Legislative Alerts

Massachusetts Senate Bill 1155, which seeks to impose regulatory oversight over personal and commercial kennels, mandate annual inspections of all kennels, and create consumer protections laws, is expected to be formally adopted into a new amended bill, Senate Bill 2331, and possibly voted on by the full Senate on Thursday, March 15.  If enacted as currently written, […]

Minnesota House File 2815, which is scheduled to be considered by the House Civil Law and Data Practices Policy Committee on Thursday, March 8, seeks to make misrepresenting an animal as a service animal a misdemeanor.  All Minnesota residents are encouraged to contact the members of the committee and express support of HF 2815. The AKC […]

The Maryland House Economic Matters Committee is scheduled to consider a bill on Monday, March 12, which will prohibit retail pet stores (defined as any “for profit establishment open to the public that sells or offers for sale domestic animals to be kept as pets”) from selling any dogs or cats.  Instead, they would only […]

On Friday, March 9, 2018, the Connecticut General Assembly’s Environment Committee is scheduled to consider several dog-related bills.  The American Kennel Club (AKC) encourages all concerned Connecticut residents to contact the committee members and respectfully share their views. House Bill 5355 – This bill seeks to amend several statutes regarding how a dog may be kept […]

The Rhode Island House Health, Education, and Welfare Committee is scheduled to consider more dog-related bills at its Wednesday, March 7 hearing.   One of these bills, House Bill 7609, may impact dog handlers.  The American Kennel Club (AKC) encourages all concerned Rhode Island residents to contact the committee members and respectfully share their views. House […]

Companion Minnesota bills, House File 3157 and Senate File 2646, seek to make it a crime to misrepresent a dog as a service animal or a service animal in training.   First violations would qualify as petty misdemeanors with fines up to $100.  Second or subsequent violations would qualify as misdemeanors with 30 hours of community service for an […]

New Hampshire Senate Bill 569, which seeks to expand those considered “commercial kennels” by the state and create bond for care requirements, has been amended by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.  The bill may be voted on during the next session of the full New Hampshire State Senate, which is currently scheduled for […]

The Onondaga County Legislature Public Safety Committee will consider new regulations regarding tethering during its hearing tomorrow (Tuesday, March 6). Two separate proposals are expected to be considered: “Proposal A” would prohibit anyone from tethering a dog outdoors for more than 2 hours when the temperature is lower than 32 degrees or higher than 90 degrees […]

On Wednesday, February 28, the New Jersey communities of Red Bank and Kenilworth are both expected to consider substantively similar ordinances that will restrict pet stores to selling only dogs sourced from shelters and rescues.  The similarity of these proposals reflect a radical agenda aimed at limiting the purposeful breeding of dogs through restricting consumer […]

The Colorado House Local Government Committee has approved a bill that would stop homeowners’ associations from discriminating against dog owners. House Bill 1126 as amended by the committee states that HOAs may not prohibit residents from keeping dogs based solely on the dog’s breed, weight, or size classification. A provision that would have still allowed […]