Tuesday April 17th at 10:45 will be the 3rd Hearing of SB310 before the Agriculture, Environment & Natural Resources Committee. Please come to this Hearing if you can! We need to show the same kind of strength we did last month. This hearing will include proponents and opponents. That means HSUS and other radical members of the Animal Rights Industry will be in attendance. Don't let them show up the Reptile Nation!!! Call in sick... Just be there!
Andrew Wyatt and USARK staff will be in attendance. USARK strongly opposes SB310! We will be handing out NO SB310 pins to anyone who wants to oppose the bill. If you think you will get some kind of special deal from law makers for not opposing the SB310 you are making a mistake and potentially weaken the opposition. Don't be fooled. USARK urges everyone to oppose SB310!
We need a MASSIVE Phone Call Campaign for Monday and Tuesday (during business hours 8am-5pm EST). Start calling the Committee Offices at 8am Monday morning. Be polite!
Call In Campaign:
Senator Cliff Hite (Chairman)- Phone: (614) 466-8150
Senator Tim Schaffer (Vice Chair)- Phone: (614) 466-5838
Senator Lou Gentile- Phone: (614) 466-6508
Senator Troy Balderson (Sponsor)- Phone: (614) 466-8076
Senator Dave Burke- Phone: (614) 466-8049
Senator Capri Cafaro- Phone: (614) 466-7182
Senator Gayle Manning- Phone: (614) 644-7613
Senator Bob Peterson- Phone: (614) 466-8156
Senator Joe Schiavoni- Phone: (614) 466-8285
Sample script: (Make it your own and tell your story. Keep it brief and polite)
My name is_________. I am an Ohio resident and I would like to respectfully register my opposition to SB 310. I have grave concerns for the negative and unnecessary impact of SB 310. No one at the Governors Office, Bill Sponsor's, ODA nor ODNR has been able to argue reason or fact to suggest that ANY reptiles present ANY public safety risk. It is simply impossible to make a logical argument that reptiles pose a public safety risk in our state. Reptiles were not involved in the situation in Zanesville.
SB 310 is over reaching and prohibitive, and will have a negative impact on me and my family. The trade in high quality captive reptiles in the state of Ohio is approximately $30 million per year. There are tens of thousands of people and hundreds of thousands of animals involved. More than 90% of the impact of SB 310 is to the reptile industry; and again, reptiles were not involved with Zanesville and pose virtually zero public safety risk.
Please remove ALL reptiles from SB 310. NO on SB 310.