A bill that would require plaintiffs trying to halt horse slaughter facilities to post large bonds up front probably violates the state constitution, the attorney general says.
Tennessee bill constitutionally suspect
House Bill that requires people who sue horse slaughters to post a bond equal to 20 percent of the estimated cost of building a horse slaughterhouse is constitutionally suspect.
House Bill 3619, which requires people who sue horse slaughters to post a bond equal to 20 percent of the estimated cost of building a horse slaughterhouse, is constitutionally suspect under Tennessee’s Open Courts Clause, Attorney General Robert Cooper says in an opinion released Thursday.
Article 1, section 17 of Tennessee’s constitution says, “That all courts shall be open; and every man, for an injury done him in his lands, goods, person or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law, and right and justice administered without sale, denial or delay.”
The federal government stopped funding for inspections of horse slaughterhouses in 2006, effectively killing the industry in the United States, but some Tennessee lawmakers have pressed for horse slaughter legislation in case it is revived.
Advocates say domestic horse slaughter would allow for more humane destruction of horses and keep horses from being shipped instead to Canada and Mexico. Opponents say horse slaughterhouses cause environmental problems and that horse slaughter practices are inhumane.
A vote on the bill has been scheduled in the state House of Representatives for Monday, April 9, 2012. No action has been taken on the measure in the Senate.
Posted: April 6, 2012 by R.T. Fitch in Horse News, story by Chas Sisk of The Tennessean