here's a link to the workgroup's final report. from here, legislation will be drafted that (hopefully) adheres to the recommendations in this report. HB352 will likely be dropped in favor of a new bill.
ohiodnr.com/downloads/FINALREPORT-113011.pdf
the EXTREMELY broad definition of "dangerous exotic animal" has been narrowed down some in this final report. boas and most pythons are no longer on the list, however burms, retics, rocks, anacondas are still on it. there is a caveat to that, though... the workgroup recommended that the OH dept of ag be given authority to add WHATEVER ANIMALS THEY DEEM NECESSARY to the list after it's finalized. THAT IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS for ALL of us.
once the bill hits committee, there will be a couple of committee meetings to discuss the bill and any changes that the committee deems necessary. these meetings will be OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, and PUBLIC TESTIMONY will also be permitted provided notice is given in advance to the committee chairman.
simply put, WE NEED TO FLOOD THESE MEETINGS, and the more eloquent of us need to prepare testimonies. there will be relatively short notice of when the new bill(s) will be presented in committee, so if you're nearby you may need to burn a sick day at work or whatever, but we NEED people to be there when this happens! i cannot stress the importance of this enough!
once the new bill is submitted and assigned to a committee, i'll post it here. from there, you can get onto a notification list that will give you about 4 or 5 days warning about when the bill will be discussed.
if you have any questions, let me know. stay tuned...
reptiles do NOT belong on this list. PERIOD.
FINAL REPORT
