CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ahead of an upcoming vote in the Ohio House, animal advocates across the state are pushing for passage of Senate Bill 164.
The legislation would enhance Goddard's Law (named after legendary Cleveland meteorologist Dick Goddard) that was passed in 2016, classifying serious physical harm of a pet as a fifth degree felony.
"The legislature, if they pass this, will be acknowledging the really critical link between violence and cruelty towards animals and violence towards humans," Sharon Harvey said.
Harvey is the CEO and president of the Cleveland Animal Protective League. She said the new language would make the crime of animal cruelty an act of violence with a more severe penalty.
"What that does, in turn, is allow the courts to have discretion with sentencing prison time rather than diverting people to other community type control programs. In my opinion, most importantly, it makes the record not expungable or not sealable," Harvey said.
She said it's a problem they're still seeing in Cleveland, with the APL's humane law enforcement team busy each day, mostly with neglect cases, but with a fair amount of animal cruelty cases as well.
"When people commit crimes like this it is an indication that they might escalate in the future and commit violent acts against people," Harvey added.
SB 164 would also ban animal shelters from using gas chambers to euthanize pets, though Harvey said she doesn't believe many shelters still do.
"Animals, they're living beings and how we treat life and other living beings really reflects our compassion and our humanity as a society," Harvey said.
SB 164 could be voted on as early as Wednesday afternoon. If it's passed by the Ohio House, it will head to the desk of Governor Mike DeWine to be signed into law.
Harvey is urging people to call their local representatives to get the bill passed.