With the ever-increasing amount of dog friendly beaches, parks and other city open spaces, it’s clear that people love their pets. Small dogs are toted around in their owner’s handbags while big dogs drag their owner’s behind them on leashes, the line between owner and pet constantly blurred into one between parent and child.
It’s this love for animals that drove University of San Diego students to fight for animal safety by lobbying for a senate bill that would include pets in restraining orders in domestic violence cases, with the help of Senator Sheila Kuehl (D-23rd), who officially authored SB 353.
According to Gretchen Pelletier, one of four graduate students at USD’s School of Leadership & Education Sciences working on the legislation as part of a class assignment, the goal of creating such a law is to raise awareness of a growing problem as well as creating another tool for victims.
“To create awareness of the connection between domestic violence and animal abuse and also to provide another tool,” Pelletier said, “a small but significant tool for victim’s of domestic violence to use against their batterers.”
According to Pelletier and her team ” Carolyn Smyth, Darla Trapp and Renee Scherr ” 71 percent of pet-owning women in shelters reported that a pet had been threatened, injured or killed by their abuser.
“If someone is on the line,” Pelletier said a victim unsure if they should seek help, “this might push them in the direction of getting out. It’s an empowering tool for people.”
The team began working on the project September 2006, as part of a nonprofit leadership and management program on campus.
“The assignment for the class is to pick an issue and you literally take it up to Sacramento,” Pelletier said.
The group decided to focus on animals and domestic violence because it was an issue close to each team member’s heart.
“Two of the women work in domestic violence counseling and we all have dogs,” Pelletier said.
As Scherr was researching similar Maine legislation, which passed last year, she discovered another USD student was unknowingly working on the same project.
“They came in at exactly the right time,” said Sarah Speed, a USD law student who had been working on the legislation for a year before joining forces with Pelletier’s group.
“They had a ton of background in how to approach lobbyists, how to put together logos and fact sheets”¦and then I brought the legal point of view,” she said as the group prepared to find a legislator to author the bill
“It was surprisingly easy,” Speed said of finding a senator to author the bill. “The Humane Society told us that Senator Kuehl would be ideal because of her history in working with domestic violence issues. She has a lot of stature in the legislature.”
Pelletier was also impressed with her experience in Sacramento.
“We were just so pleased with the reception we got up there,” she said. “That’s their job, they’re supposed to listen to their constituents and so we were really surprised that they actually were. It was really kind of amazing.”
Kuehl is also on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was the first committee, consisting of five senators, to hear the legislation.
“[Kuehl] had her staff come up with new language and spoke with interested parties”¦to see if that change would be feasible,” Speed said.
On Wednesday, April 11, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bill with a 3-1-1 vote. The bill then proceeded to the Appropriations Committee, who heard the bill Monday, April 23.
The committee passed the bill without a hearing, as Speed optimistically anticipated.Next the bill will go to the Senate floor for discussion, open to questions and criticisms by actual Senate members, according to Speed. If the Senate makes no changes the bill will go straight to the governor’s office.
The bill is currently at the Senate floor and is awaiting the third reading of the bill for discussion, tentatively scheduled for Monday, May 7.If the Senate does amend the bill it will pass forward to the California State Assembly for approval or more discussion. If the Assembly had major changes or provisions, the bill would go back to the Senate for approval. Because the bill is short without complicated language, Speed does not anticipate any major changes along the way.
“If they [the Senate] pass it with a yes vote, that means that the Senate has accepted it as amended or as presented and the Assembly has also accepted it as amended by the Senate. Then it would go to the governor’s office,” Speed explained. “That would be the final approval. If he signs it, we’re golden.”
If the bill is approved and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the law would go into effect January 1, 2008.
The group is optimistic that their bill will pass without any roadblocks.
“We got a great reception and really no opposition right off the bat. It’s been kind of a golden bill,” Speed said.
“We’re really hopeful. It’s been a dream so far.”