Today, the Oklahoma Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Affairs unanimously passed Senate Bill 349, which makes positive changes to breeder reporting requirements.
The bill repeals a section of the Commercial Pet Breeder’s and Animal Shelter Licensing Act that requires commercial breeders to file a yearly report with the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (ODAFF) that specifies the number of intact female animals held at the facility and other information about breeding operations from the prior year. The bill will now move to the full Oklahoma Senate for further consideration.
Current law requires commercial breeders to apply for licensure every year and to complete a report at the conclusion of each license year. According to the bill sponsor and the ODAFF both the application for licensure and the yearly report requires the reporting of similar information, which has created a redundancy for the ODAFF that unnecessarily takes time and resources away from other functions of the Department.
If signed into law, this bill will ultimately lessen the reporting burden on commercial pet breeders in Oklahoma.
What You Can Do:
Dog breeders in Oklahoma should contact their state senator and respectfully urge them to support SB 349. Contact information for all state senators can be found here.
AKC Government Relations continues to monitor bills in Oklahoma impacting dog owners and will provide updates. For questions or more information, contact AKC GR at doglaw@akc.org .