Saturday, April 1, 2017

Call to Action: Congress Attempting to Nullify DC Laws...Again

"Hands off DC" protest
Photo by Ted Eytan (Creative Commons)
We were asked to pass along this breaking news from DC citizens working to preserve DC’s laws from Congressional meddling:

The Congressional Committee in charge of DC is quietly moving to overturn DC’s “poop scoop” law. Rep. Chaffetz calls it a case of “correction of local government overreach into the private lives of pets.”

Late tonight we learned that Rep. Jason Chaffetz, in his capacity as chairman of the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has taken steps toward overturning one of DC’s clean environment laws – DC poop-scoop law (900.7 and 900.8 in the DC Code), on the grounds that “the DC government has no right to intervene in the normal way that privately-owned pets can relieve themselves, following their own God-given nature.”

In a bill titled “The Canine Freedom to Eliminate” Act, a dog owner in the District of Columbia “cannot be compelled to serve as a toilet attendant to an animal.” While Rep. Chaffetz declined to answer any questions about the bill, his chief legislative aide, Braun T. Urhd, commented, “It’s typical of the ‘nanny state’ mentality of DC government to try to make people pick up after someone else. We don’t want this type of government mandate. It is within Congress’ purview to set it right, and that’s just what we intend to do.”

As if anticipating the objections from environmentalists concerned with hazards from dog feces left on streets and yards, Mr. Urhd pointed to a soil-analysis website showing that within six weeks, normal rainfall, wind, and other natural phenomena will naturally degrade and break down and/or wash away the typical amount of waste a dog would leave behind in a single incident. The DC government’s regulations are therefore unnecessary, according to this analysis. A domain search shows that the website is maintained by a research organization with funding from climate-change-denying industrial interests.

The website on the natural decay of dog waste is at this link:

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- Peggy Robin and the Cleveland Park Listserv Moderators

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