The Mississippi Legislature might punt again on the issue of animal cruelty, as another bill that would increase penalties for abusers of dogs and cats could die on a committee deadline.
Senate Bill 2658, sponsored by state Sen. Angela Hill, R-Picayune, would increase penalties for the abuse of a domesticated cat or dog , among other changes to the animal cruelty laws. The bill passed the Senate on March 12 with 47 yes votes and five senators voting present.
The bill is in the hands of the House Judiciary B Committee and if the committee doesn’t send it to the House floor for a vote, it’ll die. The deadline for committees to report on general (non-revenue) bills is Tuesday.
Hill told the Northside Sun Monday that she’s heard that the bill will likely die on deadline, the excuse given that House leadership wants to focus on the state budget and what to do with the federal funds issued under the CARES Act.
She said that’s an excuse that doesn’t hold weight with her or taxpayers interested in the animal cruelty issue.
“We worked these bills for six weeks (before the COVID-19 lockdown sent lawmakers home in March) and spent taxpayer money to get them through one chamber,” Hill said. “They ought to stand on their own merit and we should be able to do more than one piece of business.”
Animal cruelty bills in both the House and Senate have struggled to make it out of the agriculture committees in both chambers.A similar bill in the House passed out of the House Judiciary B committee, but died because it was double-referred to agriculture as well.
The difference this year was the Senate bill's committee assignment, Judiciary B, which approved the bill and sent it to the floor. Hill said the Mississippi Farm Bureau opposed the bills in the past and they convinced leadership send them to the agriculture committee for an easy kill without a floor vote.
She also said that President Donald Trump’s signing into law of the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act in 2019 makes the excuses given to kill animal cruelty bills in the past less effective. For that reason, the Farm Bureau backed off on its campaign of opposition to the bill this year.
Hill says that those who torture dogs and cats are often disturbed individuals who need mental help, citing Texas church shooter Devin Kelley as an example. Kelley told an former Air Force colleague that he bought dogs on Craigslist to use as target practice.
She also mentioned the Pearl High school shooting in 1997, when Luke Woodham killed two students and injured seven others. She said Woodham, who also murdered his mother the morning of the shooting, tortured his dog to death as a “trial run.”
“It takes a disturbed person to torture a dog or a cat,” Hill said. “It’s not a sport to torture a dog or a cat and if someone thinks that’s a sport, they need some serious mental help and some jail time to go along with it.”
Hill’s bill would mandate that each act of abuse committed against more than one dog or cat would constitute a separate offense. Under present state law, prosecutors can only charge offenders with one misdemeanor charge even if multiple animals have been abused.
SB 2658 would also increase aggravated cruelty to a felony (under present law, it is a misdemeanor) and double the fine from $2,500 to $5,000 and imprisonment from six months to no less than one year and a maximum of ten.
A second or subsequent offense committed within a five-year period since the first conviction would result in a $10,000 fine and imprisonment for at least one year, with a maximum of 10. Those convicted of animal cruelty would also be prohibited from owning or living with a dog or a cat for five years from the date of sentencing or 15 years if the conviction involved four or more counts of animal cruelty.
The bill also has protections for those who defend themselves when attacked by feral animals or to protect livestock or poultry. If the bill becomes law, they wouldn’t be subject to charges of animal cruelty.
This story was changed to reflect the fates of animal cruelty bills in the past eight sessions.
