Averill described growing up in a multi-generational mixed-farming family, taking over its PMU operation in 1989, and managing a large mare herd. He recounted a required rhinopneumonitis vaccination program and testified that four of nine mares belonging to a friend aborted after a third dose administered in his barn; he also described later neurological problems he observed in several foals and linked those experiences to his longstanding concerns about vaccination requirements. Averill then discussed Bill 22, the Animal Protection Amendment Act, 2026, focusing on what he viewed as expanded enforcement authority, increased fines, animal-seizure powers, and the relationship he perceived between recent equine herpes restrictions and vaccination requirements. He described public efforts to raise concerns, difficulties communicating with government authorities, and separate regulatory conflicts involving a structured-water technology company he co-founded. Commissioners questioned him about avenues for raising concerns, the vaccination he was referring to, and the meaning of PMU.