The American Kennel Club Canine Legislation Department continues to monitor developments with Ohio Senate Bill 173, and its companion, House Bill 223.  SB 173 will be considered by the Ohio Senate Local Government and Veteran’s Affairs Committee tomorrow, Tuesday, June 26th, at 10AM, during which only legislative sponsor and proponent testimony will be heard.  No […]

Massachusetts House Bill 1948, sponsored by Representative Bradford Hill, seeks to establish non-discriminatory, workable methods by which to deal with vicious and potentially dangerous dogs. It has been assigned to the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government, which will consider the bill on Monday, May 14, 2007. It is vitally important that dog owners […]

It is imperative that breeders and concerned dog owners in Washington, D.C., express their opposition to the Animal Protection Amendment Act, a recently proposed ordinance that, if adopted, will make drastic, unnecessary, and burdensome changes to current District law.  Some of the most onerous provisions of the ordinance would: Take animals outside the realm of […]

Today, the California Assembly Business and Professions Committee voted in favor of Assembly Bill 1634. The bill will now be considered by the Assembly Appropriations Committee. After today's committee hearing, several hundred fanciers who had attended distributed educational materials provided by AKC staff to their assemblymember and expressed their opposition to AB 1634. Today's developments […]

Today, the California Assembly Business and Professions Committee discussed Assembly Bill 1634, known as the California Health Pets Act. However, at the request of its sponsor, Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, the bill will be further considered at the committee's April 24th meeting, during which a vote will be taken. It is possible that AB 1634 will […]

City of San Jose The City of San Jose will hold a public meeting May 1st to discuss a host of changes to their animal control ordinance. The most important change for breeders, fanciers and concerned dog owners to be aware of is that under this new ordinance anyone who breeds an individual dog more […]

Assembly Bill 1634, the California bill that will require any dog or cat over the age of four months to be spayed or neutered will be revised with even more burdensome requirements. The bill still does not make any provision for animals in the state only for a short time or those who are competing […]

Last year, Pennsylvania Governor Rendell requested that the Department of Agriculture develop new dog law regulations.  With little input from potentially affected parties, the resulting proposals, as published in January, attempt to impose many egregious requirements upon Pennsylvania dog breeders, including: Requiring licensing of thousands of small residential hobby and show breeding households under a […]

The Canine Legislation Department is currently monitoring numerous state bills proposing laws that would ban, restrict, or limit the practice of tethering dogs. AKC recognizes that under certain circumstances, responsible tethering is an appropriate method of containing a dog. As many of these bills severely restrict a dog owner’s right to responsibly tether an animal, many […]

Texas House Bill 1355, authored by Representative Gattis, will be considered by the House County Affairs Committee, 2PM Wednesday, April 4, at the Capitol in Austin, Room E2.016. AKC’s Texas federation, the Responsible Pet Owners Alliance, has serious concerns about this bill, especially regarding the provision that a first-time offense would be considered a felony […]