Legislative Alerts

On Monday, March 29, an Oklahoma Senate committee is considering a bill protecting “agritourism activities” – including activities where animals are used for education, animal shows, and “activities that historically involved the utilization of working animals and other substantially similar activities.” AKC enthusiastically supports House Bill 1620, which recognizes the importance of animal events and […]

The Connecticut Joint Committee on Human Services has voted in favor of an amended version of HB 6318, which has now been placed on the calendar of the full State House of Representatives for consideration.  Amended HB 6318 would: Make technical changes to align state law terms, such as references to “guide dog,” with federal […]

Volunteers may soon be seen throughout Colorado collecting signatures to put a measure on the November 2022 ballot that they will claim will protect animals in the state. The American Kennel Club joins many other animal welfare, livestock and animal husbandry groups in expressing grave concerns and opposition to the proposal. We urge all dog […]

Today, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS) issued its 2020 Impact Report. While acknowledging the challenges provided by COVID-19 on agency operations, APHIS Administrator Kevin Shea described 2020 as the agency’s most productive year.  Accordingly, APHIS contacted 100 percent of the facilities regulated under the Animal Welfare […]

Yesterday, after hours of testimony was presented, the Texas House Business and Industry Committee took no action on House Bill 1818.  HB 1818 would limit pet stores located in counties of more than 200,000 residents to sourcing dogs from only: (1) an animal control agency, (2) an animal shelter, (3) an animal rescue organization, or (4) […]

Two bills supported by AKC have recently been approved by Texas legislative committees. HB 652—Shelter Disease Outbreak Reporting Last week, the Texas House Committee on Public Health amended and approved HB 652. In its original version, the bill would have required animal shelters to provide notice to each person who adopts an animal from the […]

Texas House Bill 604 seeks to require animal shelters and releasing agencies, including animal rescue organizations, to scan an animal for a microchip as soon as practicable after the animal is placed in their custody.  The American Kennel Club supports this measure and believes it will help return lost or at-large animals efficiently to their […]

On Wednesday March 24 at 1:30pm, the House Environment and Transportation will hold a hearing on Senate Bill 200.   As mentioned in a previous alert, Senate Bill 200 seek to prohibit contests where the sole objective is the killing of certain wildlife for prizes or monetary awards.  It further clarifies that any prohibition will not apply to […]

The Connecticut Joint Committee on Public Safety and Security has voted in favor of SB 123, which seeks to increase penalties for injuring or killing police and search/rescue dogs.  The bill has been placed on the March 22, 2021, Senate calendar for a vote.   Supportive Connecticut residents are encouraged to email their state senator in […]

Animal rights groups that oppose the purposeful breeding of dogs have long sought to unfairly tarnish the reputation of responsible breeders and shut down regulated professionals by falsely claiming that breeders are cruel or negligent “puppy mills”. A common tactic of anti-breeder groups is to push for laws that prohibit pet retailers from selling purpose-bred […]