Key Messages and Q & A
Key Messages
Oklahoma’s laws protecting our dogs and cats have not kept pace with what has become a $1 billion pet industry.
The American Pet Product Manufacturers Association estimates the public and industry will spend $1 billion annually buying dogs (no estimates available for cats.) This is a large industry and Oklahoma contains the second largest number of commercial pet breeders among our 50 states. In 2008, there were 475 USDA registered breeders in Oklahoma, and an estimated 600 to 1,000 unregistered breeders. The growth of unregistered breeders is much faster than the registered breeders because USDA licensing is not required for direct public sales.
Unscrupulous commercial breeders come to Oklahoma to operate puppy mills to avoid laws and policing that would shut them down in 25 other states.
The number of commercial breeders moving to Oklahoma from other states continues to grow because there is no state agency responsible for insuring standards of care and compliance or even handle complaints like most other states. USDA laws apply to only about one third of the commercial pet breeders, and provide for very few enforcement or penalty provisions. This is why over half of the states in the country have enacted laws regulating commercial dog and cat breeders, with many more states following. State leaders receive hundreds of out of state phone calls every year from disgruntled purchasers of puppies from Oklahoma. (The Commercial Breeding of dogs and cats is not made into a criminal act by this bill. It is made consistent with other businesses regulated by the state.)
Unscrupulous breeders:
Neglect and abuse our dogs and cats.
Hundreds of puppy mills, with the dogs living in abysmal conditions, have been discovered in Oklahoma over the years, usually too late to save. If commercial breeders had done a better job of self policing, then regulation would not be necessary. The puppy mill problem in Oklahoma is a national embarrassment, already having been the subject of a special series on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
Over breeding contributed to more than 60,000 dogs being euthanized in Oklahoma in 2009 alone.
Over 60,000 dogs were euthanized in Oklahoma last year. The State and your cities pay for the catching, sheltering and euthanizing services at an estimated cost of $133 per dog. The cost to the state is about $8 million dollars annually. Since these consequences are not incurred by the commercial breeders, the breeders continue to over-supply the market. No data is available on cats, but the number euthanized is estimated to be very high as well.
Currently, Oklahomans lose $140 million* over 5 years because of nonexistent or ineffective licensing and inspections regulating our commercial dog and cat breeders.
(*annual uncollected sales tax – $20 million; and, annual euthanizing services – $8 million)
Commercial sales in Oklahoma are estimated between $75 million to $200 million annually. If state sales and income taxes were collected, the Oklahoma Tax commission would collect between $7.5 million to $20 million annually. Without regulation, the state has no method for determining the taxes due.
Questions and Answers
What is a Commercial Pet Breeder?
Under SB 1712, a Commercial Pet Breeder is a person in Oklahoma who possesses eleven or more breeding female dogs or cats, and is engaged in the business of breeding these animals.
Does the state have the right to regulate Commercial Pet Breeders?
Yes. The state exercises this right through the regulation of over 48 businesses and occupations in Title 59 of the Oklahoma Statutes, where this bill will become law. A list of these businesses regulated in Title 59 is provided below.
Doesn’t SB 1712 provide for fines and penalties of up to one year imprisonment if any part of the bill is violated?
Yes, the same as numerous other Acts for professions and occupations in Title 59 contain language assessing fines and penalties of imprisonment for any violation of that particular Act. Below, those businesses are notated by the citation where the penalty is found.
For example, in 59 O.S. Sec. 2009, if the owner or proprietor of a Health Spa violates any provision of the Oklahoma Health Spa Act, that person may be charged a fine not to exceed $5,000, or imprisoned in the County Jail for not more than one year, or both the fine and imprisonment. In 59 O.S. Sec. 698.18, veterinarians are punishable by both a fine and imprisonment for up to six months if they do not possess a current license or certificate to practice veterinary medicine. Arguably, many of the commercial dog breeders possess more dogs and cats in a year than an average veterinarian will see in that same time. It makes common sense that the fines and penalties for commercial breeders should be similar for violations of the acts regulating Veterinarians.
Why would you have the Board of Commercial Pet Breeders write the rules? Why not place them in the bill so that all can see what they are going to be?
The Board will be composed of eight Oklahomans from the industry, from appointees by the veterinary school at OSU and a representative chosen by the commercial breeders themselves. These individuals are more capable of writing the rules concerning the registration and licensing of breeders than are Oklahomans not associated with the industry. Over ¾ of the Boards for the industries regulated in Title 59 were also authorized to write the rules for their particular Act.
Aren’t there other bills being offered that would do a better job of regulating commercial pet breeders?
There are two other bills, but neither treats this industry as the business it is. They place regulation of the industry under the department of Agriculture, which was created and managed to protect the United States food supply. The breeding industry for these dogs and cats should be regulated as a business, not as an agricultural occupation. An agricultural occupation is defined as cultivating the soil, raising or harvesting any agricultural commodity, including livestock, dairy, poultry, fish, bee, fruit or truck farm, plantation, ranch or orchard.
Because dogs and cats are not part of America’s food supply, they are specifically excluded from livestock in 68 O.S. Sec. 1358, A.4. which reads, “Livestock” shall not be construed to include any pet animals such as dogs, cats, birds or such other fur-bearing animals.
Other Commercial Breeder Bills
SB 1340, the Kennel Definitions Act requires any person with 25 or more intact female breeding dogs to register with the USDA. The threshold to qualify as a commercial breeder is too high to be effective. Eleven breeding female dogs can produce over 110 puppies in a year.
SB 1340 also does not provide for any enforcement. There is no Oklahoma agency named to require breeders to register with the USDA if they do not fall under USDA guidelines. There is also no Oklahoma agency empowered to enforce any of the portions of the bill that do not relate to the USDA. The bill is intended to create no new regulations on the industry and is poorly written.
HB 2745, the Oklahoma Pet Quality Assurance and Protection Act will not require the industry to possess sales tax permits and maintain records sufficient to enforce collection of sales and income tax revenue. It is administered by the State Board of Agriculture, and is voluntary. Commercial breeders are given the choice of whether or not to apply for a license. While it is better than no bill, it does little to alleviate some of the major problems existing in the industry today, such as unscrupulous breeders moving to Oklahoma to escape required licensing and inspections.
Businesses regulated in Title 59
Accountants, architects and interior designers (59 O.S. Sec. 46.17), barbers, podiatrists (59 O.S. Sec. 159.5), chiropractors (59 O.S. Sec. 161.14), cosmetologist (59 O.S. Sec. 199.6), dentist (59 O.S. Sec. 328.49), pharmacists, morticians (59 O.S. Sec. 396.24), engineers and land surveying, allopathic physicians, physicians assistants, athletic trainers, electrologists, therapeutic recreation specialists, radiologist assistants, nurses, midwives, optometrists (59 O.S Sec. 638, specifies acts), osteopathic physicians, veterinarians (59 O.S. Sec. 698.18), healing arts therapist (59 O.S. Sec. 731.4), cleaners and dry cleaners, realtors, home inspectors ( 59 O.S. Sec. 858.632), real estate appraisers, physical therapists, occupational therapists (59 O.S. Sec. 888.15), optical goods makers (59 O.S. Sec. 946), auctioneers, construction including electricians and plumbers, water works and waste water works operators (59 O.S. Sec. 1115), sanitation and environmental specialists, foresters, social workers, bail bondsmen, psychologists (59 O.S. Sec. 1374), scrap metal dealers (59 O.S. Sec. 1425), polygraph examiners (59 O.S. Sec. 1474), pawnshop owners, precious metal and gem dealers (59 O.S. Sec. 1529), hearing aid dealers and fitters, speech pathologists and audiology (59 O.S. Sec. 1621), welders, dietitians, security guards and private investigators (59 O.S. Sec. 1750.11), alarm and locksmiths (59 O.S. Sec. 1800.16), fire extinguisher mfg. and retail, (59 O.S. Sec. 1820.29), mechanical journeymen and contractors (59 O.S. Sec. 1850.11), alcohol and drug counselors, professional counselors, marital and family therapists, behavior practioners, rent to own retail businesses, health spas (59 O.S. Sec. 2009), respiratory caregivers (59 O.S. Sec. 2044), perfusionists (59 O.S. Sec. 2052), mortgage brokers, pedorthists, orthotics and prosthetics fitters, elevator makers, anesthesiologist assistants.
Statutory authority to collect sales tax for sales of dogs and cats
There is hereby levied upon all sales, not otherwise exempted in the Oklahoma Sales Tax Code, an excise tax of four and one-half percent (4.5%) of the gross receipts or gross proceeds of each sale of the following: 1. Tangible personal property… 68 O.S. 1354, A. Even dogs and cats that are sold for resale, unless to a pet shop, are subject to sales tax, because of the difficulty in collecting sales tax from those persons is extremely difficult due to the nature of their business and the lack of record keeping. See 68 O.S. 1354, 20. Tangible personal property sold to persons, peddlers, solicitors, or other salesmen, for resale when there is likelihood that this state will lose tax revenue due to the difficulty of enforcing the provisions of the Oklahoma Sales Tax Code because of … b. the nature of the business
Dogs and cats are not exempted from sales taxes. See 68 OS Sec. 1358, A. 4.
Livestock are exempted from the sales tax levied by section 1350. Seq. of this title: However, “Livestock” shall not be construed to include any pet animals such as dogs, cats, birds or such other fur-bearing animals. 68 O.S. Sec. 1358, A.4.
Outline of SB 1712
Read the full text of SB 1712
Commercial Pet Breeders Act
Placed in Title 59, professions and occupations
Defines Commercial Pet Breeder as a person or entity possessing 11 or more adult intact females engaged in the business of breeding animals for sale.
Creates the Board of Commercial Pet Breeders, consisting of eight individuals, including the executive director.
Provides that the Board will adopt rules necessary to enforce and administer the Act
Gives the Board the authority to set fees to fund the costs of enforcing and administering the Act.
Requires annual inspection of the facility of each licensed commercial breeder, said inspection to be conducted during normal business hours.
Does not require advance notice to the breeder.
Makes it illegal to operate as a commercial breeder without a license.
Requires all applicants for licensing to possess a Sales Tax Permit, issued by the Oklahoma Tax Commission.
Requires annual renewal of the license
Requires certain actions by the Commercial Breeder.
If you have any questions about this bill, please contact Christy Counts, Executive Director of the Central Oklahoma Humane Society, at info@okhumane.org or 405-286-1503.
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I wish that the level of rhetoric applied to the so-called ‘puppy mill crisis’ in OK could approach rationality, but I don’t hold out any hope for that in the foreseeable future. Because the truth of the matter is, as most of the people making this duplicitous bid for power know, the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of truly ‘commercial breeders,’ i.e. people who make a meaningful amount of revenue from the sales of puppies, have far more than 11 bitches. That number was adopted to reach as many hobby breeders as possible while still piously claiming to be ‘about the animals’ and trying to stop those nasty commercial people. And yet, these self-same hobby breeders you are dead set to eviscerate are the very ones who are running your local rescues, who are fostering needy animals and rehoming them, and who are educating the public about spaying and neutering their pets… your ALLIES in the fight against cruelty and neglect. Their thanks for this is to have you systematically attempting to proscribe their rights and restrict the freedoms that all Americans are entitled to. You have already made a tremendous start to it; the art and practice of dog breeding, once a respectable and honorable labor of love, has now been vilified, and the practice of raising puppies has gone from being admirable to being lumped in with criminals and ‘puppy mills’ no matter how carefully the babies are nurtured. Year after year, the noose tightens, and the number of animals one is allowed to own before being besmirched with the ‘commercial’ label continues to dwindle, and no end to it in sight. Your claim that “11 bitches can produce more than 110 puppies a year” is hyperbole intended to horrify, when you are well aware that this number is ridiculous. It fails to take into account that this is a worst case scenario if ALL those bitches were LARGE breeds, and ALL were bred in the same year, and ALL of them took, and ALL of them delivered the maximum number of puppies, and they ALL survived to weaning. Not a very realistic number, but it sure does fire up the troops, doesn’t it? However, many show and hobby breeders, esp those in the toy breeds, have 11 or more bitches, and yet are lucky to have 5-6 puppies a year… hardly a “commercial” establishment, but fully under the thumb of this regulation. For one thing, not ALL bitches, or even MOST bitches, in MOST people’s kennels are bred every year. Most stand fallow year after year, indeed many are never bred at all. Nor do they all take even if bred, and your assumption of 10 pups per bitch might be less fanciful if all the dogs were Labs or Goldens, but hardly rational as applied to Dachshunds or Pomeranians… You claim that we need this legislation… why? the EXISTING legislation is already sufficient to bust the people who are abusing and neglecting their dogs and cats. The problem is not one of insufficient law, it is one of insufficient enforcement. In one of the worst fiscal years for this state on record, a year when we are laying off policemen by the dozens because we cannot afford to pay their salaries, you have the gall to insist that we must tie up more resources on an issue that has been policing itself for decades. The number of ‘puppy mills’ in this state is NOT rising; the only thing that IS rising is the amount of attention applied to it, (which is good, in its own way) and the level of hysteria in the conversation about it (which is NOT good, because hysterical rhetoric does NOT make good law.) Those in favor of these restrictions do not WANT rational discourse because they need the troops knee jerk reacting from emotion, not carefully considering the real consequences of this action. And those would be, to make it even harder for good people who produce nice puppies out of carefully selected, health tested stock, to continue to offer these puppies for people to love. To make it harder for those who are already running themselves to the ragged edge of finances making certain that their charges are provided with the very best vetting, and adopting expensive health tests to rule out heritable issues in their progeny. These people will be damned as ‘uncaring’ if they are unable to afford the ludicrous and prohibitive fees built into this bill. They will be sneered at for failing to find it ‘reasonable’ that they should be forced to open their homes to random inspection by authorities who, let’s face it, will be *looking* for things to complain of and write tickets for in order to finance their activities. Add insult to injury, let’s force honest people to more oversight than is routinely applied to drug dealers, and ask them to PAY for the privilege of losing their Constitutional rights against unreasonable governmental intrusion into their home. No, the objective here is clear: breeders are evil and deserve any amount of scrutiny no matter how unreasonable, all pets must come from shelters, and the unstated agenda here, the 1000 lb gorilla in the room that NOBODY wants to acknowledge is this: once you have managed to restrict hobby breeders entirely out of existence, where CAN people go to get a healthy, thoughtfully produced puppy? CHA- CHING. And thus is PeTA’s odious objective, the removal of pets from the arms of their would-be loving owners, achieved at last. So yes, this bill will HURT animals; it will further erode the dwindling number of hobbyists trying to provide people with an alternative to pet shops and *real* commercial establishments. If no one is allowed to breed, or the restrictions on the practice are odious enough to force those few intrepid souls who ARE doing it right to give it up, then there will be no more puppies, and hence no more animal cruelty. What an ingenious, elegant solution to the problem. Perhaps we should apply the same level of ‘reasoning’ to human ills; isn’t it easy? No more people, no more cancer, no more theft, rape, child abuse, murder… Yes, I can clearly see the wisdom of this course. Carry on.
BS Alert, I’m going to need to call a BS Alert on you. You clearly must live in Perfectville where everything is perfect all the time, and all people are wonderful, fantastic, caring, compassionate individuals. Give me a break.
I’m not going to get into the horrendous… actually downright nightmarish lives that dogs are forced to lead by the clearly sub-human people that operate puppy mills. The things they showed on Oprah were NOTHING in comparison to what I’ve seen in other footage.
But let’s not get into that. Your tirade was about breeders who have smaller operations. Are there excellent breeders out there? Of course there are. Any breeder who isn’t doing anything wrong shouldn’t care if they are regulated and taxed. If a person is creating something and selling it for profit, then they should expect to regulated and taxed just like any other business proprietor. So quit crying and trying to protect the “good ones” – the “good ones” don’t need any protection.
You must be blind to the great numbers of irresponsible and inhumane “small-time” breeders out who really don’t give a *bleep* about animals or their welfare. They see a puppy and see $$$ – that’s it. They don’t raise the puppies with tender, loving care – nurturing them as if they were going to keep them – they let “Momma” (the mother bitch) worry about what nurturing the puppies do or do not get. The puppies are lucky to be de-wormed and vaccinated – two things any halfway responsible breeder automatically does with every puppy. These unscrupulous folks will also sell their puppies to anyone who will buy them – they do not care if the puppies go to a good home, if they will be taken care of, if they’re going to be tied up in a backyard and forgotten about, if they are going off to be bred themselves, if they are going to be used for dogfighting, etc…. hell, they couldn’t care less if someone was going to take a puppy home and have it for dinner, so long as it’s paid for. Maybe in your world these types of breeders don’t exist, but rest very assured, they do.
You say that some of the “hobby breeders you are dead set to eviscerate are the very ones who are running your local rescues, who are fostering needy animals and rehoming them, and who are educating the public about spaying and neutering their pets…” (quoted). Are there a few breeders out there who also rescue/rehome animals? Sure, some breeders do that. But let’s not misrepresent things. Most people/organizations who do rescue DO NOT breed animals, because they understand how ironic it would be to rescue stray/unwanted animals and yet at the same time contribute to the pet overpopulation by breeding more. Not sure about this? Go ahead, contact every rescue your can possibly find and see how many of them are also breeders. Most rescues would ask you, “Now how would that make any sense?”
Quite frankly, no one NEEDS to be breeding animals… whether large puppy mill type operations or small hobbyist type set-ups. Millions of dogs (waiting in shelters) have to be euthanized every year… millions. If millions of dogs are having to be euthanized, gee… what could that possibly mean? Oh, right… that there are already more than enough dogs out there for everyone to have a pet who wants one. But wait, some folks want “perfect” dogs. They want pure-bred dogs from a (supposed) great breeding line with papers that say so. Why? Do these papered dogs deserve love and a good home while other “imperfect” dogs do not? Sounds ridiculous, but clearly some people must think this way. I say “no thanks” to these people – I don’t want to know them, or why they believe that the life of one dog is worth more than the life of another. No thanks to people who feel it necessary to purchase a dog for hundreds, even thousands of dollars, when there are SO MANY fantastic dogs waiting to be adopted… so many fantastic dogs who will be led into a room to be put to death… for no reason other than that he/she was one of the ‘too many’.
If you led the life of an average puppy mill bitch for one day, you’d be crying out for someone to please come help you. They live it for years. If you were led into a room, with someone talking to you and telling you it’s okay, all the while getting ready to kill you, then maybe, just maybe, you’d understand the problem of overpopulation. You don’t understand either problem… the horrors of irresponsible, inhumane breeding or the sad irony that people bring millions more dogs into the world each day when millions are already having to be put down.
Unfortunately, this bill won’t solve either of those problems… but anything that can help, even a little, is something.
Given how strongly you seem to feel against this bill and your general positive portrayal of breeders, I can only guess that you yourself breed. Are you really THAT concerned about being regulated and taxed? Get over it and join the rest of us in the real world.
ELEVEN intact females? It should be two or more. Breeders should be required to pay hefty licensing fees so as to keep this useless and easily abused activity at a minimal level.
I am a small hobby breeder my dogs are inside and outside pets but my females have there babies in my home and never go outside til they are 5wks its potty training, but live in our house til its time to go to their new homes. As a breeder and animal owner/lover its very important to produce quality puppies. We need to STOP puppy millers and commercial breeders. I only have 5 Great danes 3 femals and 2 males and I tell ya its alot of work. I belive we need to have a breeders cert/license, yearly inspections and not allowed to have no more than 20 breeding dogs including males!
On another note: It will cost less in the long run that the state pays people to go to house to house and count how many dogs, cats etc (non-breeders) Give them 30 days to spay/neuter their pets. We have so many unwanted mutts and pure breds running around. People need to be RESPONSIABLE!!! People want to put blame on breeders but most of the unwanted pets are those are from pet owners being ignorant!
To the person who repled wake-up! you couldn’t be more right. NO ONE needs to breed, give up on wanting the perfect breed or pure bred! Take in an unwanted pet that’s at your local shelter, and give it a loving and nurturing home. If you were any kind of a loving human being, you would not breed, and realize there are way to many dogs and cats that are great pets and are in need of someone who cares. So as far as im concerned breeding shouldn’t be allowed period! therefore this over poplulation of animals would be under control!! And wouldn’t have to spend millions to euthanize these wonderful animals. Just my opinion, but when is it gonna stop, never if there are still breeders!!
I agree with sandy….stop the breeding! it’s a very sad thing that people think they need to have a certain kind of dog or cat, when they think they breed for the love of the animal…sorry dont”t believe you. this whole puppy mill thing, well them people should be put into cages and treated just like those poor dogs, and if they survive it then the animal lovers out their shouls be picked to torture these freaks! very very sad situation for those dogs.
Wake Up, AMEN to what you said in response to BS. You are dead on. It is about time that this state stepped up and followed the rest of the nation in responding to, regulating and stamping out puppy millers. The sad, pathetic lives of the breeding dogs, the “auctions”, the unhealthy, short lived puppies are all hallmarks of this inhumane and cruel “hobby”.
How many terribly sick puppies has my vet had to euthanize after unsuspecting, well meaning people have purchased them from millers? Let me assure you, BS, there have been many.
And bottom line. If you make money, hobbiest or not, you need to be taxed. Maybe that will knock some of the people selling puppies along 71st street in Tulsa and the people selling their puppies in the parking lot of Walmart out of the “business”.
And yes, BS has got to be a breeder. Using words like “stock” to describe dogs is miller-speak. Have been to a “stock” auction with a rescue group and it’s sad, heart breaking and disgusting on so many levels…