Texas pet stores will be allowed to continue selling dogs and cats after a state bill seeking to end the practice died in a Senate committee earlier this week.
House Bill 3458, authored by state Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, failed to make the lower chamber’s deadline last week to pass its own bills.
Monday was the last day for the Senate companion, authored by state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, to get a spot on the upper chamber’s calendar.
Patterson and Zaffirini’s offices did not immediately return an email asking for comment.
More than a dozen Texas cities, including Dallas, had adopted local rules limiting the sale of animals at pet stores. Those local regulations, however, were trumped by a 2023 bill that bars cities and counties from passing ordinances preempting state law related to business and commerce.
“These bans dismantle the only part of the pet marketplace that can be truly regulated,” Elizabeth Kunzelman, Petland’s vice president of legislative and public affairs, said in an email.
The Ohio-based company, which has multiple locations in Texas, publicly opposed the bill.
Shelby Bobosky, executive director of the Texas Humane Legislation Network, said this marks the third consecutive legislative session in which a bill banning retail sales of dogs and cats in the state has failed.
“We feel we were incredibly close and that we had the votes, but sometimes it’s politics as usual,” Bobosky said. “For THLN, that’s incredibly disheartening.”
Bobosky said her organization “will not give up” on the ban and will regroup to plan for the next legislative session.
“THLN believes in progress over perfection, and that is how we’ve been successful for the last 50 years,” Bobosky said. “In this particular case, a full ban is warranted to stop these puppy mill puppies from coming into our state.”
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