On Monday, March 1, Senate Bill 1712 passed the Oklahoma senate with an overwhelming margin of 38 to eight. Introduced by Patrick Anderson (R-Enid), this bill will put an end to the tax evasion, consumer fraud and animal cruelty that have become big business in Oklahoma.

It is estimated that most of the unlicensed puppy producers do not declare themselves as a business and bypass taxes that are important to our state. Additionally, these facilities are often overcrowded and raise the animals in deplorable conditions.

Both SB 1712 and Lee Denney’s HB 2745 passed with very large margins. Although we are concentrating our efforts on supporting SB 1712, it was good to see that Oklahoma legislators recognized the seriousness of this issue in both houses.

The authors of these two bills are carrying each others’ bills in the other house (Denney is carrying Anderson’s bill in the house and Anderson is carrying Denney’s bill in the senate).

The next step for 1712 will be a vote in the OK House in the coming weeks. We need you to call, write and visit your representatives NOW, and then call again immediately before the vote.  We need people in every district around the state to participate.

Stay tuned on our blog at www.okhumane.org/blog for updates as they become available. We will share information with you as soon as we know it. We do not know right now when the bill will be heard in the House.

Most of all, THANK YOU for your support. THANK YOU for taking the time to write and call your Senators. It truly does make a difference.

We are their voice.