The Role of the GSCA Legislative Liaison and How You Can Help
There are more than 150,000 Federal, State and Local elected and appointed officials in the US. Any one of them can come up with an idea for regulating any manner of commercial or private breeding and ownership of any kind of animal…and on any given day, it seems like most of them are trying. Clearly, not enough to do. Too much of the time, even the best of intentions result in horrible outcomes in the form of ill-advised regulations that are either “me-too,” aping those passed in other locations, or worse, sponsored by lobbying and political action groups, such as the Human Society of the US, resulting in burdensome regulations, breed specific restrictions, barriers on numbers of litters, limits on dogs sold annually, bars on hunting with dogs…the list is endless.
It is the mission of the GSCA to act as an information source and liaison between our membership, the AKC and pending legislation so as to keep our members informed of potential regulation and laws that may affect them. Fortunately, we’ve yet to run across any Gordon-specific legislation, but to a troubling extent, the laws these legislators and commission members come up with often affect all breeds, including ours.
So, we will seek to keep you apprised as best we can. What you can do to help is keep your ears and eyes open for what’s happening in your locality, State and region and pass it along to me. Don’t assume either we or the AKC know of it. The AKC is doing a great job monitoring all 50 States as well as National issues, but they don’t catch everything. So, as the old saw goes, if you see something, say something. Thanks in advance for your help.
Chuck Kushell
GSCA Legislative Liaison
[email protected]
1.917.923.0037 PST