In yet another victory on behalf of the reptile community by USARK, the changes to the Lacey Act hidden deep in the America COMPETES act in the "CHIPS-Plus" bill have been removed!

For months USARK lobbied and members of the reptile community contacted their representatives and it worked! For now, there will be no changes to the Lacey Act.

From USARK:

We have been posting relevant updates on our main alert here (scroll down). To be brief, the “CHIPS-Plus” bill that passed in the Senate passed the House on 7/28 (243-187 vote). This bill includes some of the technology initiatives included in the America COMPETES Act, USICA, and other bills. The portions of COMPETES that were not germane to the intent of the bill (including the bad Lacey Act amendments) were not added to the CHIPS-Plus package. This should be the end of any threat from these Lacey Act amendments for this Congressional session.

For those who spent the past few months messaging, calling and writing letters, YOU DID IT! And a HUGE thank you to USARK!

Long time member, friend and nemesis of kingsnake.com, Tim Cole of Austin Reptile Service has been hit with some major heath issues. He has been in and out of the ICU. Last week he was placed in a medically induced coma due to breathing issues. It as learned that he has an enlarged thyroid and they do not know if it is cancer or not, but surgery happened yesterday. Pathology is going to take about a week. Tim is back in the ICU with breathing issues.

While Tim can be a bit of a pill at times, he has been a great asset to the reptile community. His dedication to rescue and education is amazing. His support of up and coming herpers is amazing. I can speak from personal experience that even while Tim and I would butt heads over what he could and couldn't do on this sit, he was always there to offer support and guidance with my rescue work, while badmouthing my moderation skills.

Tim is self-employeed like so very many of us are in the reptile community. It has been a few very hard years for everyone but if you could consider even donating $5.00. He has been in the ICU over a week, he has had surgery, he is eating hospital food. He has a TON of rescue animals at home. His GoFundMe can be found here.

Also Tim is a bit of an old school kinda fella. For those not local who feel so inclined, I bet he would love actual get well cards. You can mail them to:
4500 Williams Drive,
Suite 212-113
Georgetown, TX
78633

New changes to state law could impact some keepers in Alabama. The state however has opened a comment period until August 4th where you can lodge objections. Some of the more important changes to be aware of:

-Makes all king snakes (Lampropeltis spp.) and hybrids illegal to own, breed, and sell without a scientific collection permit or permit from the Commissioner. Currently, only Eastern, prairie, and black “speckled” king snakes are listed.
-Makes it illegal to own more than one box turtle (all Terrapene spp.) or sell/trade a box turtle without a scientific collection permit or permit from the Commissioner.
-There are other new rules including, but not limited to, additional protected nongame species and Eastern diamondback rattlesnake regulations.

As always, the folks at USARK have made it simple to respond. They have all the contact information and a template here. You can read the full proposal here.

There are several issues that USARK-FL is currently dealing with in Florida that they need the help of Florida Residents.

First up is a rule requiring owners to report all injuries from their animals to the authorities. This opens your medical files to the government and could also be used as violations against you. You can read more about that here This rule is coming up for a vote at the FWC meetings next week. You can learn more about attendance here.

There is also the ongoing issue of the white list and banned animals in Florida. From their most recent alert, which can be read here:

From Kristen Penney Sommers of FWC to USARK FL President Elizabeth Wisneski on June 9, 2022:
"Per our discussion yesterday, the attached list is a repository of species that we have either had risk work completed on, or species that have been suggested to have risk work conducted on. In no way is this the “white list” that your members are claiming. One of the duties of the Nonnative Fish and Wildlife program is to evaluate the risk of species that may be introduced into the state. This spreadsheet is in part documentation of our efforts to address responsibilities to all of the citizens in Florida."
While use of the term "White List" was discouraged by Sommers and other FWC staff at the last "Technical Assistance Group" (TAG) meeting, FWC did introduce the terms "Unrestricted List," "Restricted List," and "Not Allowed List."

If you are a Florida herper, you really need to follow and join USARK-FL to keep abreast of the ever changing legal environment!