Texas

Legislation – What’s Hot…Texas to Review the Dog and Cat Breeders Program Rules

 

December 2024

Kelly Crouch, CFA Legislative Information Liaison

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation announced its intent to review the Dog and Cat Breeders Program Rules to determine if they need re-adoption, revision, or repeal. This is a regular housekeeping review, a process required every four years. The Notice of Intent to Review was published in the Texas Register on November 22, 2024. People have until December 23, 2024, to submit written comments on Chapter 91 at TDLR’s site.

Comments should focus on administrative rules already adopted and the purpose
of the review. The rules will be assessed according to the following criteria:

  1. whether it is obsolete,
  2. whether it reflects current legal and policy considerations, and
  3. whether it is in alignment with current TDLR procedures.

The Department is not proposing any rule changes at this time, but if it determines that changes are necessary, the changes will undergo a separate rulemaking process. They will be published in the Proposed Rules section of the Texas Register and open for public comment before final adoption. The Texas Legislature, through statutes, defines what discretion TDLR has regarding its rule making efforts.

The Dog and Cat Breeders Act requires TDLR to adopt only those rules necessary to explain the law and how it will be enforced. However, the department cannot change the exemptions benefitting dog breeders the legislature approved during the 2023 legislative session. During that session, while CFA and TICA worked with AKC and RPOA to kill the threshold reduction bill, an individual dog breeder convinced legislators to add exemptions for her interests. At that point, killing the bill was unlikely, and the cat registries submitted letters requesting cat breeders also receive those exemptions as applicable. Legislators refused to make that change then, and any effort to make that change now must go through the legislative process. If a Texas cat breeder wishes to help amend the law to include exemptions during the 2025 legislative session, please contact the CFA Legislative Group at legislation@cfa.org

You are our eyes and ears! Is detrimental legislation happening in your area? Please let us know. Contact the CFA Legislative Group at legislation@cfa.org

Legislation – What’s Hot …New Hampshire Bill Adds Deformities in Animal Abuse Bill and Texas Rules Finalized

 

December 2023

Kelly Crouch, CFA Legislative Information Liaison

New Hampshire

Fanciers sometimes wonder why the CFA Legislative Group monitors bills that often have no direct effect on them, such as animal cruelty bills. The New Hampshire House Bill 1102-FN is a prime example of why we must monitor these bills. Representative Ellen Read (District 10-D) has pre-filed a bill expected to be introduced on January 3, 2024. If enacted, that bill would add a breeding deformities section to the state animal cruelty law (RSA 644:8, III ) as follows:

“(h) Sells an animal that has a birth deformity that causes suffering, such as brachycephaly, or the intentional breeding with the intent to sell, 2 individual animals with the same birth deformity that causes suffering, such as brachycephaly”.

In §644.8, animal means a “domestic animal, a household pet or a wild animal in captivity.” Thus, it would apply to cats and dogs with brachycephaly, causing a shortened skull. This law might include Persians, Exotics, Burmese, and other breeds. A short (and unscientific!) Google search revealed up to ten cat breeds were included in various lists of affected cat breeds. The American Kennel Club identifies 16 brachycephalic dog breeds. However, “birth deformities causing suffering” is not limited to brachycephaly. Other organizations include more breeds. House Bill 1102-FN is in pre-filed status and listed as being referred to the House Committee on Environment and Agriculture.

Texas

The proposed Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation rules implementing the changes enacted in Senate Bill 876 were approved as final on December 1, 2023, by the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation. Additional rulemaking is expected to bring the Texas rules up to date with changes in federal regulations as required by the state Dog and Cat Breeder Act.

Legislation – What’s Hot … New Texas Regulations in the Works

 

September 2023

Kelly Crouch, CFA Legislative Information Liaison

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation and its governing board, the Texas Commission on Licensing and Regulation, are about to engage in the rulemaking process, not once but twice, to adopt new rules for the state’s Licensed Breeder Program. At the September 1, 2023, Licensed Breeder Advisory Committee meeting , the committee discussed why rule changes were needed. This year’s enacted Senate Bill 876, which reduced the licensing threshold and expanded the dog breeder exemptions, along with a change in fees, group record-keeping provisions, and general housekeeping issues necessitate the first proposed rule change. These rules must be expedited since affected breeders must be licensed by January 1, 2024. The committee provided its advisory vote to approve the draft of the proposed rules. Next, the Department will publish a Summary of Proposed Rule changes in the Texas Register on September 22. Then, public comments will be accepted until October 23. Instructions are available here.

Informative presentations about the Texas Administrative Procedure Act, including the rulemaking process, Open Meetings Act, and Public Information Act, were presented during the meeting for fanciers wishing to review that information. The committee will meet again on November 1, 2023.

The timeline mandated by SB 876 requires handling the second rulemaking effort dealing with recent changes to the federal standards regulation separately. The 2011 Licensed Dog and Cat Breeders Act mandates that state rules meet the federal regulations at a minimum. Thus, state rules must be updated when federal regulations change. Remember, nothing prevents the state from exceeding federal regulations and possibly opening the door to prohibitive barriers to licensing. These rule changes are expected to take longer and would delay those required by SB 876. The federal regulations are in The Animal Welfare Act and Animal Welfare Regulations “Blue Book“. The section dealing with standards is 9 C.F.R. Part 3, Subpart A; it starts on page 126.

Information about the Texas Licensed Breeders Program is available at the TDLR website.

Legislation – What’s Hot…Texas Animal Rights Activists Succeed in Lowering the Licensing Threshold for Cat and Dog Breeders

 

June 2023

Kelly Crouch, CFA Legislative Information Liaison
Sharon Coleman, CFA Legislative Legal Analyst

Animal rights activists began campaigning to reduce the licensing threshold of the ineffective Texas Dog and Cat Licensed Breeders Act after the Sunset Commission recommended eliminating the program in 2020. Failing in the 2021 legislative session, activists succeeded when Governor Abbott signed SB 876 into law on May 29, 2023. Effective September 1, 2023, the licensing threshold will be reduced from 11 breeding females to “5 or more adult intact female animals and is engaged in the business of breeding those animals for direct or indirect sale or for exchange in return for consideration.” It also eliminates the transaction threshold of not fewer than 20 transactions in a calendar year. Breeders have until January 1, 2024 to comply with the new requirements.

Legislators threw pedigreed cat breeders under the bus by refusing to provide a pedigreed cat breeder exemption comparable to the exemption added for people breeding dogs for conformation shows. The CFA Legislative Group worked with TICA to suggest similar exemption language for pedigreed cat fanciers. But bill authors Senators Flores and Whitmire, and authors of the identical House Bill 2238, Representatives Buckley, Patterson, and Lalani, ignored our requests for equity.

As a result, Texas cat breeders should review the amended law to determine if they would prefer licensing and meeting all the inspection, facility, and care requirements designed for large-scale breeders or adjusting their breeding programs for the new threshold. They should also review their public profile, such as websites, to ensure that it reflects their decision – just as they did when APHIS changed the federal pet dealer licensing exemption or for other changes, like retiring or changing cattery names.

Legislation – What’s Hot………………Update on Texas Breeder Licensing Threshold Reduction Bills Legislation

 

April 2023

Kelly Crouch, CFA Legislative Information Liaison
Sharon Coleman, CFA Legislative Legal Analyst

In March, both houses of the Texas Legislature considered identical bills that would lower the state licensing threshold for cat and dog breeders. Initially left pending in committee, House Bill 2238 and Senate Bill 876. Both committees have now voted favorably on the bills with one minor amendment for dog conformation breeders. A floor vote is the next step.

For the committee hearings, Texans commenting on both bills found they had to navigate different processes. The Texas Senate still embraces the old, familiar method of using an email form to contact individual legislators rather than the committee. But committee members often limit emails to district constituents, thus missing out on vital feedback. People can submit written testimony in person if they cannot speak at the hearing.

Committees in the House, however, can take advantage of an app that makes it easy for constituents to comment on a bill scheduled for a public hearing. People wanting to comment must affirm state residency to use the House Public Comment portal. The 100 comments on HB 2238 were submitted to the committee and then posted on the bill web page after the hearing. This process lends itself to quick, informal statements, but savvy advocates will still include a position statement at the beginning of their comment and avoid any ambiguity. Failing to do so requires the legislative staff to interpret – or misinterpret – the commenter’s position when making their tally!

The Texas House is not alone in embracing changes in the digital age. California and Washington are among those making it easier for constituents to voice their opinions to legislative committees. Some legislative bodies make it easier to contact one’s legislator, but not committees where a lot of important work is done.

The duplicate bill, HB 274, was assigned to the same committee as HB 2238 but has not been scheduled for a hearing yet.

Legislation – What’s Hot………………Texas Déjà Vu – 2021 Licensed Breeder Bills Repeated in 2023

 

February 2023

Kelly Crouch, CFA Legislative Information Liaison
Sharon Coleman, CFA Legislative Legal Analyst

Two 2021 Texas licensed breeder bills that would make participating in the legal hobby of pedigree cat breeding more difficult are seeing new life in 2023. Occasionally activists will refile legislation in future sessions if not initially successful. Such is the case with the 2023 House Bill 274 to reduce the breeder licensing threshold and HB 674 requiring breeder bill of sales.

Motivated by the 2020 Sunset Advisory Commission’s recommendation to eliminate the Licensed Breeder Program, activists sought to preserve the program by increasing the number of licensees. Both HB 274 and its predecessor SB 323, would reduce the threshold to “5 or more adult intact female animals and is engaged in the business of breeding those animals for direct or indirect sale or for exchange in return for consideration.” Currently, the numerical threshold is 11 adult intact females. House Bill 274 would also eliminate the transaction threshold of not fewer than 20 in a calendar year. Representative Vikki Goodwin (D-47, Austin) is the author of the 2023 HB 274.

House Bill 674, and its predecessor HB 3057, would require a licensed breeder to “provide to a purchaser a bill of sale for each animal sold or exchanged in return for consideration,” with six requirements and record retention by the licensee. 

Representative Barbara Gervin-Hawkins (D-120, San Antonio) is the author of both HB 674 and HB 3057 which died in the Senate. However, the 2021 threshold bill authored by Senator Royce West (D-23, Dallas) was referred to Senate committee with no action.

The 88th Texas legislative session ends May 29, 2023. The provided bill links are for the individual bills’ legislative information pages. As the session progresses, any new information will be added to these pages. A past session’s progress is not predictive of how reintroduced bills will advance; however, the history may be helpful.

EDITOR’S NOTE 3/18/2023 HB 2238 (Buckley) will be heard in The House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee will meet on Wednesday, March 22 at 8:00am in room E2.010 of the State Capitol.

EDITOR’S NOTE: On Monday, February 13, 2023, identical Republican Licensed Breeder bills were filed in both the Texas Senate and House, i.e. Senate Bill 876 (Flores | Whitmire) and House Bill 2238 (Buckley) — the exact same wording as Democrat HB 274 discussed above. There are Republican majorities in both houses and a Republican Governor, so this might be a bit of a 3-ring circus.

Texas Senate – 31 seats. 88th session stats -19 Republicans and 12 Democrats

Texas House – 150 seats, 88th session stats – 86 Republicans and 64 Democrats

Legislation – What’s Hot…………Texas Proposed Inspection Rules Affecting Licensed Breeders  

 

December 2022

Kelly Crouch, CFA Legislative Information Liaison
Sharon Coleman, CFA Legislative Legal Analyst

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) closed comments on proposed rules changes November 2022 to bring the rules into compliance with the 2021 House Bill 1560, the enacted Sunset bill for the Department. What’s Hot has previously covered the 2020 Texas Sunset Commission legislative oversite of the TDLR including its Licensed Breeder Program (see references below). The Commission’s Report originally recommended eliminating the Program for failing to meaningfully protect the public. That did not happen nor were Program specific bills enacted in the 2021 Legislature. 

These rules changes would apply to all licensees, including licensed breeders. The new rules would require inspections to be performed during regular operational hours of the licensee. The inspection could be performed with or without notice and would allow TDLR to use alternative inspections methods such as videoconferencing. Licensees, applicants, and others must cooperate while inspections are conducted. Upon completion of the inspection, TDLR will provide written results of the inspection. Different procedures may be required in individual program rules which the Licensed Breeder Program has. For now, the licensing threshold remains as defined in the Statute: Cat and dog breeder means “a person who possesses 11 or more adult intact female animals and is engaged in the business of breeding those animals for direct or indirect sale or for exchange in return for consideration and who sells or exchanges, or offers to sell or exchange, not fewer than 20 animals in a calendar year.”

What’s Hot Sunset coverage: July 2020 and July 2021

Texas Breeder Rules in the Administrative Code

Legislation – What’s Hot ….. Norway’s Unethical Breeding Case and the Revision of Animal Ordinances in Houston, Texas

 

Kelly Crouch, CFA Legislative Information Liaison
Sharon Coleman, CFA Legislative Legal Analyst

February 2022

Briefly Noted: Norway’s “Unethical Breeding” Case

In an “unethical breeding” case, Norway’s Oslo District Court has ruled the breeding of English Bulldogs and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels illegal under the country’s Animal Welfare Act 25. In an article from Belfast Live, the complaining party argued there were no healthy examples of these dogs in the country that could ethically be used for breeding. The Norwegian Kennel Club, the Norwegian Cavalier Club, the Norwegian Bulldog Club, and six breeders were defendants in the case. Cat and dog breeders in the European Union will be watching to see if this case is appealed.

Houston, TX

The Houston City Council quietly and unanimously passed the only revision since 2014 of its animal ordinances, including mandatory microchipping, hold time reductions, community cat provisions, and sourcing restrictions on pet stores. All accomplished with a single reading and vote! In a practice dating back more than six years, all proposed ordinances are considered on an emergency basis, allowing them to be passed with a single reading. As a result, an ordinance comes before the Council only once, eliminating a second opportunity for public comment within a formal hearing following which Council members can publicly address issues raised and confer with staff and legal counsel if needed. Furthermore, the draft ordinance along with a link to submit comments was linked under Proposed Ordinance Changes on the sidebar of the Administration and Regulatory Affairs Department web page, not the City Council’s web pages.

Houston is also replacing physical license tags and the entire licensing requirement provision with a microchip and registration requirement, a new practice spreading among communities when not prohibited by state law. CFA maintains that microchipping is one of several valuable tools for pet identification. However, there are many ways the microchip system can fail, especially in the United States. The decision to insert a foreign object into an animal’s body is for the owner and their veterinarian, not one mandated by the government. To give people time to comply, the council said there would be an intensive education effort during the first year before enforcement.

Another change mandates that animals impounded for running at-large two or more times must be sterilized and have their unsterilized pet registration revoked (where applicable). Hold times for at-large unmicrochipped dogs are reduced from 72 to 48 hours.

Community cats will benefit from Houston’s recognition that its feral cat policies were archaic. Embracing the concept that the unowned community cats extend beyond feral cats to socialized but unowned cats, Houston replaced the city’s feral cat provisions in the prior municipal code with ones tailored for community cat programs.

Houston also jumped on the retail pet store ban by adding animal sourcing restrictions. Only sales of pets sourced from shelters and humane organizations will be allowed. Unfortunately, the city fell into the trap of adopting an overreaching definition of humane organization that excludes both an “entity that breeds animals” or “in exchange for payment or compensation, obtains any dog or cat from a person who either breeds dogs or cats or facilitates the sale of dogs or cats that were obtained from a person who breeds dogs or cats.” Further, this definition is included with definitions of general applicability to the entire ordinance, creating unnecessary restrictions for humane organizations that do not supply pet stores, instead of limiting the restrictions to only those that do. The retail pet store sourcing restriction will become effective after one year allowing existing pet stores time to comply or cease sales.

Recent CFA Legislative Group Blog Posts: Legislation – What’s Hot . . . . . . 2022 Ushers in the New and Out the Old: States in Session this Year and a Recap of 2021 Bills (CO, CT, HI, IL, MA, NH, NY, OK, TN, and UT)

Legislation – What’s Hot . . . . . . From the Texas Sunset Commission Review to the End of the 2021 Legislative Session, What Happened with the Licensed Breeder Program?

 

July 2021

Kelly Crouch, CFA Legislative Information Liaison
Sharon Coleman, CFA Legislative Legal Analyst

Speculation about the future of the Texas Licensed Breeder Program began with the Sunset Advisory Commission recommended eliminating the Program in the June 2020 Staff Report for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR). The Sunset Advisory Commission reviews Texas agencies every 12 years to evaluate the agency’s relevancy, efficiency, and effectiveness and the programs it oversees. In the Report, the Commission recommended elimination because the Program failed to achieve the self-funding mandate, did little to protect animals based on seizure statistics, had unenforceable provisions, and the agency lacked sufficient staff to enforce it. Despite these shortcomings, animal rights activists managed to convince the Commission to reject the recommendation. However, saving the Program from elimination does not rectify the deficiencies noted by the Commission, leaving people to anticipate what the 2021 legislative session might hold for the Program.

Only three bills were introduced in the legislative session related to licensed breeders. The first of these bills, S.B. 323, was the anticipated attempt to reduce the licensing threshold from the current 11 or more intact adult females with sales of (or offers to sell or transfer) not fewer than 20 animals in a calendar year. The bill would have reduced the licensing threshold to five breeding females with no minimum sales requirement. Fortunately, it never made it out of the Senate Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs Committee.

House Bill 3057, as introduced, would have required licensed breeders to provide copies of all these bills of sale to the state comptroller and the purchaser. The bill was later amended to remove the quarterly requirement to submit the bill of sales to the comptroller. If that section had remained, people could search for a wealth of information about a breeder’s sales activities – including the types of animals sold, the purchasers, and the amount paid to the breeder. This bill passed the House, but it never made it out of the Senate Business and Commerce Committee.

The last bill, H.B. 1818, was a pet store dog and cat sourcing bill that as introduced included Texas licensed dog and cat breeders as allowed sources for pet stores to obtain for sale along with the usual “humane” sources — animal control agencies, shelters, and rescues. The first Legislative Budget Board Fiscal Note stated:

“The bill would amend the Business and Commerce Code to require pet stores in certain counties to source cats and dogs for sale from only certain types of organizations or individuals. The bill would provide a civil penalty for noncompliance.”

Sometimes pet stores are allowed to source pets from USDA licensed pet dealers with some restrictions, but “individuals” was an intolerable red flag, followed by substitution of language restricted to the usual humane sources. However, the Senate amended the bill to again include “qualified” Texas breeders and passed it on third reading, with a bipartisan 26-5 vote. Then the House did not concur in the Senate version and appointed a conference committee to negotiate final language with conferees then appointed by the Senate on the final day when this could be done; it was not, and the bill died in the Legislature.

The so-called “pet store ban” laws can also have different types of overreaching provisions that ensnare fanciers in unexpected ways, so each proposal should be checked and monitored until final disposition for detrimental amendments. For example, an entirely new kind of definition of rescue has emerged that seeks to prohibit rescues being in any way associated with breeders to keep their rescues out of pet store sales or even showcasing (See What’s Hot July 2020). Or, “pet stores” may include locations other than brick and mortar stores, such as fanciers’ businesses or even homes that might be deemed commercial. Or, there can be more extensive restriction on breeders included. Lawmakers in Euless, TX adopted a cat and dog sales ordinance in April 2021 that reads: “A person commits an offense if the person exchanges a cat or dog for consideration, regardless of the age of the cat or dog, at a location other than where the cat or dog was born.” Only specified organizations are exempt from this ordinance.

None of the shortcomings outlined by the Sunset Review Committee were addressed this year, and everyone will have to wait until the 2023 legislative session to again try to expand the scope of licensing, repeal the statue or enact other breeder incentives such as selling to pet stores, a novel idea that killed this year’s pet store ban bill.

Recent CFA Legislative Group Blog Posts: What’s Hot ………….. Burke County, North Carolina — Animal Ordinance Reform Effort Adopted in Part, June 2021

Legislation –What’s Hot . . . . 2021’s Early Bill Issues Range from Breeders to Microchips in these States: CT, HI, NH, NY, OK,and TX

 

February 2021

Kelly Crouch, CFA Legislative Information Liaison
Sharon Coleman, CFA Legislative Legal Analyst

Legislators are introducing legislation as state sessions are getting started. A few of these bills, discussed below, involve pet breeders, dealers, mandatory microchipping, and pet store source restrictions. Even this early in the year, the CFA Legislative Group is tracking more state bills than we can report on in What’s Hot, the CFALegislativeNews Facebook page, or the CFA Legislative Group blog. Some of these bills are dog only bills–at the moment. Others involve topics like animal abuse, taxation, and non-economic damages. We watch this legislation, because changes during the session could make them significant to cat fanciers. The bills summarized below come from Connecticut, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, and Texas.

The bills of note this month include:

CT S.B. 458: This bill would establish a companion animal breeder license. The fee would be set on a per animal basis and used by the Department of Agriculture for spaying and neutering programs.

HI H.B. 1287: The proposed House Bill 1287 includes a new section requiring mandatory microchipping of dogs and cats, registration, and registration information maintenance. It also amends the state licensing requirement to include “or has been implanted with a microchip” if counties “by ordinance, dispense with or modify” the state licensing requirements. The amendment also adds cats to this section. The companion bill is S.B. 1387.

NH H.B. 250: This bill would increase the licensing threshold for a pet vendor to to 35 dogs and 50 cats sold. There was another unsuccessful attempt to raise them in 2020. The thresholds were reduced in the budget bill of 2019.

NY A.B. 2601: If enacted, this bill would require anyone who breeds three or more cats or dogs for sale for profit to obtain an annual breeder license. Such breeders would be subject to the inspection, facilities, care, and record-keeping mandates included in the bill. Current law defines pet dealers as any person who engages in the sale or offers to sell more than nine (9) dogs and/or cats per year to the public or any person who engages in the sale of more than twenty-five (25) dogs and/or cats, (born and raised on their premise) per year to the public.

OK H.B. 1581: House Bill 1581 would restrict the sources of cats and dogs sold by a pet store. Unlike some other bills of this type, it would not limit sources to so-called “humane sources” only. The sale of cats and dogs from shelters and rescues would be allowed, as are cats and dogs from specified wholesalers and qualified breeders.

TXS.B. 323: In the July 2020 issue of What’s Hot, we reported that the Texas Sunset Commission recommended eliminating the Licensed Breeders Program. Since then, the Commission rejected the recommendation. Now Senator Royce West (D-23) has authored Senate Bill 323 that would, if enacted, reduce the threshold to require licensing to five breeding females and eliminating the cats or dogs sold threshold altogether.

Lawmakers will add more bills of interest to fanciers as the sessions continue. Though only a few state legislatures meet year-round, local lawmakers do meet all year. Keeping track of fifty states is one thing, but add in all the local governments, and there are over 30,000 jurisdictions in the U.S.to monitor. The CFA Legislative group needs your help in this endeavor. We call you the eyes and ears of the cat fancy for a reason. If you discover concerning legislation affecting this hobby -at any level –please contact us at legislation@cfa.org

Recent CFA Legislative Group Blog Posts:

Legislation –What’s Hot, January 2021 – PIJAC’s Letter on Essential Businesses, Legislative Sessions, and an Update on Burke County, North Carolina

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