Let the dog fights continue

This was tucked away in the paper today:

A state bill that would have allowed police to seize property of those convicted of dogfighting failed to pass out of the Public Safety Committee on Wednesday.

The committee deadlocked on the bill, 2-2, with Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, abstaining on the vote.

Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, voted against it, and Sen. Bob Margett, R-Glendora, voted for it.

The concerns of committee members, which were raised by Romero and Margett, were that forfeitures would be unfair to property owners who did not know dogfighting was happening at their property. Margett voted for the bill despite his objections.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which opposed the bill, went further with its objections, saying any kind of forfeitures not tied to clear evidence that a profit had been made by the dogfighting would not be consistent with California law.

Rocky Rushing, the chief of staff for Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, who proposed the bill, said the legislation would be shelved for this year.

"We'll take a look at it again next year," said Rushing. "It was a good day for dogfighters and the ACLU."