SB 1340 has passed the Senate and today (March 16th, 2010) has been assigned to the Economic Development and Financial Services committee in the House. Contact information below.
Kelly Crouch
TICA SC Legislative Liaison
SB 1340 attempts to distinguish between commercial, hobby and show breeders based upon arbitrary numbers, whether the breeder sells wholesale, and the primary purpose of the breeding program. Commercial breeders "harbor" (not just own) 25 intact females for the primary purpose of breeding animals for sale directly or indirectly to the public. A hobby breeder is one who harbors less then 25 intact females for the purpose of breeding animals for sale directly to the public (not through dealers, brokers, wholesale). A show breeder is one who has no more than 10 intact females, breeds primarily for the purpose of exhibiting or showing the animals at state or municipal or county or registry-club sanctioned events or shows, improving the breed or selling the animals for the specific goal of exhibition or exhibiting. It would not be uncommon for show breeders to fail to meet the numbers requirement while meeting the other requirements.
SB 1340 further requires that those defined as commercial breeders must also be licensed by the USDA. The definition of comercial breeders (those who sell wholesale and not solely directly to the public) under the Animal Welfare Act conflicts with the definitons contained in SB 1340 meaning a number of breeders who would be commercial breeders under SB 1340 will never meet the licensing requirements of SB 1340. The USDA is not going to be willing to significantly add to their work load to cover breeders not covered by the AWA simply because state law desires it. SB 1340 essentially denies many who would be defined as commercial breeders the ability to be licensed at all!
Definitions of commercial breeders should be based solely on qualititative factors, not numbers, and must be consistent with the AWA definitions if USDA licensing is going to be a requirement for state licensing. Licensing requirements should not be defined in such a way as to deny any possibility of licensure as does SB 1340.
SB 1340 also requires hobby and show breeders to be licensed at no charge and without the requirement of inspection. There is little reason in requiring this except to create a database of breeders. It will cost the state a significant amount of money and hassle to administer this bill and how does the state plan to verify hobby/show breeders are meeting all the other requirements of this legislation?
In addition to the licensing requirements, show/hobby breeders must meet all the care and standards requirements of SB 1340. The care and facilities requirements are either vague, subject to unreasonable interpretation or inappropriate. What is a safe and clean container? How would an officer in the field be able to tell how often and animal should be fed (or has been fed)? How long do they really expect a water bowl will stay clear of debris or the water to mainttain minimum drinking water standards after a cat has played in the water, drank form the bowl, etc? Whether external space should be provided for the cats should be up to the discretion of the breeder. Many breeders and cat associations are recommending that cats be kept indoors only for the safety and health of the cats. It can be very difficult to keep a cat indoors after it has had access outside even in an enclosed area. An outdoor area is not required to have "adequate" (who determines what is adequate?) exercise space for the cats. Hosw does the state expect to determine if show/hobby breeders are meeting this requirement without inspections?
Requiring commercial breeders provide impervious cover as the USDA requirements state is simply not appropriate for cats who need a structurely sound scratching surface. Cat trees simply cannot be folded up and placed in the washing machine for disinfection/cleaning purposes. The USDA requirements are simply not appropriate for home breeding operations and there are few large commercial cat breeding operations because a cats immune system is simply not the same as a pack animal's (such as dogs) immune system.
SB 1340 requires hobby breeders must apply more than 50% of the consideration it receives for the support of the hobby breeder in order to properly support the requierments specified in the Kennels Definition Act. This not only requires significant record keeping by the breeder but the state must be able to inspect such records in order to ensure the breeders are meeting this requirement. This adds more cost to the administration of the program.
All animals under 1 year of age must be sold with a warranty of limited guarentee against hereditary defects, allowing the buyer to return the animal to the seller. The seller would have the option of returning the purchase price or provide another animal of the same value to the buyer. This section gives no consideration that not all hereditary defects affect the health of the animal, would cost as much to repair (if repair is even necessary) as the purchase price of the animal, that not all vets can agree on whether something ir a hereditary defect, that some issues have multiple causes and herediary concerns is only one possibility, or whether the animal was sold subject to a known defect and therefore should not be warranted for the known condition.
SB 1340 also requires that no animal shall be sold within the state or originating within the state without a health certificate provided by a veterinarian licensed to practice within the state.
The selling of animals in municipal or county parks, or on county, municipal or other government property is prohibited unless the seller has a permit allowing for the sale of animals. Failure to follow the guidelines shall be a misdemeanor.
Oklahoma has laws on the books to make it a felony to abuse or neglect an animal including depriving it of necessary food, drink, shelter and veterinary care. There is also a law against putting an animal in transit in a cruel and inhumane manner. Further veterinarians are exempted from civil liability for reporting animal cruelty by their clients. SB 1340 does nothing to protect animals that existing law, if enforced, doesn't already do. What SB 1340 does is create an expensive program that will be an administrative hassle to enforce and, in some cases, deny people the ability to be licensed for no reason other than a conflict of laws.
Committee contacts:
Representative Daniel Sullivan, Chair
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 435
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7361
District Address:
PMB412
4943 S. Peoria
Tulsa, OK 74105
Email: danielsullivan@okhouse.gov
Representative Randy McDaniel, Vice Chair
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 302-B
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7409
Email: randy.mcdaniel@okhouse.gov
Representative John Auffet
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 539-B
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7394
District Address:
Rt. 2 Box 2075
Stilwell, OK 74960
Email: johnauffet@okhouse.gov
Representative John Carey
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 542
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7366
District Address:
P. O. Box 1724
Durant, OK 74702
Office (580) 920-4646
Email: johncarey@okhouse.gov
Representative George Faught
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 301-A
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7310
Email: george.faught@okhouse.gov
Representative Charles Key
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 405
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7354
Email: charles.key@okhouse.gov
Representative Guy Liebmann
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 331
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7357
District Address:
12800 Plum Hollow Dr.
Oklahoma City, OK 73142
(405) 748-4848
fax (405) 962-7638
Email: guyliebmann@okhouse.gov
Representative Skye McNiel
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 300-A
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7353
Email: skye.mcniel@okhouse.gov
Representative Lewis H. Moore
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 329-A
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7400
District Address:
10100 Sunday Drive
Arcadia, OK 73007
Email: lewis.moore@okhouse.gov
Representative Danny Morgan
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 548
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7368
District Address:
NBU 4706
Prague, OK 74864
(405) 567-4786
Email: dannymorgan@okhouse.gov
Representative Pat Ownbey
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 301
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7326
District Address:
2303 Cloverleaf Place
Ardmore, OK 73401
Email: pat.ownbey@okhouse.gov
Representative Ron Peters
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 328
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7359
District Address:
4432 S. Atlanta Place
Tulsa, OK 74105
(918) 749-2658
Email: ronpeters@okhouse.gov
Representative Mike Shelton
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 508
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7367
District Address:
4125 N. Everest Ave.
Oklahoma City, OK 73111
Email: mikeshelton@okhouse.gov
Representative Jabar Shumate
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 510
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7406
District Address:
P. O. Box 48514
Tulsa, OK 74148
Email: jabarshumate@okhouse.gov
Authors of SB 1340
Senator Jerry Ellis
Capitol Address
Senator Jerry Ellis
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Rm. 513A
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
405.521.5614
ellis@oksenate.gov
Executive Assistant: Jean McCurley
District Address
P.O. Box 317 Valliant, OK 74764
580.933.4930
Representative R.C. Pruett
Capitol Address:
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Room 540-A
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 557-7382
District Address:
P.O. Box 969
Antlers, OK 74523
Email:rcpruett@okhouse.gov