Nicholas Pugliese

State House Bureau, @nickpugz

Many individuals and businesses who sell dogs and cats in New Jersey would be regulated by the same rules that now apply only to pet stores under a bill that advanced in the Assembly on Monday.

The measure was hailed by one animal welfare activist as “the most comprehensive puppy mill sales bill to ever be introduced in a state legislature” while critics denounced it as an example of government overreach and said it would cripple small businesses who breed dogs and cats in a humane way.

The bill’s opponents, many of whom work in or represent the pet industry, also complained that they were given inadequate time to review and comment on the legislation before it was approved by a 4-0 vote at a meeting of the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee. The bill underwent substantial modifications on Monday morning.

Under existing state law, pet stores can only purchase dogs and cats for resale from breeders who have a license with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and who have not violated certain animal welfare laws.

That legislation was enacted last year to try to discourage pet stores from sourcing animals from “puppy mills” and “kitten mills” — commercial breeding facilities where the health of animals is often compromised to maintain a low overhead and maximize profits.

The new bill would expand regulations to include all “pet dealers,” defined as anyone who sells five or more dogs or cats in New Jersey in a year. All such people or businesses would be subject to the same licensing and reporting requirements that currently apply only to pet stores.

In addition, any dealer or pet store that is found to have sourced animals on three occasions from breeders who have violated animal welfare laws would be permanently banned from selling pets in New Jersey.

“This expansion is significant because it would bring those who sell puppy mill puppies over the internet, over the phone and other indirect methods under regulation,” said Amy Jesse, public policy manager for the Humane Society of the United States.

People who sell dogs and cats to customers face-to-face are not regulated by the existing or proposed law.

In addition, Jesse said, “this gives pet stores and other pet dealers a really strong incentive to comply, which is missing from the current law.”

But Linda Deutsche, the legislative chairperson of the New Jersey Federation of Dog Clubs, said the new regulations would put small breeders out of business because they would not be able to afford to get licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

One requirement for the federal license, she said, requires a facility to meet higher air flow standards than nursing homes. Another, she said, prevents breeders from raising animals on carpeted floors.

She urged the committee to amend the law to carve out an exception for the “home hobby breeder,” who often has “a lot more experience with their breed and knowledge in animal husbandry skills” than large-scale commercial breeders.

Mike Bober, president of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, said the new legislation was uncalled for because the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs still hasn’t published the final rules implementing the existing law.

“With the law only having been in place just over a year, and with the Division of Consumer Affairs not yet having even published the final rule-making on it, we believe it’s premature to even look at ways that we can change it because we don’t know every affect that it’s had,” he said.

The bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Daniel Benson, D-Mercer, said Monday that he would consider additional changes to the bill based on input from critics but pointed out that the bill had already been scaled back from an earlier version that would have prohibited pet stores from selling dogs or cats that did not come from a shelter, pound, kennel or animal rescue organization.

The bill now moves to the full Assembly for a vote. A version of the bill passed the Senate in June, but the amended version will again have to be voted on by that body.

The proposed legislation explicitly allows municipalities to pass their own ordinances related to puppy mills and kitten mills. More than a dozen towns in Bergen County have done so this year after the issue made local headlines in April, when authorities found more than 60 dogs left unattended in a van outside the Paramus shop Just Pups, a retail chain in the area.

Many local ordinances go further than existing state law and permit pet shops to sell dogs and cats obtained only from animal care facilities and animal rescue organizations.

Email: pugliese@northjersey.com