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Missouri compromise passes

Missouri has a new dog breeder law that goes into effect immediately, replacing the voter-approved Proposition B that was backed by the Humane Society of the United States and set to go into effect later this year.   

Governor Jay Nixon on Wednesday signed two bills that remove the controversial restrictions Prop B would have placed on dog breeders and takes out language that would have applied to the livestock industry.  Missouri Pork Association President Don Nikodim says it’s no accident that language was put in to Prop B.

“It referred to putting those controls in place on domesticated animals. Well, you and I both know that livestock are domesticated animals,” says Nikodim. 

The final bill was one brokered by the Nixon administration, state animal welfare groups and agriculture.  

“I don’t need somebody jetting in to tell us what to do when we can do it ourselves and I am confident that the people of good will that came together for this will provide to us the two things that simply must be done,” Nixon says. “We must make conditions humane and we must allow for the continued growth of our agriculture sector.”

Senator Jolie Justus, whose Kansas City district approved Prop B, in the end, voted for this “Missouri Solution.”

 “When it comes down to it, we are going to be in a better place when all of this is done than we were when it started,” Justus says.

HSUS CEO Wayne Pacelle says “The attack on Prop B has been a shameful example of politics at its worst” that subverts the vote of the people.  Governor Nixon and the bills’ sponsors, on the other hand, say the legislation does not subvert the will of the people.