Ohio Liberty Council

There will be a third hearing on Wednesday, February 3rd at 9:30AM in Room 313 of the Ohio Statehouse for Ohio House Bill 414, the implementing legislation for the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board.  This time, the hearing is for opponent testimony.  Please see our previous posting about some of the biggest items of concern in this bill. A quick summary:

• The draft version includes definitions (130.03) which details that all horses, regardless of the purpose for which the equine are raised, are considered livestock. In other words, every horse in our state will be under the board’s authority — along with all hogs, cattle, sheep, goats, poultry, alpacas, and llamas that are raised for human food products or for fiber.
• This board will be funded by tax money, no surprise there.  What is a surprise is the once estimated cost to run the board of $170,000 has now grown to a minimum of $500,000 annually (923.46).

If you or any farmers you know would like to testify in opposition to this bill, please contact us.  You will need to have your testimony written in advance and provided to office of Margaret Ann Ruhl (Representative for District 90, and on the committee hearing the testimony), or any of the other Agriculture and Natural Resources committee members (below).  If you cannot testify in person, and you oppose the content of this bill, it’s imperative that you at least call the offices of the committee members and let them know that you oppose further taxes to pay for this board.