 Good morning. I'm Kristen Tullo, Pennsylvania State Director with the Humane Society of the United States, and it is with great pleasure that I state there is no room for animal cruelty, as we can see with Governor Tom Wolf signing the Animal Cruelty Statute Overhaul Act 10 of 2017 into law. Representative Todd Stevens, House Bill 1238, will go into effect as of August 28th. Thank you so much for all you've done with this legislation. This marks the first significant strengthening of animal cruelty statute in Pennsylvania in the last 30 years. And this was inspired by our main man, Libre. We'd also like to recognize our hero animals here today and throughout the state, and Amy will be sharing their stories in the next few minutes about how their stories represent House Bill 1238 and those components and why we needed change. Because of advocates across the state, Pennsylvania now requires mandatory forfeiture, Senator Alway's Libre's law, added protection for horses, anti-tethering stipulations, and civil immunity for veterinarians and humane society police officers. You may be asking yourself, where do we go from here? The implementation of the new law will be critical in giving our state the much needed tools to help identify and eliminate animal cruelty and neglect in our state. Specifically, there is a high correlation between animal abuse and human violence. We'll be working with the expertise of law enforcement, humane officers, and legal counsel across our state to partner with us on delivering trainings to ensure animal cruelty crimes are taken seriously. This will benefit animals, children, and our citizens across the Commonwealth. We will continue partnering with our fantastic vet centers, equine rescues, animal shelters, and wildlife foundations, and all those who work tirelessly to protect animals. And of course, to the support of media in keeping these cruelty issues in the public's eye. As we move forward, there are three things that you can do to help animals in the state. First, if you see something, say something. Report animal cruelty to your humane society police officer or local or state law enforcement agency. Second, your voice counts. Contact your legislators. They do listen and they do want to hear from you, as we can see with the passing of the most comprehensive animal protection package in our state's history. And third, as we're doing today, support your local shelters and animal protection organizations by volunteering, donating, and always adopting. To mark the importance of this day for animals, we celebrate with the many advocates and legislators across the state who persevered for this victory. Each and every one of you continuously inspires advocacy for animals. We are the voice for the voiceless. Thank you. I have the pleasure of introducing Governor Tom Wolf, one of our humane heroes in Pennsylvania. We are extremely fortunate to have his leadership on the understanding of the link between animal abuse and human violence and why we need to take these crimes seriously. Without further ado, Governor Wolf. Thank you. Thank you very much, Kristen. And I am proud to be here. And I want to thank all of you for being here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, blue. Thank you for being here. And as Kristen said, the key thing is on Monday, August 28, Libre's law takes place. And Pennsylvania, that's Act 10, and that is going to go into effect. And I think do some wonderful things for Pennsylvania. As Kristen said, this is not just about cruelty and humane treatment of animals. There's a real correlation between the way we treat our pets and the way we treat each other. And so it's important that we do the right thing by our pets, just as it's important that we do our best, do the right thing by each other. So this landmark anti-cruelty legislative package that actually goes into effect Act 10 on Monday strengthens the penalty for animal abuse and neglect in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It increases penalties for anyone found abusing or neglecting animals. And we're here to celebrate. This is long overdue. It's long needed, and I'm proud that it's going into effect on Monday right here in Pennsylvania. And I want to thank our partners, as Kristen did, who worked so hard to get this legislation across the finish line, including Representative Todd Stevens, who's going to say a few words in just a minute, Senator Richard Allaway and Representative Ryan Bizarro. Without their leadership, this legislation would not have gone into place. And it's taken a long time. They worked long and hard to get this into place, and I think this is really important. I also want to thank Libre. You know, Libre, this is called Act 10, but in many ways it's Libre's law, and Libre was a pet who actually survived against pretty significant odds. His recovery renewed calls for legislation to prevent what happened to him. Remember happening to any other animal. And we in Harrisburg heard those calls. For far too long, we've heard stories of neglected and abused animals who suffered and died because of deplorable treatment and horrible conditions. Once again, that all changes on Monday. Because on Monday, those who would subject animals to this kind of mistreatment will face stiffer penalties for those deplorable actions. And they'll think twice before committing such terrible acts. Act 10 will enforce higher standards for the care and well-being of our pets and other animals. This law has been a long time in coming, and I'm proud that we will now hold our pet and animal owners to a higher standard of humanity. I want to thank again all of our partners for their work in making this law possible, and I am proud that Pennsylvania is now saying to the world we will not stand any longer for these deplorable actions. Thank you very much, and let me introduce one of the leaders of this effort, Representative Todd Stevens. Thank you. Well, thank you so much, Governor Wolf. You know, it is so important that now that we have the bill passed that we go ahead and make sure the public is well aware of the new provisions that are within the bill. I mean, the bill is just a piece of paper, and while it's very important, obviously we would much rather have folks take care of their animals and treat them properly than be prosecuted under these tougher penalties that are included within the bill. So, Governor Wolf, thank you so much for your leadership today in helping get the word out across Pennsylvania about these new provisions. You know, some of these provisions are going to be new for Pennsylvania in terms of the tethering piece, and it's important that the public is aware of them. Again, we're not trying to ensnare anybody. We're trying to make sure that people take care of their animals properly, and this bill will go a long way to do that, and then obviously getting the word out is the next step, and that's why we're all here today. I do just want to touch a little bit on something the Governor and also Kristen mentioned. A bill of this magnitude doesn't happen with just one person. This was a total team effort. The Governor was a big part of this, and his leadership was very helpful to get this thing through as quickly as we were able to get it through. My good friend, Senator Allaway, I know he was mentioned over in the Senate, working hard along with me and some of my partners in the House, Representative Bizarro, Representative Mark Keller, and some others, all working together, but there was a lot of help outside the Capitol too. And this was really a total team effort, and this is the way democracy should work. We had advocates from all over Pennsylvania, emailing, calling, contacting their legislators, pushing for this legislation to get done. And that really kept our feet to the fire, so to speak, in terms of moving this quickly and getting it to the Governor's desk. We also had support from a lot of stakeholders, the Veterinary Medical Association. We had support from the Humane Society of the United States, the Pennsylvania SPCA, Humane PA. We had support from all ends of the Commonwealth. As I mentioned, Representative Bizarro, he's from Erie. I'm from the southeast in Montgomery County. We had all corners of the state covered, and we were working all in unison towards the same goal. And when we all work together like that and row towards the same destination, we can get there in pretty good time, as we did with this bill. So, you know, I think it's so important that we recognize all those stakeholders. And one other stakeholder that's really important, and a little unusual, many people might think, is the Center for Children's Justice and the FOP, the DA's Association. You know, these organizations are all about public safety and protecting children in particular. As a child abuse prosecutor back in Montgomery County, I know the links between child abuse and those who abuse animals. And that's why this bill is so important for people, as the Governor mentioned. You know, how we treat our pets is unfortunately an indicator of how we treat other people. And there are links to those who commit child abuse and domestic violence, and who have committed animal abuse in the past. So that's why this bill is so important. Thank you all for being here. I really appreciate the opportunity, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to get this word out across the state so that people can treat their pets and animals more humanely and in a safer manner. It's now my pleasure and privilege to introduce our host today, Amy. Thank you so much for hosting us. We really appreciate it and all the great work you're doing here at the Humane Society for the Harrisburg Area. Thank you so much. Thank you all for coming to the Humane Society of Harrisburg Area. We appreciate this opportunity, and we're so happy to host everyone. Our officers investigate hundreds of animal cruelty cases a year, and this legislation gives us many new tools to assist us with our mission in building a better community for pets and people. Our friend Blue, who is visiting us today with his mom and HSHA team member Connie, is just one example. He was left outside of a home for months in a small enclosed area while family members of his former owner drove past him on their way to work every day, knowing he was in that condition. Occasionally they would throw food down, but it wasn't enough to stop Blue from being completely emaciated when he came in and covered in mats and dreadlocks that drug to the floor. When we shaved him down, we were shocked to find a standard poodle underneath all that hair and a sweet and loving dog that won his way into Connie's heart while he was recuperating here. The depth and breadth of this legislation grossly changes the framework for prosecuting individuals that abuse animals in the state of Pennsylvania. Not only does it add additional penalties for more egregious cases of cruelties, but it protects all animals, not just cats and dogs, which is what we usually think of when we think of this legislation. It protects animals like fry or tuck, a goat that was abandoned on a farm along with his friend that sadly was already frozen to death on the ground when our officers arrived, or baby girl, a miniature horse whose hooves were so overgrown that they had started to curl up towards her body and it was painful for her to walk, or slim, one of three horses that was locked inside a barn and allowed to starve to death by his owner. These cases are heart-wrenching and sad, but under the statute they were all summary offenses. We provide cruelty investigation service, care and hospice to all victims of animal cruelty, and this legislation is truly a win for all of them. We can't thank you enough, Governor Wolf, and all of you who worked on this legislation for giving us the much-needed tools to say no more to the abuse of animals in the state of Pennsylvania. Thank you. We'll take questions on topic at the podium, and then I'll have a gaggle off to the side if there are any other questions. Any questions on the topic? You know what you've known about Libre's Law for a while now? What makes the August 28 date different? What's the start? Clearly because it goes into place on Monday, August 28, but it gives us all a chance to, once again, make sure, as Representative Stevens said, that people are aware of the heightened expectations and standards and penalties that go along with Libre's Law. So this is another chance for us to make sure everyone's aware that things are changing for the better in Pennsylvania. We're going to expect a higher level of responsibility for our pets. And are police officers going to be doing anything different at this point, or do you mean officer? That depends on the locality, but I think you ought to talk about this. One of the things is that the hope is that this just raises awareness about how pets need to be treated well and that voluntarily people will raise their own standards, do more kind things for their pets, and if they can't, they'll make better use of organizations like the Humane Society. Do you want to say anything? Absolutely. A huge portion of what humane police officers do, and police officers in general, is education. And our hope would be that as we educate individuals that we come across that are either clearly violating the law or coming close to violating the law, that we can educate them on what the appropriate standards are. So for our organization, that will go into effect next week. We'll kind of start raising that bar. And as the Governor said, the hope is that as we all raise the standard and we all educate, we're going to see less and less of this because the bar is really being raised. Can I just add something? One component of the bill involves tethering. And until now, Pennsylvania law was silent as it related to tethering a dog outside. And no one here is advocating for tethering a dog outside. But because it was silent, nobody knew the proper way, or I guess the safest way to go ahead and tether their dog. So now that we have this law in place, there are actual provisions. So people can see, okay, look, I know the tether needs to be at least 10 feet long or three times the length of the dog, whichever is greater, things like that. We have those standards, and all those are going to go into effect next week. So the Humane Police Officers now are going to have the ability to go in and address those situations that are most egregious, where people are tethering their dog at infinitum in terrible weather conditions with no food and shelter and everything else like that. And before now, they weren't able to do that. So that's going to be one dramatic change that will occur next week. And again, why this educational campaign is so important, because the people across Pennsylvania need to know that now, look, there are standards for tethering and you need to follow them or a Humane Police Officer is going to come knocking at your door. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. We appreciate it.