Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, (pictured) made the successful motion to kill the bill in the House Judiciary Committee in 2005. Hart said he was concerned about overloading Idaho's prisons by creating another felony crime. "I would have that same concern" again, he said. "I think we have to look at how we're going to use our prisons, and what types of crimes we have already incarcerated people for, and I think we have to sort of manage the number of beds appropriately as we consider which crimes are the more significant ones that we ought to be incarcerating people for." He also questioned why prosecutions have been rare or nonexistent under Idaho's current misdemeanor law. "Why is that not being enforced? Is it a problem? Do we really need to increase it from a misdemeanor to a felony?" Hart asked.

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Question: What would you say to Rep. Hart, if you had a chance to discuss dog-fighting?

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