Horse Slaughter bill passes.

Forbes Magazine
Montana Bill to Encourage Investment in Horse Processing Becomes Law!!!
The Associated Press
May 1, 2009
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/05/01/ap6369274.html

HELENA - Legislation to allow investor-owned horse slaughterhouses in
Montana and limit opportunities for legal action against them became
law on Friday, after Gov. Brian Schweitzer neither signed nor vetoed
the measure. Friday was the deadline for Schweitzer to act and, with
no action by him, House Bill 418 automatically became law.

The bill includes some protection against court injunctions that would
stop or delay slaughterhouse construction. The measure sponsored by
Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred, aims to limit the kind of legal
challenges that forced the last U.S. slaughterhouses, which were in
Illinois and Texas, to close in 2007.

During the 2009 legislative session, which ended Tuesday, Schweitzer
rejected the limit on legal action. He said it would strip people of
appeal rights important in environmental protection. The Legislature
then rejected the changes Schweitzer wanted. Butcher said during the
session that the governor's amendments would make the bill "an empty
shell because nobody's going to invest five to six million in a
business in Montana if they're going to be harassed."

Schweitzer has said that as an owner of livestock and horses, he
supports the humane processing of horses to produce meat for human
consumption.

His communications director, Sarah Elliott, issued a terse statement
Friday, saying only that "the governor made his opinion on this bill
known, the Legislature did the same. No action was taken and the bill
has now become law."

The bill brought lawmakers and the governor a flood of e-mails and
telephone messages, from across the country, in support of the
legislation and against it.




Makes sense to me that surplus animals be slaughtered and utilized.

Billings Gazette
Horse facility bill lapses into law
By CHARLES S. JOHNSON
Gazette State Bureau
May 2, 2009
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2009/05/02/news/state/24-horsefacility.txt

HELENA - A controversial bill encouraging the construction of horse
slaughterhouses in Montana and restricting legal challenges to such
facilities became law Friday without Gov. Brian Schweitzer's
signature.

Schweitzer refused to sign or veto the bill. Under the Montana
Constitution, a bill automatically becomes law 10 days after the
governor receives it, if he does not sign or veto it.

"The governor made his opinion on this bill known; the Legislature did
the same," said Schweitzer's spokeswoman, Sarah Elliott. "No action
was taken, and the bill has now become law."

Elliott was referring to Schweitzer's failed attempt to get the
Legislature to amend House Bill 418, by Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred.
Schweitzer asked lawmakers in early April to remove major provisions
aimed at limiting legal challenges to slaughterhouses' operating
permits.

However, the House and Senate rejected Schweitzer's proposed changes
by wide margins, so HB418 was sent to him as originally proposed.

Butcher has said the safeguards were needed to avoid the types of
legal appeals that shuttered the country's last horse slaughterhouses,
in Illinois and Texas in 2007.

HB418 was one of the most contentious bills of the 2009 Legislature,
as Montanans and out-of-state people flooded lawmakers with e-mails on
the measure.

Reached in Iowa, Butcher was pleased his bill became law - with or
without Schweitzer's signature.

"I think it was probably the best move he could make considering the
spot he was in," Butcher said.

"I think the people of Montana will really appreciate the fact that
the governor did in fact listen to the overwhelming support for the
need for a horse-processing plant, and there is a serious need for it
in Montana."

Butcher said Schweitzer obviously was "getting an incredible amount of
pressure from the out-of-state animal rights folks" and environmental
groups that "didn't like the precedent this set with (blocking)
frivolous lawsuits."

"I made it clear we didn't want to avoid clean-air and clean-water
regulations and the siting requirements," Butcher said. "I wanted
people to have a say in where it's located. Once all the hearings have
been held, once the agencies have ruled and issued all the permits,
that's where the harassment has to stop."

Three communities - Conrad, Hardin and Wolf Point - already have
contacted him to express their interest in a slaughterhouse, Butcher
said.

Now that the bill is law, Butcher said he will call companies
interested in building horse slaughterhouses.

"Realistically, the plant is going to have to be built by the
international companies that have access to the (horse meat) markets,"
Butcher said. "It's foolish for any American investors to build a
plant without being in close connection with international companies
that control the markets."

Nancy Perry, vice president of governmental affairs for the Humane
Society of the United States, which opposed HB418, questioned the
significance of the bill's becoming law.

"This bill has practically no impact and probably will be struck down
because of its unconstitutionality," she said.

Schweitzer rightly pointed out the bill's constitutional flaws, Perry
said, and "it was irresponsible of the Legislature to send it back to
him without the changes."

"Beyond that, it would be a losing proposition to attempt to open a
horse slaughtering plant in Montana since the Congress prohibits
inspection of horse meat for human consumption," Perry said. "That
meat cannot move in interstate and foreign commerce."

Schweitzer's April 3 amendatory veto suggested deleting a provision
that required challengers of a slaughterhouse to post a bond worth 20
percent of the facility's construction costs and could have made them
legally responsible for the damages the company incurred in a trial.

He also sought to delete the bill's provision that prevents courts
from stopping construction of a horse slaughterhouse once the state
has approved it.

At the time, Schweitzer said, "The appeal rights we have as citizens
for environmental protection" would be gone.



And the folks worrying about what to do with animals they can not keep have legitimate the same concerns & should have the same opportunities as beef or lamb eaters.

Good for them.

OMG thank you god the lack of horse slaughter has cost so many horse related jobs its unbeliveible what the prices of horses have done you can pretty much get as many of them as you want for free its just sad they need to start eating them again for sure why let them waste.

i tnd to have to agree iwth the idea it will be struck down. we need some horse slaughterhouses in this country but id be surprised if this legislation stands long enough to see even one plant finished and actively slaughtering horses. just my .02

Horse.... The other ridable meat.....

Most of this meat is shipped to France and other countrys, yes a plant will be built in Mt. and I don't think it will be stopped.

Remind me again what happened to the other plants.....was it some kind of federal law or regulation that shut them down?

time will tell.

I hope it goes up fast and strong I feel for horseman right now that try and earn a livin off trainin quality horses and cant sell em cuz john doe down the road will sell ya his broke down nag for $50. I got lucky whenI sold my mare 2 yrs ago I got $2000 for her and almost floored me. And my wife got $3600 for her arab which ya gotta like them dang mules to even wanna ride one.

Not to spoil your puppy, but back in the 80's those mustang ponies, they were giving away to folks, I had over 200 of them and that is what they were called back then, Slaughter horses they were used for dog food, the only thing then & im sure its probably the same now, is you had to keep them for 18 months to two years, then they were fair game for what you wanted to do with them, sell them to a packin house or to an individual their was not a barb wire fence within a 100 mile radius that would stop them from a spook, several went to dog food packin houses before the time was right, just had to get a vet before they went for his inspectio.

if they build it on a resevration then it wont be bound by the federal laws and it would probably fly.

if it is in Montana then the fed have no jurisdiction, howver, once commerce occurs between states then the fed can be involved.
I believe it to be the 10th amendment.

problem is the cross state or international lines which will allow the feds to become legally involved.

cathryn, do you raise horses for the meat market, or you just like to put your 2 cents in on subjects that don't concern your state?

they are also putting one in oregon. on the warm spring reservation. the res has no real laws unless they put them on theirselves. so they can do what they want. we are in a big need of a horse plant. you cant shoot an old one, if one dies you cant just dump it, so what are people to do with them? just let em starve till the state takes em i guess. cant hardly give a horse away round here right now, prob the same all around
JP

Why in the world did Mira even post this then? Your singular concern for your own blessed state and everyone else be darned befuddles me, to put it lightly.

Would it be OK if I applauded Montana for this law?

Clark

Mira put it in because the canadians eat em too. I agree I get tired of going to the sale barn and watching them try and sell a horse. And maybe get 20 bucks for a nice filly. On craigslist here there is free horses all the time. Glad to see an outlet for them

Good for Montana. Hope something comes of this. As mentioned, its really too bad the transportation act got written the way that it did.

As of right now I am fairly certain it is illegal for horses to cross any type of borders for the purposes of slaughter for human consumption.

Thanks for the post Mira.

Grumpy just likes to polish his own turds

you are correst on crossing borders I know for a fact that in order to race in canada you have to puta large amount of money down per each horse so as to insure you will bring it back accross the border.

I posted this because the best way to maintain healthy horse populations is by being able to realize a PROFIT for raising all horses. If some folks are willing to pay big bucks to eat horse meat rather then work the suckers into the ground it is better for the owners & more importantly,for the the horses. Horses can cross state & provincial borders but in Canada we can slaughter & kill whereas HSUS got legislation passed to prevent horse slaughter in US of A. Net result is now the horses have to travel many long tedious hours to Canada or Mexico to be processed and sold as food . HSUS has caused the horse owners & buyers major problems as horses have been devalued in the market place but people can not afford to pay to keep their better stock because of lost markets . Local slaughter houses would up the value of the horses they could sell & thus increase the profit margins. HSUS would rather a horse travel thousands of miles in a transport truck to Mexico or Canada then see a horse slaughtered in their own state of origin. To me that is a most cruel prospect.

Between my son and I, we own 4 horses. Way to go Montana. When they die, are just too old, or just too many in the wild for their own good, why not. The same people who complain about the starving children in the world, are some of the same ones that fight eating horse meat...What?
At work we bring draft horses from Canada to Japan, and none of them come back.
There's places in the states, (thousands of them), where a horse that dies of old age is just buried on the property. What a waste.

Bet that would make good fisher and marten bait.

[b]A lot of the ARA folk are pushing to have horses put down by lethal injection. Once that happens they can not be used for any animal consumptive purpose. The ARA detest use of animals as food and use lethal injection as a pretense that they actually are concerned for the horses humane death. You don't see HSUS protesting the long drive by tractor trailer to Canada and Mexico because they are more concerned with humans benefiting from profits on horse sales. The same problem is evident as Australia sends sheep on the hoof to the middle east for slaughter rather then Kosher kill them in Aussie slaughter houses and send the FROZEN meat to the middle east.. The ARA refuse to accept the reality that in both the Horse trade & sheep trades they have made things worse for the animals as they face long trips over ocean or land top far away slaughter houses.[/b]

did everyone forget the great state of Montana borders Canada? Conrad is only a hour from the Canadian Border. Only one thats going to be able to stop them is Canadian Customs. Thats how they'll get around shipping.

ship the meat to Canada and then to their respective country from there

The real issue is that any province or state should be able to make the choice to have horses ,sheep & cattle slaughtered rather then become silly putty to HSUS politics.

BTW, lots of Americans came from nations where Horse meat was a staple meat in their diet. Who gives HSUS the right to tell those folks what they should eat???