Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Dear Mr. Taylor:

Thank you for taking the time to contact our office regarding H.R. 2811, which would prohibit pythons from being shipped or imported into the United States. We appreciate hearing from you.

H.R. 2811 was amended and approved by the Judiciary committee by voice vote on July 29, 2009. The amended version of this legislation is limited to two species of pythons that are extremely uncommon and when released into the wild, could pose a serious threat to small animals and even people. Many groups that originally opposed H.R. 2811 now support the amended version, and we cannot predict when H.R. 2811 will be scheduled for consideration by the full House.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on H.R. 2811. Please feel free to contact our office if we may be of assistance in the future.

The legislation is limited to 2 species of python? When did that happen? Which groups now support the amended version?
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Stu
Snakes N Gex.com

now that is really interesting and maybe a really good thing, if Nelson is hell bent to get his bill passed though the senate he may have to compromise it to fit the other bill to clear the full house.

This is common knowledge and there has to be a reconciliation on both bills to be voted on by both the house and the senate. That is Rep. Meek's version of the bill. However Sen Nelson amended the senate version which was the same as Meek's to include the 9 species instead of just the 2. That is what USARK is trying to do now with the lobbiest and our efforts to contact our local Senator's and Rep. to at least drop Boa's from the list. This is a serious UPHILL battle but we still have a chance to amend to go back to the 2 species or at least delete the Boa's. THIS IS WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW USARK'S INSTRUCTIONS. I'm against a ban of anything but make no mistake some sort of bill will be amended and passed by the house and senate. It is up to us to do everything possible to educate and hopefully influence our local Rep. and Senators to make this bill the least harmful to the Herp. Community. Sen. Nelson and Rep. Meek's bills were the same until the new Rodda "grey paper" was introduced as real science. At this point Nelson and his committee ammended their version to include the 9 species Rodda recomended. Once reconciled by the house and senate the bill could be voted on by both the Senate and the House of Rep. OR tagged on another existing bill and be sent to President Obama to sign WITHOUT a vote and then would become law if signed. The latter "piggyback or ryder" way of passing this bill is perhaps the most dangerous to us and is commonly done on many bills as a way to expedite the whole process. "IT AIN'T OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS" so lets keep up the good fight....
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Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com