Zaffirini Bill Bars Pet Stores From Selling Dogs And Cats

The text as introduced · 939 words

90R1622 MLH-F

By: Zaffirini
S.B. No. 56

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the source of dogs and cats sold by pet stores;

providing a civil penalty.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Title 6, Business & Commerce Code, is amended by

adding Chapter 206 to read as follows:

CHAPTER 206. PROHIBITION ON SALE OF DOGS AND CATS BY PET STORES

Sec. 206.001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "pet store"

means a retail establishment that sells, offers to sell, or

facilitates the sale of animals not bred by the retail

establishment. The term does not include an individual who sells,

offers to sell, gives, or otherwise directly transfers to another

individual animals raised or bred, or both raised and bred, by the

individual on the individual's residential premises.

Sec. 206.002. PROHIBITION ON SALE OR OFFER FOR SALE OF DOG

OR CAT BY PET STORE. (a) Except as otherwise provided by this

section, a pet store may not sell or offer to sell a dog or cat.

(b) A pet store may provide space for the following entities

to showcase dogs or cats owned by the entities for the purpose of

adoption:

(1) an animal care facility, including an animal

control agency, as that term is defined by Section 92.001, Civil

Practice and Remedies Code, if the facility or agency is operated by

or under contract with a governmental entity for the purpose of

collecting, impounding, or keeping stray, homeless, abandoned, or

unwanted dogs and cats that does not:

(A) obtain dogs or cats from a breeder, animal

broker, or other seller for the purpose of resale;

(B) obtain dogs or cats for compensation; or

(C) resell dogs or cats; or

(2) an animal rescue organization that is a nonprofit

private organization that is exempt from taxation under Section

501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as an organization described

by Section 501(c)(3) of that code, that accepts homeless or

unwanted dogs or cats for the purpose of finding permanent homes for

the dogs or cats, including an organization that does not operate

out of its own building but houses dogs and cats in foster homes,

and that:

(A) does not breed dogs or cats;

(B) does not obtain dogs or cats for

compensation;

(C) obtains dogs or cats from a breeder or animal

broker only if the dogs or cats are relinquished by the breeder or

animal broker for no compensation;

(D) is not located on the same premises as a

breeder or animal broker; and

(E) does not maintain any employee, volunteer, or

other personnel who is also a breeder or animal broker or an

employee, volunteer, or other personnel for a breeder or animal

broker.

(c) A pet store that provides a space for an entity

described by Subsection (b) to showcase dogs or cats owned by the

entity for the purpose of adoption may not:

(1) have an ownership interest in the dogs or cats

offered for adoption; or

(2) receive a fee for providing a space for the

showcase.

Sec. 206.003. CIVIL PENALTY; INJUNCTION. (a) A pet store

that violates Section 206.002 is liable to this state or to a county

in which a violation occurs for a civil penalty in an amount not to

exceed $500 per day for each dog or cat sold or offered for sale in

violation of that section.

(b) The attorney general or the appropriate district or

county attorney may bring an action to:

(1) collect the civil penalty imposed under this

section; or

(2) obtain a temporary or permanent injunction to

restrain the violation.

(c) A civil penalty collected under Subsection (b) is

payable to the state, in an action brought by the attorney general,

or to the county in which the violation occurred, in an action

brought by a district attorney or county attorney.

SECTION 2. Every provision, section, subsection, sentence,

clause, phrase, or word in this Act, and every application of the

provisions in this Act to every person, group of persons, or

circumstances, are severable from each other. If any application

of any provision in this Act to any person, group of persons, or

circumstances is found by a court to be invalid, preempted, or

unconstitutional, for any reason whatsoever, then the remaining

applications of the Act to all other persons and circumstances

shall be severed and preserved and shall remain in effect. All

constitutionally valid applications of the provisions in this Act

shall be severed from any applications that a court finds to be

invalid, preempted, or unconstitutional, because it is the

legislature's intent and priority that every single valid

application of every statutory provision be allowed to stand alone.

The legislature further declares that it would have enacted this

Act, and each provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause,

phrase, or word, and all constitutional applications of the

provisions of this Act, irrespective of the fact that any

provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word,

or applications of this chapter were to be declared invalid,

preempted, or unconstitutional.

SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only

to a dog or cat obtained, sold, or offered for sale by a pet store on

or after the effective date of this Act. A dog or cat obtained,

sold, or offered for sale by a pet store before the effective date

of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the dog or

cat was obtained, sold, or offered for sale, and the former law is

continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2027.