A hearing on a Texas kennel and breeding bill is set for Wednesday, April 1, 2009.

A rally by HSUS and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is set for Tuesday, March 31, in Oklahoma City, a day before anti-breeder legislation is scheduled for a committee vote. The legislation recently passed the House by a wide margin..

In Maine, a hearing is set for Friday, April 3, on a bill that will have a major impact on hunting and field trialing with dogs.

A bill that will have an impact on hobby breeders of purebred dogs in Washington passed the House and a Senate committee by wide margins, and can be voted on by the full Senate at any time.

This report will begin by summarizing the CFA report, and then discuss the Texas, Oklahoma, Maine and Washington legislation in separate sections.

As the Washington and Oklahoma legislation proves, the threats to dog ownership this year are very real. HSUS has amassed a war chest in excess of $120 million and that's a lot of money to use against dog owners.

Continued apathy will be your greatest enemy, and apathy accurately describes the response of most dog owners thus far. At almost every hearing, animal rights activists have outnumbered dog owners by margins of two-to-three to one.

Dog owners: The time for action is now.

The CFA Report
The Cat Fanciers Association (CFA) has done a great job in assembling a resource document of pending legislation this year.

It can be viewed online at http://www.cfa.org/exhibitors/bill-tracking.pdf .

The states are listed alphabetically in the report. To read the legislation in your state and learn about its status, search online (Google) your state's legislature and find the bill search page. Type in the number of the bill and follow the links.

Some states are facing major assaults on dog ownership on many different fronts.

New Jersey leads the pack, with 23 separate bills, followed by 18 in Illinois, 15 in Massachusetts, 14 in New York, 13 in Hawaii, nine in Tennessee, eight in Connecticut, seven in Texas, and six in New Hampshire and Florida.

Other states with more than one bill are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

Wyoming, Washington, Vermont, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Kentucky, Kansas, Delaware and Colorado face one bill apiece.

The most common kinds of legislation are about people who breed dogs, people who sell puppies, mandatory pet sterilization, puppy lemon laws, restrictions on selling dogs, and limits on the number of pets a person can own.

Texas Breeding Bill Hearing
The Texas House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee will hold a hearing on legislation that would place crippling restrictions on people who raise dogs. The hearing on House Bill 3180 is set this coming Wednesday, April 1, in Rome E2.016 at the Capitol in Austin.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance is urging all Texas dog owners to attend this hearing if possible, sign up to testify, and also submit comments to each member of the committee. Comments should be submitted by mail, fax or phone, with email as a somewhat less effective alternative. Here is a link to the committee website:
http://www.house.state.tx.us/committees/list81/350.htm . If you click on each
member's name, his or her home page and contact information will be displayed.

HB 3180 is a complex piece of legislation. Please read it for yourself at
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HB03180I.htm .

Here is a summary of its major provisions:
Anyone who owns or possesses 11 or more intact female dogs is considered to be a commercial breeder, subject to intense and crippling regulation. Most serious hobbyists fall into this category. Most professional trainers and handlers would be ensnared in this provision as well. No one could possess more than 50 intact adult dogs.

A hobby breeder is defined as someone who owns or possesses 10 or fewer intact female dogs. Most serious hobbyists would exceed this number if retired dogs, elderly dogs, dogs in competition, young dogs for evaluation and dogs for breeding are counted.

A troubling definition says that a dealer is anyone who is required by law to collect sales tax for the sale of a dog or puppy. In some municipalities, zoning ordinances say that sales tax is required on any sale of a dog.

A criminal background check is required of everyone who applies for a license as a commercial or hobby breeder.

The Department of Licensing and Regulation will inspect kennels and administer the law. This will entail annual inspections. A veterinarian or animal control officer could be called in to assist in the inspection, with the kennel owner paying for the cost. Regulation will not be with the Department of Agriculture or any other agency familiar with animal husbandry.

A seven-member advisory board will be created to oversee the law and develop regulations. People who raise dogs will not have representation on this committee.

Commercial kennels (including serious hobbyists) would have to shut down until bureaucracy runs its course, an inspection is held and a license is issued. No time limits are set for the state to act.

Intensive regulation on the care of dogs in commercial kennels would be established. These standards essentially would prohibit serious hobby breeders from raising puppies inside their home, and would require a sterile institutional environment. Paperwork also would be extensive.

Puppies could not be sold until they are 12 weeks old, and provisions for disclosures and a lemon law are included. Regulations would require kennels to employ a staff deemed to be sufficient, and formal training would be required.

Stiff fines and civil penalties are imposed for even minor violations, and the penalties could be cumulative, counting each dog and each day as a separate offense.

Maine Hunting Dogs
Dogs that kill or injure any domesticated animal could face a court order mandating euthanasia if LD 988 (same as HP 680) passes into law. This bill amends the current dangerous dog law, and is scheduled for a hearing on Friday.

This bill would have particular meaning for people who hunt with dogs or compete in field trials, as animals that are technically domesticated (such as feral cats that have no owner or wandering poultry) can be encountered far from homes or farms. Domestic waterfowl, for example, sometimes are encountered living a feral existence.

It even could include a hunting dog that is attacked by another dog, fights back in self-defense, and injures the assailant.

Under LD 988, the court could declare the dog dangerous and order euthanasia. There is no appeal.

A hearing on this legislation is scheduled for Friday, April 3, before the Joint Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee at 11 a.m. in Room 206 of the Cross State Office Building in Augusta.

The American Sporting Dog Alliance is urging all Maine dog owners to attend and testify at this hearing if possible, and also to submit comments on the legislation by phone, mail, fax and/or email.

Here is a link that shows each member of the committee. Select each official's name to be directed to his or her home page and full contact information:
http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/jt_com/acf.htm .

Please read the legislation (it is short but not sweet for dog owners):
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_124th/billpdfs/HP068001.pdf .

Oklahoma Bill Ensnares Breeders
Legislation that will affect many people who raise dogs was rescheduled and will face a vote on Wednesday, April 1, by the Senate Appropriations Committee. If the committee approves the bill, it will be sent to the full Senate. The bill already passed the state House by a wide margin.

HB 1332 was originally scheduled for a vote on March 23, but intense efforts by people who raise dogs made its passage questionable. Thus, its sponsors asked for more time to lobby the senators, and to hold rallies by PETA and HSUS supporters on Tuesday March 31.
 
The committee vote is set for Room 419-C of the State Capitol Building. The time is listed only as after the session or after the Rules Committee meeting, which is set for either 1:30 p.m. or after the session.
 
We are urging Oklahoma dog owners to contact Appropriations Committee members before Wednesday by phone, fax, mail or email to express opposition. Here is a link to the members of the committee:
http://www.oksenate.gov/committees/standing/appropriations.htm . Click on each
member's name to locate contact information.

In addition, a rally of dog owners (organized by commercial breeders with the American Canine Association) is set for 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Capitol.

The legislation is the brainchild of the Oklahoma Veterinary Medical Association (OVMA), and supposedly was meant to impact only large commercial kennels. OVMA officials have contacted the American Sporting Dog Alliance to state that the legislation is not inspired by the animal rights agenda or HSUS.

However, we must disagree. A reading of the original bill was straight out of the HSUS handbook for breeding laws. After failing to get enough support, the bill's sponsors softened it in several areas. However, we still believe that the legislation is unnecessary, as commercial kennels already are regulated federally and by state animal cruelty laws, ensnares conscientious kennel operators in needless regulation and red tape, and is very burdensome to many animal rescue groups and serious avocational breeders.

HB 1332 still requires anyone who sells or transfers 25 or more dogs and/or cats in a year to be licensed, inspected and regulated as a commercial kennel. For some breeds, this would amount to only three or four litters a year. It also specifically includes private animal rescue groups.

Fines, penalties, animal seizures and license revocations are specified, but a kennel owner is not give to opportunity to face a court of law. Appeals are administrative only, with the Department of Agriculture becoming the cop, judge, jury and executioner.

Please read HB 1332 for yourself:
http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/2009%2D10bills/hb/hb1332%5Fhflr.rtf .

Washington Bill Due For Vote

Legislation regulating people who raise dogs has passed the Senate in Washington, and also passed through a House committee. It passed by an 8-3 vote in the House Judiciary Committee on March 26, and now can be called for a final vote by the full House at any time.
 
Like the Oklahoma bill, Washington Senate Bill 5651 was softened after its introduction because of protests by dog owners. The original bill could be accurately described as inflammatory animal rights legislation that would have wantonly destroyed high quality breeding of purebred dogs in the state. It defined even small hobby breeders as puppy mills.

There have been several improvements to the legislation. However, the American Sporting Dog Alliance continues to actively oppose it for several reasons.

Chief among those reasons is the fact that it is not needed. When challenged by the American Sporting Dog Alliance, proponents of the legislation could not name a single instance when a problem at a kennel was not fully addressed by existing laws. Washington has very tough animal cruelty laws, and they can be used to shut down any poorly operated kennel.

We see no reason to subject the vast majority of kennel owners, who have high quality operations, to cumbersome bureaucracy.

Moreover, all real commercial kennels already are federally regulated. Although it's stated purpose is to regulate commercial kennels, the legislation specifically excludes any kennel that has a federal license.

That exemption tells us that commercial kennels are not the real target. In fact, the bill still specifically targets anyone who owns or possesses more than 10 sexually intact dogs over the age of six months. This group includes almost all serious hobby breeders, and some of the finest kennels in America.

The bill also effectively prohibits raising puppies in a home environment.

Here is a link to the legislative summary of the amended bill:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2009-10/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/House/5651-\
S.E%20HBR%20JUDI%2009.pdf .

This link is the actual text of the amended bill:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2009-10/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Bills/5651-\
S.E.pdf .

The American Sporting Dog Alliance urges all Washington dog owners to contact as many state senators as possible to express opposition to SB 5651. Here is a list of all state senators, with links to pages with full contact information:
http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Senators/ .

The American Sporting Dog Alliance represents owners, breeders and professionals who work with breeds of dogs that are used for hunting. We also welcome people who work with other breeds, as legislative issues affect all of us. We are a grassroots movement working to protect the rights of dog owners, and to assure that the traditional relationships between dogs and humans maintains its rightful place in American society and life. The American Sporting Dog Alliance also needs your help so that we can continue to work to protect the rights of dog owners. Your membership, participation and support are truly essential to the success of our mission. We are funded solely by your donations in order to maintain strict independence.