Howie Asks HSUS to Help Us Write a State Ban

He addressed it to our friends, Anna Frostic, Nicole Paquette, Lisa Wathne, Tracie Letterman, Jocelyn Ziemian, Laura Bevan, Kate MacFall, Sara Amundson and Kitty Block:

 

I don't recall to what extent I have acquainted each of you with my work over the last few years on a Florida big cat law so I'll review it here leading up to a question as to your ability to assist with drafting one.

 

It has been generally accepted  or assumed that because the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission has been granted powers by the FL Constitution that the FL legislature could not pass a big cat ban.  In 2008 an FWC attorney wrote a memo to that effect.

 

Some years later I got around to reading the cases she cited and I did not believe they supported her position. (As you all know I am not a "lawyer" but did attend law school so I can at least read cases.) So I wrote up my reasoning and took it to the very good law firm who won the judgment against Joe for us, Johnson, Pope. I made clear that if I was wrong I wanted to know. But if they agreed with my logic, I wanted them to do a proper job of research and write a proper memo, which I cannot do.  They concurred and wrote the attached legal memorandum.

 

I did not feel the memo was going to be enough to convince a legislator that the legislature could indeed pass such a law.  It would just be FWC's lawyer vs. ours and I felt a legislator would defer to FWC.

 

One of our supporters is a prominent, wealthy and very politically active Republican businessman. He has a very good State lobbyist for his business interests (beer). He was a major supporter of Atty Gen Pam Bondi. So we made a run at getting her to endorse this legal conclusion, figuring that would have the credibility to convince a legislator.  Her staff basically did not want to touch the issue.  So, my effort lay dormant for a few years until this year.

 

A few months ago Marcia Cohen, a member of the Florida Bar's Animal Law Section, approached me and asked if there was a topic related to big cats that would merit an article in their Paw Review publication. The Section is fairly new, I think before it was a formal Section it had a lower status, like a Committee. The significant difference is that a Section can endorse legislation, a Committee cannot.

 

Long story short, after months of work and editing, the attached article I "ghost" wrote will soon appear under her name as author in their online version of Paw Review and a few months later in the print version. Meantime, Marcia organized a visit to the sanctuary of 18 members of the Section for a tour and presentation I made about the issue.

 

The result of all this goes beyond the article. There was unanimous enthusiasm among the visitors and some others who could not attend. Marcia is working through the process of seeking to get the Section to (a) concur with the legal conclusion that the legislature CAN pass a law and (b) take the position that the legislature SHOULD pass such a law.  Armed with that, I feel we could convince a legislator that FWC's self serving position is incorrect and that the legislature can pass a law.

 

Although I know it has proven very problematic in your other state efforts, my initial thought would be to return to a simple AZA exemption and take on ZAA because of the huge grass roots effort I think we could muster in Florida. But the details of the bill is something that could be discussed.

 

Soooo, my question is to what degree would HSUS be willing and able to provide resources to help with the next step, which is to draft a bill based on amending FL Statutes that I could take to the Section for their endorsement before approaching a legislator?

 

Would it be possible to discuss internally and let me know by next week so I know if I have to look elsewhere for drafting help?  

 

Howard Baskin | Advisory Board Chairman | Big Cat Rescue He included the article in full from Nov. 14, 2018 d