Your dog’s goolies and the California Constitution

The role of testosterone in politics is often discussed, but testicles themselves rarely rate a mention. That may soon change, as seven different ballot initiatives declaring California’s dogs and cats have a constitutional right to testicles and ovaries– or something like that– are in the offing.

Government by ballot initiative is a fascinating thing.

The initiatives come in reaction to Assemblyman Lloyd Levine’s bill mandating the spaying/neutering of cats and dogs (AB 1634). The bill ended up stalled in committee during the last legislative session, but that hasn’t stopped opponents from declaring it such a clear and present danger to pets’ reproductive bits that the state constitution must be amended.

Malcolm Maclachlan, the Capitol Weekly’s man on the pet testicle beat, summarizes the current situation:

Opponents of Assemblyman Lloyd Levine’s mandatory spay/neuter bill have filed seven separate initiatives with the Secretary of State’s office. They hope to insert changes in the state Constitution barring any law mandating that owners spay or neuter their pets.

All seven measures are being pushed by members of a loose coalition calling itself We the People PETS (WPP). Jill Holt, a dog breeder and organizer who is listed as the sponsor of the one of the initiatives, characterized the effort as “totally grassroots.”

[…]

The campaign behind Levine’s AB 1634 said the WPP had big-money backers, including the American Kennel Club (AKC) and the egg industry. Bill sponsor Judie Mancuso also said some of the initiatives would have far more wide-ranging effects than just preventing a mandatory spay-neuter law. In some cases, she said, they would implement unrelated regulations long sought by breeders, the AKC or big agriculture—and harm the state’s budget in the process.

Government by ballot initiative is a fascinating thing.

Research indicts that if any of these initiatives are successful, it will be the first time the right to dog balls has been enshrined in state constitutional law.

Tags: AB 1634, AKC, ballot initiatives, egg industry, Jill Holt, Judie Mancuso, LLoyd Levine, ovaries, pets, spay/neuter, testicles