Journalist: Cole Norris (SE)
A controversial bill by Rep. Jolliff from the University of Tulsa that seeks to create a criminal registry for convicted animal abusers passed both the House and the Senate today, with a narrow 41-40 vote in the House and a 13-9 vote in the Senate. TU-507 creates a registry for those convicted of crimes under existing animal cruelty statutes, including but not limited to poisoning of animals, instigating, encouraging, or otherwise facilitating dogfights and cockfights, and general acts of cruelty towards animals. Whether or not a convicted person must register is to be determined by the judge at the time of their sentencing. Anyone who is ordered to register has ten days to comply, unless they are incarcerated.
The stated intention of the bill by the author is to create a public record of people who are a danger to animals for the sake of community awareness and the prevention of repeat offenses. Animal sales were a main use case that proponents of the bill mentioned, saying the animal cruelty offender registry could be used by animal vendors to deny service to known abusers. Critics of the bill argued that sufficiently determined individuals would simply buy animals under a false identity or obtain one through means other than legal purchases.
The registry will include the names, addresses, a complete description of appearance and photograph, and the offense for which the person was added to the registry. Individuals on the registry are required to inform the appropriate authorities when they change their address and are kept on the registry for a minimum of ten years after the offense, with repeat offenders potentially staying on it for life. Repeat offenders can also attain status as a “habitual animal cruelty offender,” at which point law enforcement authorities are allowed to inform anyone they deem necessary of the offender’s personal details.