Sponsors vow to revise, bring back vetoed 'Ag Gag' bill

Sponsors vow to revise, bring back vetoed 'Ag Gag' bill
Sponsors vow to revise it, bring it back


    • By Tom Humphrey
    • Posted May 13, 2013 at 9:47 p.m.


NASHVILLE — Sponsors of livestock surveillance legislation known as the “Ag Gag” bill say they will let stand Gov. Bill Haslam ’s veto and instead seek passage of a revised version next year.

The plans of Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden, and Sen. Dolores Gresham, R-Somerville, are in line with Haslam’s professed thinking in vetoing the bill.

“Some vetoes are made solely on policy grounds. Other vetoes may be the result of wanting the General Assembly to reconsider the legislation for a number of reasons. My veto here is more along the lines of the latter,” Haslam said in announcing his decision Monday.

His first concern, Haslam said, is that Attorney General Bob Cooper has deemed the bill “constitutionally suspect.”

“Second, it appears to repeal parts of Tennessee’s Shield Law without saying so. If that is the case, it should say so. Third, there are concerns from some district attorneys that the act actually makes it more difficult to prosecute animal cruelty cases, which would be an unintended consequence,” the governor said.

“For these reasons, I am vetoing HB1191/SB1248, and I respectfully encourage the General Assembly to reconsider this issue,” Haslam said.

Holt and Gresham had argued their bill, which would have required anyone making photographs or video of livestock abuse to turn the unedited material over to law enforcement authorities within 48 hours, would mean stopping abuse more quickly. They had criticized, for example, a Humane Society of the United States video, taken by an undercover operative over a period of months, showing abuse of Tennessee Walking Horses. The video led to successful prosecution on animal cruelty charges.

Holt and Gresham did not return reporter phone calls but issued a joint statement saying there would be no override attempt. Instead, they said a new bill will be filed in 2014 with revisions aimed at meeting objections from Haslam and questions about the bill’s constitutionality raised by Cooper.

“There were thousands of people who weighed in on this issue, and we plan to work with all interested parties in the coming months to draft a bill that will protect animals and ensure those people who abuse livestock are brought to justice,” the joint statement said.

Haslam’s office received thousands of emails, phone calls and letters on the bill — almost all urging a veto — after the Humane Society spent more than $100,000 on advertising urging citizens to contact him. Several celebrities, ranging from TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres to country music singers Emmylou Harris and Carrie Underwood, also urged a veto.

Asked if he would play a role in next year’s version of the bill, Haslam said “the thought we had was, if you want to write that bill, there’s a better way to write it.

“I think the attorney general in his opinion said sort of the same thing... He almost gave them a path to write it,” Haslam said.

HSUS, the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Tennessee Press Association and the Tennessee Coalition on Open Government issued statements hailing Haslam for the veto.

“We appreciate that Gov. Haslam recognized the backdoor attempt to repeal the Tennessee Shield Law and stopped it — for now at least,” said Frank Gibson, public policy director for the Tennessee Press Association.

Tennessee’s “Shield Law” says news media can keep confidential their reporting sources. Haslam said that his mention of the law in his formal statement was not advocating it be changed, only that any bill changing another law should specifically say so.

The Tennessee Farm Bureau, which supported the bill, declared: “Although we are disappointed, we are appreciative of his (Haslam’s) recognition that well established, long-accepted agricultural practices on farms are

vulnerable to unfair attacks through misrepresentation and deception.“

The bill is the second to be vetoed by Haslam since taking office in January 2011. The first came last year when Haslam waited until the 107th General Assembly had permanently adjourned to veto a bill that would have prohibited Vanderbilt University’s “all comer’s” policy, which says all campus student organizations must accept any student as a member. Sponsors of the bill said the policy wrongly interferes with religious rights of Christian groups who — at least in one controversial case — were told to accept an atheist as a member.


Related document
Haslam's letter explaining his veto

HSUS and the IRS Scandal on Fox and Friends

If you haven't seen it yet, take a look at this video from Fox & Friends on Monday, May 20. Stuart Varney, of Fox Business News, discusses the IRS, Lois Lerner, and her efforts to protect the Humane Society of the United States from investigation of their tax-exempt status, despite calls for closer scrutiny by Congressman Luetkemeyer of Missouri and other members of Congress. HSUS is smack dab in the middle of this growing scandal with their excessive lobbying. Lerner, a lauded member of HSUS, was unresponsive to calls to investigate HSUS's lobbying activities despite copious amounts of evidence presented.

HSUS and the IRS

HSUS is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization -- which means they are not supposed to do a lot of lobbying. Frank Losey, lawyer, has been trying to get IRS to repeal HSUS's tax-exempt status for at least 4 years. He has provided over 3,000 pages of evidence of HSUS lobbying. Now we know why his and our letters and appeals and those of various Congress members have had no effect. The degree of rot in our government seems to have no bottom.

Lois Lerner, IRS Director of Tax Exempt Organizations
and the center of the current IRS scandal

5-16-13 NEWS FLASH!! - SHARE WIDELY
What we are learning about IRS and HSUS: Lois Lerner, IRS Director of Tax Exempt Organizations and currently in the hot seat for politically-motivated hits on various organizations, is a member and strong supporter of HSUS! No wonder Frank Losey's efforts to get HSUS 501(c)(3) tax exempt status revoked have had no success!

LERNER + PACELLE = CONFLICT OF INTEREST

"Ms. Lerner is a past president of the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL) and an active member of the Humane Society of the United States where her efforts in performing pet rescues necessitated by the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes were widely acknowledged."

Thanks to Alice Harrington, Frank Losey, and Yvonne Pruett.

A Call To Action From Frank Losey

IRS APOLOGY - - "POLITICAL THUGGERY!" - - INTERNAL IRS AUDIT FINDINGS OF WRONG-DOING - - CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION - - "FIRING" OF ACTING IRS COMMISSIONER - - CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT HEARINGS!!!!!

For those who have yet to respond to my Recent Call to Action, now is the perfect time to do so! And then encourage others to do so as well!!!

A Huge "Window of Opportunity" opened on May 10, 2013 that elevates my most Recent Call to Action to a Top Priority for all who wish to help hasten the "Day of Reckoning" for the HSUS. That "Opportunity" occurred when Ms. Lois Lerner, the IRS Director for Exempt Organizations, admitted that the IRS inappropriately targeted since 2011, for increased scrutiny, conservative organizations that sought tax-exempt status, and her admission was compounded by a rather perfunctory "apology." A subsequently released Internal IRS Audit Report confirms the details of Ms. Lerner's "admission."

A growing number of Members of Congress are now calling for Oversight Hearings that would review the dereliction and inappropriate actions of IRS Employees. And the "fallout" from the Firestorm of Congressional Outrage from Conservative Members of Congress could easily suck the HSUS into the Vortex of scrutiny as they become increasing aware of the disparate treatment afforded to "Liberal" tax-exempt organizations, such as the HSUS, which used its surrogate Lobbying Subsidiary to endorse over 1,000 Congressional Candidates, as well as the then Senator Obama for President in 2008! 

"Hell hath no fury like a Conservative scorned!"

And as fate would have it, Frank Losey is a Legal Resident and Registered Voter in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and he has already submitted a sampling of relevant documents to Kentucky Senators McConnell and Paul, with an offer to provide them with more than 3,000 pages of documents that substantiate that the IRS has failed to act upon over the last 4+ years. And these documents substantiate, beyond any reasonable doubt, the abject failure of the IRS to hold the HSUS accountable for its excessive Lobbying Activities; its endorsements of over 1,000 Congressional Candidates, which endorsements are expressly prohibited by the U.S. Tax Code; and the CD Voice Recordings of Mr. Pacelle, who with incredible hubris stated, in his own voice: "We have passed 1,000 laws in the last decade." 

 

Within hours after Ms. Lerner made her admissions and apology, Kentucky Senator McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, used the phrase "political thuggery" to describe the actions of the IRS and he called upon the White House to conduct a far reaching investigation of the actions of the IRS. His outrage has been followed by Calls for Congressional Hearings by other Conservative Republicans and even some Democrats in Congress! For example, Democratic Senator Baucus, the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has told Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller that he "is in for serious questioning," and the Committee would accept nothing less than his "complete cooperation and transparency." Then on 14 May, 2013 President Obama described the findings in an Internal IRS Audit Report that was released on the same day to be "intolerable and inexcusable." And on that same day Attorney General Eric Holder announced that he has ordered an investigation to see if there were criminal violations in the Internal Revenue Service! And on that same day, led by Senator McConnell, 45 Republican Senators signed and sent to President Obama a joint letter that expressed their "grave concerns and disappointment." Then on May 15, 2013, President Obama announced that Acting IRS Commissioner had resigned. This is a fast moving train, and a whole lot more fall-out from the IRS Scandal is expected to occur!!!!!! 

 

I could not have written a better script to set the Stage for my most recent Call to Action that is found at www.franklosey.com 

 

Again, for those who have yet to respond to my Recent Call to Action, now is the perfect time to do so! And then encourage others to do so as well!!!

Frank

Caution in Tennessee and Elsewhere

Please be careful over the next few months about hiring people to work on your property, especially if you own a farm. The governor vetoed the abuse reporting bill ("ag-gag"), as HSUS wished, but this bill will likely be re-written and introduced again in January. It's possible that HSUS or other animal rights groups would like to try to get some undercover video on a Tennessee farm to try to show that the next bill should be vetoed. Mercy for Animals is currently advertising for people to work undercover. That group has made undercover videos on some big farms in other states and probably faked the final outcome. Just a heads up about people you might hire or have on your property.

You don't have to be guilty of animal abuse for these people to make you look guilty when they edit their videos.

Even if you live elsewhere and you have a farm it's probably a good idea to be careful who you hire right now. These bills aren't going away and HSUS will go on trying to fight them, even if they have to fake more undercover videos.
 

Governor Haslam Vetoes 'Ag Gag' Bill

Governor Haslam Vetoes 'Ag Gag' Bill

Story posted 2013.05.13 at 10:59 AM CDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Governor Bill Haslam said he will veto a bill to become law that would require images documenting animal abuse to be turned over to law enforcement within 48 hours.

In a statement released Monday morning, he said his office has carefully considered the bill, but decided to veto due to "number of concerns." He also asked the General Assembly to reconsider this issue.

First was the State Attorney General's opinion that the measure would be "constitutionally suspect" because it could violate Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination and for placing burdens on news collection. Second was that it appeared to repeal parts of Tennessee's Shield Law without saying so. His third was concerns from some district attorneys that the act actually makes it more difficult to prosecute animal cruelty cases, which would be an unintended consequence.

"Agriculture is the No. 1 industry in Tennessee. Farmers play a vital role in our state's economy, heritage and history. I understand their concerns about large scale attacks on their livelihoods. I also appreciate that the types of recordings this bill targets may be obtained at times under false pretenses, which I think is wrong," Haslam said.

The bill easily passed the Senate, but gained just 50 votes in the House -- the bare minimum needed to clear the chamber.

Haslam has until Wednesday to make up his mind on the bill

Please Sign The Bill, Governor!

We've learned that Gov. Haslam plans to make a decision on the Animal Abuse Reporting Bill this week -- today or tomorrow! We need YOU to contact him right away and ask him to SIGN the bill. This is TN HB 1191/SB 1248. It requires someone working undercover to report cruelty and share their photos or video of animal abuse with law enforcement within 48 hours.

We need you to CALL or E-MAIL the governor NOW! (615) 741-2001 ; e-mail bill.haslam@tn.gov

Wayne Pacelle is in Nashville right now. Please help us STOP HSUS. Call or e-mail the governor NOW! (615) 741-2001 ; e-mail bill.haslam@tn.gov Ask him to SIGN THE BILL!

There is no good reason for animals to continue to suffer while people go on filming them being abused for weeks or months. We need TN HB 1191/SB 1248 to be signed.


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