I couldn’t resist the title. Bill Ruthhart has an article describing the weakening of the bill that seeks to regulate puppy mills.
No limit to the number of dogs an owner can breed. No state inspections of commercial breeding facilities. No restrictions on how often a dog can be bred.
The conference process is pretty opaque so it’s tough to know what will be left. At some point, it’s probably better for a bill to die a noble death than to live as a pale shadow.
This is a tough issue. Basically most would agree some changes need to be made in the production of dogs (and likely some other exotic animals) where the practices are very bad (one way of putting it). On the other hand there is an element of another issue involved and that is regular farm production of livestock. The effort by some organizations is to establish a foothold through something as acceptable as “puppy mills” then seek to establish the very same guidelines to large animal production. This effort has been ongoing for several years and is currently alive and well in several major state legislatures. PETA and other allies will seek simple legislation prior to seeking much more restrictive laws on all animals. This is a part of what is playing out in the legislature now.
Disappointing.