CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The sponsor of a bill that has angered horse owners around New Hampshire is withdrawing her proposal.
The New Hampshire Horse Council says Cornish Rep. Carla Skinder sent an e-mail early Tuesday to say she would ask that her bill be killed.
Horse owners were planning to attend a hearing on the bill Tuesday afternoon. Skinder’s note to the group said she did not want anyone to make the trip to Concord for a bill that she will not pursue.
The proposal would require horse owners to pay an annual $25 registration fee and have their horses vaccinated for rabies by a veterinarian every year.
Skinder says the law would protect public health, provide income to the state and could allow towns to set up funds to help hardup horse owners.
Horse owners say it would just hike their costs. Many administer the vaccines themselves, and say the law would require them to pay for veterinarian visits instead.
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Note: This is proof that when hundreds of informed and angry taxpayers get organized and plan to descend upon hearings for bad bills, it does have an effect.
HB 427