potentially be allowed to use gas chambers that had been in the original bill, has been removed.
If you remember, this bill will effectively abolish gas chambers in the last remaining animal shelters in PA that still utilize them as a means of killing animals.
Adam Cirucci, Dininiman spokesperson, has informed me the bill will now go for a vote before the full Senate No date has been set for this vote. The Senate will be back in session on March 26th.
If passed in the Senate, the bill will proceed to the House.
If SB 1329 passes through both the Senate and House as is and becomes law, the remaining shelters will have six months to comply to the new standards.
This is great news for PA. The only potential pitfall is the funding of the euthanasia training for the shelter workers involved. Each is required 14 hours of training. Unfortunately, the funding for this is through the Dog Law Fund which has shrunken from 11 million dollars to 2 million since former Governor Rendell and his legislatures removed 4 million to meet a budget deficit. His administration never replaced the money.
It has been said this fund has the potential to be bankrupt by the end of next year. If this should happen, how will the funding of the euthanasia training be paid? How will the commercial kennels be inspected without this fund? PA’s Dog Law Fund is in deep trouble.
A suggestion of increasing dog licenses has been put on the table. No definite answer if that should happen.
While this is great news about SB 1329, I remain apprehensive. If there is no funding for the training involved with euthanasia technicians, how effective can Daniel’s law be?