Senator Barbara Favola is a Democrat from Arlington who introduced legislation prohibiting people convicted of cruelty to animals from having pets.
When her bill hit the Senate floor, she took this question from Republican Senator Mark Obenshain of Rockingham County. "Is there any provision for restoration of those rights at any point?
"Not in this bill," Favola responded. "There is not a provision for restoration."
The lack of a process to restore the right of people convicted of felony cruelty to animals to have a companion animal or own a horse was a problem for Republican Senator Mark Peake of Lynchburg.
"We restore voting rights, and we restore gun rights," Peake pointed out. "And as much as we want to restore voting rights I would think that after some period of time there would be a provision to restore animal ownership rights."
Peake and Favola worked together to craft language to make sure people convicted of felony cruelty to animals have a process to get their rights restored.
The amended bill passed the Senate on a 39 to 1 vote.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
