Reba’s Law resurrected after expiring in legislative committee 

Assemblymember Brittney Miller. (Photo: Richard Bednarski/Nevada Current)

Legislation that could land animal abusers in prison for as long as ten years passed out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee late Monday after it appeared to die last week without a vote before the Legislature’s first deadline. 

“Amendments come and go and change at rapid speed as we approach the deadline,” the committee’s chairperson, Assemblywoman Brittany Miller said during Monday’s work session, indicating her internal polling of committee members last week, as amendments were crafted in the final hours, did not bode well for the measure. “At no time was there anyone who doesn’t want to address the heinous crimes and acts of animal cruelty.”

Miller said lawmakers “don’t always have time to process” amendments, adding the committee was able to obtain a waiver allowing the Assembly Judiciary to vote Assembly Bill 381 out of committee. The bill, Reba’s Law, was “able to be resurrected,” Miller said, resulting in a “much more intense, robust bill than we had before.” 

The measure is named for Reba, a bulldog who died of heat stroke days after she was found in a sealed tote behind a business last summer. 

An amendment from the Nevada District Attorneys Association eliminated provisions that would have allowed for the prosecution of individuals who allow the abuse of an animal. 

The amendment also removes language requiring permission from the animal’s owner or a veterinarian to euthanize an animal. It instead requires a peace officer to forfeit the animal to a local government if the owner does not request a hearing within a certain time frame, or cannot be found within five business days. The local government must then decide whether to euthanize the animal or transfer ownership to a rescue organization, shelter or individual. 

Causing the death of an animal would be deemed a category B felony, and could land offenders in prison for one to ten years and a fine of not more than $10,000. 

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson complained last year he needed stiffer penalties to impose against animal abusers than those allowed by law. However, a review of cases prosecuted by Wolfson indicates he rarely seeks prison time, even in egregious cases. 

Lynn Whatford, a Clark County resident who cared for community cats in her neighborhood, spent much of the last year seeking justice for a colony of two dozen cats she says disappeared one by one. She suspects her neighbor killed them.

Nevada Voters for Animals founder Gina Greisen told lawmakers that Wolfson declined to prosecute the case after Whatford discovered a trapped cat left in her neighbor’s yard without protection from the sun and a high temperature of 114 degrees on July 25, the day the cat likely died. A veterinarian’s post mortem examination noted “it is clear (the cat) experienced extreme physical suffering in an inescapable situation, and that heat stroke is the likely cause of death in this case.” 

Whatford complained to Clark County Animal Control for months that the cats were disappearing and that she heard cries coming from her neighbor’s yard. 

“Animal Control told me I needed proof, yet the officer couldn’t access my neighbor’s property to get the proof. Animal Control referred me to Metro, but the detective wouldn’t do anything until I had proof,” Whatford said during an interview in September.

Greisen testified in support of the measure, but warned that without proper training and resources for police and animal control officers, stricter penalties will do little to help stem abuse and neglect. 

Las Vegas justice activist Leslie Turner testified in opposition and said the measure is “just another way to funnel more people into the criminal legal system,” and does nothing to address the causes of cruelty, including “mental health struggles, childhood trauma, cycles of violence, economic instability.” 

A one to ten year sentence, she noted, exceeds the one to six year sentence for child abuse. “How can we justify punishing someone more harshly for harming an animal than for harming a child? What does this say about our priorities?” she asked in written testimony, adding lawmakers should instead invest in “education, early intervention, and community-based mental health resources.”