A bill making its way through the Texas legislature would create a new class of crimes for acts of animal rights and environmental terrorism.
The bill, HB 433 (read the full text here – PDF), defines an “animal rights or ecological terrorist organization” as,
. . . two or more persons organized for the purpose of support any politically motivated activity intended to obstruct or deter any person from participating in an activity involving animals or an activity involving natural resources.
To actually be charged with animal rights or ecological terrorism requires that an individual be found to have intentionally blocked, damaged, or otherwise physically disrupted a legal animal facility or resource.
The bill calls for up to two years in jail for those convicted, plus allows treble damages in civil lawsuits and requires the state to maintain on online registry of individuals convicted of animal rights terrorism.
Animal rights activists are up in arms over the proposed law. The Longview News-Journal quoted animal activist and attorney Kelly M. Heitkamp as saying that law smacked of “tyranny,”
This is about freedom of speech, freedom of assembly. I don’t know if anyone here cares. There are some pro-lifers here. It could be you tomorrow. … this is a ridiculous bill.
The allusion to pro-lifers is interesting, since the Supreme Court rejected appeals of a similar law that applied to the pro-life movement, the Federal Access to Clinic Entrances Act. That law provided special penalties for protesters who intentionally blocked, damaged, or otherwise physically disrupted abortion clinics. There are some differences between the two bills which make the Animal Rights and Ecoterrorism bill more susceptible to legal challenges, but there isn’t any reason that a more narrowly drafted bill couldn’t easily pass Constitutional scrutiny.
Source:
Local lawyer says animal rights bill is ‘ridiculous’. Glenn Evans, Longview News-Journal, February 19, 2003.