OHIO ACTION ALERT

Please take action today!

The office of the Speaker of the House (William Batchelder) is being bombarded with calls and emails from proponents of SB310, insisting that amendments to SB310 not be accepted, but that the bill be passed in its current form. Opponent testimony before the House committee was so persuasive that the AR groups and other proponents have panicked; apparently, the volume of proponent calls and emails is enormous.

Please send our own emails today to Speaker Batchelder to counteract this campaign; OPPONENT EMAILS NEED to be extremely professional and courteous. This is not the time to try and persuade Speaker Batchelder one way or the other; our only mission is to let him know how impressed we were with the House committee hearings, we felt the committee heard our concerns, and we trust that the bill will be satisfactorily amended so that it addresses public safety without doing harm to professional animal facilities.

We have included some suggested wording below (drafted by Polly Britton), but please tailor it to fit your situation so that the Speaker doesn’t receive a “form letter” type email from everyone. It should be sent to: district69@ohr.state.oh.us and please address him as “Speaker Batchelder”. Subject line should be “Hearings of House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee“.

My name is _________________ and I live in ______________ (city in Ohio). I attended the committee hearings on Senate Bill 310 and would like to take just a moment to express my sincere
appreciation for the manner in which the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee conducted these hearings. Throughout the three days of hearings this week, two of which went until
midnight, the members of the committee listened attentively to all the testimony that was given, asking many questions of the witnesses in order to gain a better understanding of all the issues
involved. Senate Bill 310 is a very complex piece of legislation, and the only way to fully understand it is to do just what the committee did --- ask many questions of many different witnesses.

As an Ohio constituent, I feel that my concerns were truly heard; and not only mine, but those of everyone who testified and those who submitted letters to be entered into the public record. No one can
say SB310 has not received a fair hearing in the House; the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee went above and beyond to afford all sides ample opportunity to be heard. The committee was
patient, professional, and above all, genuinely interested in hearing how this legislation will affect Ohio’s citizens -- those who own exotic animals and those who do not. We look forward to seeing what
amendments are adopted by the committee to further improve the bill.

Sincerely,

(Name, address and phone #)

Thank you very much for doing this today. The timing is critical. There are developments in Columbus today that are very encouraging. Please forward this message to your friends in Ohio and ask everyone to get involved.