Members of the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly held a public hearing on a bill aimed at regulating dog breeders and preventing animal abuse.

The Senate Committee on Small Business, Emergency Preparedness, Technical Colleges and Consumer Protection and the Assembly Committee on Consumer Protection hosted the hearing to get public input on the bill and hear from those it would affect.

In the bill, people who sell dogs, operate animal shelters or operate animal control facilities will need to be licensed by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

This law will take effect 18 months after it is enacted into law.

Those who fall under the bill include a person who sells, breeds or houses at least 25 dogs a year or three litters per year, depending on which is less. Organizations that operate an animal control facility under a contract with a city, village, town or county, like a humane society, are also affected.

Angela Speed, director of community relations and development for the Wisconsin Humane Society, said WHS fully supports the bill and hopes it passes without delay. Speed said because other states have already passed similar regulation measures, Wisconsin has attracted many unscrupulous breeders and dog sellers, which have been labeled “puppy mills.”

“I have recently visited a puppy mill, and after you go to that place, it is embarrassing the state allows something like that,” Speed said.

Speed said the 25 puppies or three-litter thresholds rule is really important because the most egregious abuse happens with large groups of dogs.

Speed also said members of the WHS board testified at the public hearing, including Veterinary Manager Jane Pohlman and Behavior Program Manager Natalie Zielinski.

Rep. Kelda Helen Roys, D-Madison, is a co-author of the bill and said the bill is necessary because of the flood of breeder and puppy sellers into the state.

“Wisconsin is rapidly becoming a breeding ground for totally unregulated breeders,” Roys said.

Roys added those negligent breeders are harming reputable breeders’ business, and to protect consumers from being duped and animals from being mistreated, regulations need to be enacted.

In response to criticism and outrage from small-scale breeders, Roys said the bill will only apply to large operations, not hobby breeders or regular people. She said those taking care of animals need to be responsible and so do breeders.

“If you don’t have the facilities for animals to live in sanitary, well-maintained facilities, then you shouldn’t be breeding them,” Roys said.

She added many reputable breeders testified in favor of the bill at the meeting because they are tired of being undermined by puppy mills that mistreat their puppies.

According to Roys, the bill could possibly be out of committee in the next couple of weeks.

Kimber Liedl, spokesperson for Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, agreed the state has become a magnet for unscrupulous breeders.

“Wisconsin needs to license these establishments to validate good breeders and protect dogs from mistreatment,” Liedl said.