[PAA-Discuss] Action Needed! Animal Friendly License Plate Account
Juli3 at aol.com
Juli3 at aol.com
Sat Jun 18 07:47:49 EDT 2011
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UPDATE + YOUR ADDITIONAL HELP NEEDED !
ANIMAL FRIENDLY LICENSE PLATE ACCOUNT
THANKS TO ALL FOR YOUR PREVIOUS HELPFUL ACTIONS
IN RESPONSE TO OUR ACTION ALERTS!
Background:
As you may recall, when H.B. 1 (the State Budget Bill) passed the House
it included a holdback of over $1 million in the Animal Friendly License
Plate Account to help "balance the Budget." Although the Animal Friendly
Account is a designated account and cannot be used for anything except
spay/neuter programs, the money in that Account can be held indefinitely to help
"balance the Budget" and that is what was passed by the House. Instead of
allocating all the money in the Account, which is estimated to exceed $1.6
million, H.B. 1 as passed by the House, allocates only about $450,000 and
holds the balance in the Account to help "balance the Budget." The
purchasers of Animal Friendly License Plates did not buy them to help balance the
Budget, but instead, to help programs finance low and no cost spay/neuter
surgeries.
When H.B. 1 was sent to the Senate, the Senate Finance Committee amended
the Bill through a committee substitute (C.S.H.B. 1) which fully
appropriated all funds currently in the Specialty License Plate Accounts. This
includes the Animal Friendly License Plate Account.
Unfortunately, at the end of the regular session, the latest version of
the State Budget only incorporated the funds allocated in the original House
version of the Budget for the Animal Friendly License Plate, only $450,000
of the $1.6 Million. The House and the Senate did not resolve the
Budget and a special session was called to determine a final Budget.
UPDATE
Last week, in an effort to increase the funds allocated to the Specialty
License Plate Accounts, Representative Geanie Morrison introduced and
successfully attached a Specialty License Plate amendment to S.B. 2, the latest
version of the State Budget filed during the special session.
**Please send a thank you email to Representative Geanie Morrison.
Please thank her for attaching the amendment to increase the funds allocated for
each Specialty License Plate account.
_Click to Email: geanie.morrison at house.state.tx.us_
(mailto:geanie.morrison at house.state.tx.us)
This week S.B. 2 is headed to a Conference Committee. We will have to work
hard to keep the amendment from getting stripped out by the conference
committee.
What you can do now to help ensure that the increased funds are allocated
in the final State Budget:
Please contact the Senate and the House members of the Conference
Committee and ask them to keep Representative Morrison's amendment that increases
funds allocated in the Budget from each Specialty License Plate account.
As always, please be courteous to the legislators and their staff.
Talking points:
* The license plates were sold with the representation that the
money would be used for spay/neuter and not be held in an account to balance
the State Budget.
* Spay/neuter funds are needed now since postponement would only
allow more and more unwanted puppies and kittens to be born. A dollar spent
now is much more effective in reducing pet overpopulation than a dollar
spent two, three or four years from now.
* Not spending the money as promised is tantamount to consumer
fraud. It is both unfair and unethical to misrepresent the way these funds are
appropriated. If this were done by a private company they would be fined
by the Texas Attorney General.
* The Budget deficit is estimated at over $25 billion and $1 million
is not going to make a difference in the Budget but can make a huge
difference in the number of dogs and cats lives that will be saved.
* When it becomes known what is happening to the money in the
Account people will quit buying Animal Friendly Plates and the State's most
popular and well supported specialty license plate programs will be ruined.
Senate Conference Committee members:
(Appointed 06/13/2011)
Steve Ogden (Chair)
T: (512) 463-0105
_steve.ogden at senate.state.tx.us_ (mailto:steve.ogden at senate.state.tx.us)
Robert Duncan
T: (512) 463-0128
_robert.duncan at senate.state.tx.us_
(mailto:robert.duncan at senate.state.tx.us)
Juan Hinojosa
T: (512) 463-0120
_juan.hinojosa at senate.state.tx.us _
(mailto:juan.hinojosa at senate.state.tx.us)
Jane Nelson
T: (512) 463-0112
_jane.nelson at senate.state.tx.us_ (mailto:jane.nelson at senate.state.tx.us)
Tommy Williams
T: (512) 463-0104
_tommy.williams at senate.state.tx.us_
(mailto:tommy.williams at senate.state.tx.us)
House Conference Committee members:
(These members have not been appointed to date, but they will likely be
the same as the Regular Session Conference Committee)
Jim Pitts (Chair)
T: (512) 463-0516
_jim.pitts at house.state.tx.us_ (mailto:jim.pitts at house.state.tx.us)
Myra Crownover
T: (512) 463-0582
_myra.crownover at house.state.tx.us_
(mailto:myra.crownover at house.state.tx.us)
John Otto
T: (512) 463-0570
_john.otto at house.state.tx.us_ (mailto:john.otto at house.state.tx.us)
Sylvester Turner
T: (512) 463-0554
_sylvester.turner at house.state.tx.us_
(mailto:sylvester.turner at house.state.tx.us)
John Zerwas
T: (512) 463-0657
_john.zerwas at house.state.tx.us_ (mailto:john.zerwas at house.state.tx.us)
Thank you for taking action!
Please cross-post widely
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