Excellent, about time someone stood up for animal rights, I hope they all pass

Is this the same idiot bill they spent hours debating last June before they pushed the budget through in the dark of night?

Glad to see that half billion dollar deficit is all taken care of..

...what? It's still looming?! Then why are they screwing around with crap like this?!

Bwahahahahaha this is hilarious! I am voting every one of these bumbs out of office in my district. Let's move to PRESSING MATTERS, which we all know will get rushed through at the last minute near the end of session!

Glad to see the General Ass. is hard at work covering our half-billion dollar deficit.

Oops. They're too busy pandering to people more worried about Fifi.

I think it's a terrible idea to require anyone giving an animal up for adoption to pay for spaying or neutering. What will happen is some people will just dump the animals outside instead.

Every time you turn around there's another push for across-the-board spaying. Why do these guys call themselves Defenders of Animals, when they are nothing but Defenders of Vets Whose Business Is Slow. Leave Fifi alone, will ya?

As for the other stuff -- don't we already have laws prohibiting cruelty to animals? But they are not always enforced. We need a system of reporting problems so that East Side dog owners who keep their guard dog outside in freezing temperatures can actually be prosecuted instead of tut-tutted.

None of these bills will cost the state a dime. If you want to complain about the political process, you should be complaining about the 28 million dollars going to the Lincoln dog track and to the Newport gambling facility this year alone. It's their cut from the slots or how about complaining about the 50 million dollars that went to the greyhound kennel owners since the early 90s. This state could use that money instead of cutting social agencies and jobs . These animal bills were supported by a number of animal groups in Rhode Island, and those groups clean up the mess the rest of us have made in this state. Those groups are not asking for money; they are asking for passage of bills to protect animals. That hearing was well attended and the testimony was right on target.

Dennis, the point is that stupid bills like this are taking up time. Time that SHOULD be spent solving the budget crisis that 75 years of Democrat rule has created in this state.

I think that the comments from Dennis Tabella make sense. What about all that money going to those facilities. That's millions that could have been used for better things. What is it with the negative comments about protecting animals? I read those bills. None of those bills are asking for money. How about making some comments about all that money going to the greyhound track people. Plenty of elected Republicans have allowed that in this state. It's not just Democrats. Let's see some comments about all those millions of dollars wasted instead of these stupid comments against protecting animals and by the way one of those bills helps to protect children and mothers regarding protective orders because those who commit domestic violence go after pets in order to scare a child or wife. These are not PETA people that testified in favor of those bills last night. Many of those animal rights people pushing these bills also work with children, the homeless, veterans, and abuse victims. Some of them have been given awards for their work in the community. They don't just care about animals. They know of the connection between protecting animals and protecting people. The time spent by those legislators was not wasted just because animals are not important to some people, and animal protection bills are not just issues for Democrats. Some of the most active pro animal people in this state are Republicans, including Representative Joseph Trillo, former Mayor Joseph Larisa of East Providence, and Steve Kass in the Governor’s office.

George T.