MT Slaughter Bill Before Senate Today; Arkansas Bill Requires Signature

The Montana slaughter bill is before the Senate again, and in Arkansas a slaughter resolution passes and is now awaiting the Governor's signature. Montana's controversial bill to permit horse processing and restrict court appeals against a slaughter plant is on the state Senate schedule for today.

The bill, HB 418, is up for its second Senate reading the next-to-last step in the bill's progress. Senators must decide whether they want to agree with Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer's partial veto of the bill, or side with their colleagues in the House of Representatives, who on April 8 voted to send the measure back to Gov. Schweitzer in its original form.

In a news conference April 3 to announce the partial veto, Gov. Schweitzer said he recognized the need for horse processing, and would be willing to look at modifying the state's regulatory structure if a company wanted to build a plant in the state. However, he objected to the provisions in HB 418 that would limit environmental appeals, saying no other business in Montana received such protections. He compared HB 418 to the Trojan Horse of Greek mythology, which allowed enemy soldiers to sneak inside the walled city of Troy, causing its destruction.

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Ed Butcher (R-Winifred), seeks to encourage construction of a processing plant by preventing Montana courts from issuing an injunction stopping or delaying the construction of an equine-processing facility. It also would have required anyone who challenges a facility's environmental permit to post a substantial bond.

A third and final Senate vote must take place before the bill can return to Gov. Schweitzer's desk.

In Arkansas, a resolution urging Congress to support equine processing has passed both the House and Senate. The measure, HCR 1004, now awaits Gov. Mike Beebe's signature.

The resolution requests that the Arkansas Congressional delegation and the U.S. Congress support horse processing facilities. It also urges Congress to offer incentives that help create such facilities.

In the resolution, chief sponsor Rep. Roy Ragland, R-Marshall, states that horse processing is the most tightly regulated animal harvest in the country, and it is the only animal processing for which transportation is regulated.

He goes on to use an estimate by the Horse Welfare Coalition stating that between 90,000 and 100,000 unwanted horses annually will be exposed to neglect and abandonment if horse export options are eliminated.

A similar resolution has been proposed in thirteen states and, in some cases, passed. Wyoming's governor signed his state's resolution on March 3.