that issue. At the Commission's May 7, 2004, meeting, the Commission reviewed and discussed 

 the House Interim Committee's final recommendation, which contained nothing that would 

 address puppy mills. In the Commission's Interim Report , the Commission made no 

 recommendation but noted the following possible areas for further investigation: 



( 1 ) Further examination of the need for State-wide uniformity. 



(2) "Puppy lemon laws," which have been adopted in 1 7 states. 



(3) Amending the animal cruelty laws to target some practices followed by puppy 

 mills. 



(4) Civil penalties for puppy mills. 



(5) A licensing and inspection program. 



Due to a number of factors, including work on other legislative studies, the Commission 

 was not able to resume its consideration of this study until its December 2, 2005, meeting. At 

 that meeting, the Commission reviewed its previous work on this study. The Commission noted 

 that response to the House Interim Committee's proposal for a breeder license had been 

 overwhelmingly negative, to the point that its final recommendation to the General Assembly had 

 omitted the proposal entirely. Accordingly, the Commission concluded that it would not be a 

 good use of its time to look at a State-wide licensing and inspection program or related areas. 

 Although the animal cruelty laws could be amended to include constant repeated breeding of a 

 female dog (or cat) as animal cruelty, the Commission questioned whether such a provision 

 would be effective because of the difficulty of obtaining proof. 



A possible puppy lemon law was the remaining item on the list of possible areas for 

 further investigation. Sixteen states have statutory provisions that are commonly referred to 

 "puppy lemon laws." The states are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, 

 Florida, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, 

 South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia. Massachusetts has similar provisions in its 

 administrative code. 



All these laws give someone who purchases a pet dog or other companion animal from a 

 specified seller some sort of remedy if the dog was sick at the time of the sale, whether the dog 

 actually displayed symptoms at that time or developed them within a specified short time after 

 the sale. Twelve of the states also provide a separate, longer time for the appearance of problems 

 that are congenital or hereditary. The seller is also usually required to give the purchaser written 

 information about the dog and its medical history. All states allow the purchaser to return the 

 dog and have the purchase price refunded. Most states include limited reimbursement for 

 veterinary fees to treat the illness as part of the purchaser's remedy, even where the purchaser 

 elects to keep the dog. States that include reimbursement for veterinary fees limit the 



