Natchez — The Mississippi House of Representatives voted to pass new dogfighting legislation Wednesday, but the bill has been considerably altered since leaving the Senate and is likely to change again.

Sen. Bob Dearing’s bill to increase penalties for dogfighters in Mississippi has had numerous amendments since the legislation was first introduced in January.

The most recent amendment, which representatives passed in a 113-1 vote with six absent, stipulates penalties for dogfighting on first conviction to a fine of between $1,000 and $5,000 with a prison sentence of up to three years — identical to current dogfighting law.

Upon a second conviction, the offender would receive a find of between $5,000 and $8,000 and imprisonment of between three and five years.

Finally, on a third conviction, the state would fine the offender between $8,000 and $10,000 and sentence them to between five and 10 years in prison.

“I’m glad they passed the bill, I’ll say that,” Dearing said. “I was not happy with the amendment.”

Although, the amendment does add penalties for second and third convictions, which the current law does not have, Dearing said he believed the bill, as is, does little more to deter first-time dogfighters than the current law.

“If you read further in the bill, you’ll see nothing has changed, really,” Dearing said. “If some sorry dude gets convicted, he’s not going to stay in Mississippi to get convicted again.”

Dearing’s original legislation would increase the penalties to include one year of imprisonment and $1,000 for each dog found on the offender’s property with a cap at 25 years’ maximum imprisonment.

Because the house passed considerable amendments to the bill, the legislation will head back to the senate for approval before heading to the governor’s desk.

Dearing said one of two things might happen in the Senate: senators may pass a motion to concur, or a motion not to concur.

In the event the Senate votes against concurring with the house, Dearing said three representatives and three senators would hold a conference in which they come to a compromise on the bill.

Dearing said he has spoken with other senators who would like to make a motion to send the bill to conference.

Dearing, too, said he favors conference, that he may get one final shot at raising penalties.

Some senators and representatives, Dearing said, believe if the dogfighting penalties rise to the extent Dearing wishes, they will surpass the penalties for child abuse.

“My answer to that is, we should raise the penalty for child abuse,” Dearing said. “It isn’t high enough anyway.”

Dearing said he does not yet know when the dogfighting bill will return to the Senate floor, but that the legislation should be on the calendar by Monday.