Update: Fortunately, this legislation failed.
Bill Description: If passed, this bill would establish a licensing and regulatory scheme for pet stores, breeders, dealers, shelters, and rescue groups of cats and dogs. Inspection is required prior to licensure but no standards are laid out in the bill. Rules would be required to implement this legislation and those rules would be passed through an advisory committee mechanism.
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State laws need to be strengthened to address puppy and kitten mills, but this legislation is not the answer. Instead, this legislation would establish a bureaucracy whose effect would be to rubber stamp the existing problems within the industry instead of correcting them. It hands the power of oversight of the industry to the industry itself, which does not yield concrete gains for the animals who suffer in mills and pet stores.