The California Health Pets Act legislation, which would require cats and dogs to be spayed or neutered, recently passed the state Assembly and has moved on to the Senate. |
California’s State Assembly narrowly passed the controversial Healthy Pets Act (AB 1634) Wednesday, which would set statewide spay and neuter laws for most cats and dogs older than 4 months.
The 41 to 38 vote moved the legislation to the state’s Senate, where the bill has been assigned to committee.
The Healthy Pets Act bill has sparked considerable controversy in the state, ranging from its merits as a way to control pet populations to more philosophical debates on the role of government itself.
Lloyd Levine, the bill’s author, said one million unwanted and abandoned cats and dogs are born in California each year, and local jurisdictions spend $250 million annually to care for or euthanize these animals. About 500,000 are euthanized annually, Levine said.
Supporters of the Healthy Pets Act legislation argue that the population problem is caused by “irresponsible breeders” and that breeders with business licenses would be able to get “intact animal” permits. Breed groups, however, contend many responsible, hobby breeders are too small to require business licenses.
If passed, the legislation would place enforcement responsibility on local jurisdictions but does not provide state funds to the local jurisdictions. The legislation assumes that costs borne by local agencies to enforce the regulation would be “supported” by annual permits, from civil penalties, and enforcement activities would be conducted in the course of the agencies’ other duties and based on complaints.
Critics of the Healthy Pets Act legislation contend that those funds would be insufficient to cover the program’s costs and that local jurisdictions would be forced to pay the difference. In addition, some pet owners could skip the licensing process, and provisions such as rabies vaccinations, rather than spay or neuter their pets.
Although the legislation exempts cats and dogs from other states traveling to California for a variety of “legitimate” reasons, including dog and cat shows, the American Kennel Club (AKC) said passage of the legislation would send the message that AKC events are not welcome in California and could hurt the state’s economy.
Also, the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship is currently scheduled for Dec. 1-2 in Long Beach, Calif. About 300,000 competitors, many from outside the state, participated in AKC events, including all-breed dog shows, agility events and field trials, in California in 2006.
**Because of a reporting error, earlier versions of this article misidentified the legislation’s author, Lloyd Levine.