{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/rabbit-regulations-have-mccaskill-hopping-mad", "Rabbit regulations have McCaskill hopping mad", "2016-12-14", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Rabbit regulations have McCaskill hopping mad \r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                Wednesday, December 14, 2016\r\n            \r\n            \n\t\n\r\n            \r\n            \r\n                  \r\n                    By:\u00a0\r\n                    Deirdre Shesgreen\r\n                \r\n            \r\n            \r\n                \r\n                \r\n                \r\n            WASHINGTON \u2014 Marty Hahne\u2019s magic tricks don\u2019t work in Washington.\r\nHahne is the Springfield-area magician who became a media sensation a few years ago, when the Washington Post wrote about an obscure federal rule that required him to have a license and disaster plan for his rabbit, Casey, the furry star of his children\u2019s magic shows.\r\nThe reaction was wondrous\u2014at first.\r\nThe federal Secretary of Agriculture quashed the disaster plan requirement immediately after the Post\u2019s story was posted online. And by early 2014, lawmakers in Congress had directed the Agriculture Department to craft an exemption to the rules, so that Hahne and other magicians no longer had to submit to surprise federal bunny inspections and other silliness.\r\nNearly three years later, though, those political edicts seem like hocus pocus to Hahne, a.k.a. \u201cMarty the Magician.\u201d\r\nAgriculture Department regulators haven\u2019t finalized the exemption, so he still has to file annual paperwork for his rabbit permit, and Casey still gets regular visits from the USDA inspectors. The Ozark-based magician even has to send the feds his travel schedule if he and Casey go on any overnight trips.\r\n\u201cWhen I travel with my rabbit, like if I\u2019m going to an elementary school in Kansas City \u2026 the letter of the law says I need to fax or email them my itinerary,\u201d said Hahne, who performs at schools, libraries, and birthday parties. \u201cIt\u2019s just a real inconvenience.\u201d\r\nThe decades-old rule was originally intended to regulate zoos and circuses, but it has expanded over the years to scoop up even small \u201canimal exhibitors\u201d like Hahne. The issue captured national attention when the USDA moved to expand the rule even further\u2014requiring businesses that sell or exhibit animals to develop emergency plans for their furry friends in case of a flood, tornado or other disasters.\r\nAs Springfield doctors rein in Xanax, one woman took it pretty hard, police say  That proposal, since nixed, stemmed from a public outcry after thousands of animals were abandoned during Hurricane Katrina. Congress got involved then too\u2014passing a law requiring the Federal Emergency Management Agency to make sure rescue plans addressed the needs of individuals with pets and service animals.\r\nHahne said it\u2019s all gotten a bit out of hand.\r\n\u201cIf you have six tigers in a show, you should be inspected,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if you have one little bunny rabbit?\u201d\r\nFederal regulators have not ignored magician\u2019s bunny saga. But they have taken years to re-write the rules that require smaller animal exhibitors to get a license and inspections. And the proposed rules they\u2019ve come up with would still ensnare Hahne in their regulatory net.\r\nOn Aug. 3, more than two years after Congress called for the exemption, the Agriculture Department\u2019s animal and plant division issued a 12-page draft proposal. Under that measure, to wiggle out of the licensing and inspection requirements, magicians and other animal exhibitors can\u2019t make a living off that activity.\r\n\u201c\u2026 Persons who derive their primary source of income from exhibiting the animals, or who generate a substantial amount of money from such exhibition as determined by APHIS (the USDA\u2019s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service), would not be eligible for the exclusion,\u201d the draft rule states. The agency said Congress\u2019 legislative directive should be interpreted to mean \u201cthe activity is not a full-time job or primary source of income.\u201d\r\nBut Hahne is a full-time magician, and Casey is a regular part of his act. \u201cTheir definitions don\u2019t help me out,\u201d he said.\r\nNow, the Agriculture Department\u2019s proposal has Sen. Claire McCaskill hopping mad.\r\n\u201cI can think of no earthly reason why a magician should be subject to a burdensome registration regulation from the government for his lone rabbit,\u201d the Missouri Democrat said. \u201cI relish the opportunity to arm-wrestle bureaucrats who dropped their common sense on their way into the office.\u201d\r\nMcCaskill sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last week blasting the agency for taking so long to enact the new rule and for failing to figure out a common-sense solution to the magician\u2019s dilemma.\r\n\u201cThis is a classic example of bureaucrats in Washington identifying a potential problem but using a sledgehammer instead of a scalpel to address it,\u201d she said.\r\nLyndsay Cole, a spokeswoman for the USDA\u2019s animal and plant agency, said agency officials met with McCaskill last week to hear her concerns. She said USDA officials are now reviewing all the public comments submitted on the draft rule before finalizing it.\r\n\u201cThe intent of our proposed rule is to exempt business activities that are de minimis \u2013 meaning they are of a sufficiently small size, maintain or infrequently exhibit a small number of certain common non-dangerous animals, or own household pets that are exhibited occasionally, generate less than a substantial portion of income, and reside exclusively with the owner \u2013 from federal licensure and oversight,\u201d Cole said.\r\nHahne said he was encouraged that McCaskill decided to weigh in on the matter. But it might take more than a little magic to get the rule fixed.\r\n            \r\n             \r\n            \r\n            \n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/latest-headlines/rabbit-regulations-have-mccaskill-hopping-mad"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8876258507370949, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}