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Assembly Actions -
Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE |
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| Jan 29, 2025 |
referred to consumer protection |
Senate Bill S3651
2025-2026 Legislative Session
Sponsored By
(R, C) 3rd Senate District
Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Consumer Protection Committee
- Introduced
-
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
-
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
-
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
- Delivered to Governor
- Signed By Governor
Actions
2025-S3651 (ACTIVE) - Details
- Current Committee:
- Senate Consumer Protection
- Law Section:
- General Business Law
- Laws Affected:
- Rpld §753-f, §752 sub 8, sub 3 ¶(d), amd §752, Gen Bus L; amd §§16 & 408, rpld §400 sub 4 ¶(d), §408 sub 4 ¶(g), add §409, Ag & Mkts L 2022
- Versions Introduced in 2023-2024 Legislative Session:
-
S7595
2025-S3651 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo
BILL NUMBER: S3651
SPONSOR: MURRAY
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the general business law and the agriculture and markets
law, in relation to the sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits by pet dealers;
and to repeal certain provisions of such laws relating thereto
PURPOSE:
Relates to the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits by pet dealers; repealer
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section One repeals Section 753-f of the general business law.
Section 2 repeals paragraph (d) of subdivision 3 and subdivision 8 of
Section 752 of the general business law.
Sections 3 & 4 amend subdivision 3 of Section 752 of the general busi-
2025-S3651 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
3651
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
January 29, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. MURRAY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer Protection
AN ACT to amend the general business law and the agriculture and markets
law, in relation to the sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits by pet deal-
ers; and to repeal certain provisions of such laws relating thereto
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Section 753-f of the general business law is REPEALED.
§ 2. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 3 and subdivision 8 of section 752
of the general business law are REPEALED.
§ 3. The opening paragraph of subdivision 3 of section 752 of the
general business law, as amended by chapter 681 of the laws of 2022, is
amended to read as follows:
For purposes of section seven hundred fifty-three of this article, a
"pet dealer" shall mean any person who, in the ordinary course of busi-
ness, engages in the sale or offering for sale of more than nine animals
per year for profit to the public. Such definition shall include breed-
ers of animals who sell or offer for sale animals directly to a consumer
but it shall not include any [retail pet shop as defined in subdivision
eight of this section,] municipal pound or shelter established and main-
tained pursuant to subdivision one of section one hundred fourteen of
the agriculture and markets law, or any duly incorporated society for
the prevention of cruelty to animals, duly incorporated humane society,
duly incorporated animal protective association or other duly incorpo-
rated animal adoption or animal rescue organization that is tax exempt
pursuant to paragraph (3) of subsection (c) of section 501 of the feder-
al Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. 501, or any subsequent corresponding
sections of the federal Internal Revenue Code, as from time to time
amended, that is registered with the department pursuant to section four
hundred eight of the agriculture and markets law. For purposes of
sections seven hundred fifty-three-a, seven hundred fifty-three-b, seven
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07559-01-5
Comments
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Adding rabbits to this bill is a grave mistake. By divine design rabbits are at the bottom of the food chain. They are meant to be food for people and animals. Rabbits should be classified as livestock and not subjected to unreasonable regulations imposed by pet people.
A law like this is designed to make everyone who raises animals a criminal and results in senseless animal seizures which stresses/injures the animals, floods and overwhelms local humane societies, pushes unsuitable animals into pet homes (resulting in poor care), bankrupts rescue agencies with high veterinary costs for treatment and spay/neuter, subject thousands of rabbits to unnecessary risky operation, and causes thousands of animals to be euthanized and cremated (at high cost to the humane societies), thus wasting the meat. With zero benefit.
If “rescued” rabbits have to be put down, they could at least go to feed the other carnivores in their care – but animal rights enthusiasts would be appalled if word got out. Forget the fact that hundreds of animals are killed to feed their beloved dog or cat. They’re just too disconnected from the big picture to see the real effect of their feel-good intentions that “Every animal should be treated like a human being and be given a spacious, climate-controlled pet home with proper vet care and enrichment.” Sounds good on the surface, but in reality will cause an avalanche of stress, seizures, inhumane treatment, expense, and senseless euthanasia.
Or, you can throw out this bill and let the people who care about their rabbits continue to raise them humanely for the purpose they were designed for. And animal shelters can continue to focus their efforts on rehabilitating and rehoming animals from real cases of neglect and abuse.
Rabbit breeders care about their rabbits and treat them far better than most pet rabbit owners I know. Too many rabbits is never a problem for those who know how to utilize them.
As a lifetime member of the American Rabbit Breeders Assoc, an organization devoted to the breeding, showing and multi use of over 50 rabbit breeds I object to this bill-while rabbits can be pets they are livestock and are a source of human and animal food as well as fiber for yarns. We as breeders are incredibly careful of our animals-many do not sell as pets at all but use their animals for food-a healthful and economic protein source. I totally agree with points made by Alyssa Davis so there is no point to repeating them-I have seen where people have had rabbits taken away because some one thought they should be treated as a dog or cat-responsible rabbit breeders breed selectively for a reason-not to fill pet stores at Easter. So please leave our livestock alone and tell people to visit a farm so they know where their food comes from-they do sell rabit meat in stores!
You can't just add rabbits to a bill set up for cats and dogs and expect it to make sense.
There are things that just dont apply to rabbits for example there is no genetic testing for rabbits. Vaccines are also still rare there are very few that apply to rabbits I know of just one or two and those are often depending on if those illnesses are present in the area. This could make it illegal to basically sell more than 9 rabbits a year depending on the enforcement, and would be an absolute waste.
Veterinarians that know how to treat rabbits are rare, they are considered "exotic" so small animal vets that treat dogs and cats dont know how to treat rabbits. Many, possibly most people who breed rabbits know their animals far better than nearby vets would and do their own vetting.
I am deeply concerned about laws like this where though they may come from good intentions animal rights activists often dont actually understand the needs of the species whos rights they are claiming to try to protect. In Germany it is illegal to keep rabbits without other rabbits. Rabbits may be semi social creatures but they are highly territorial and can and will fight to the death, especially male rabbits who are unneutered and have extra vulnerable bits ready to attack so that policy basically means you cannot keep unneutered male rabbits in Germany. I do not want this kind of nonsense here.
While it is clear that good intentions are behind this bill, it is equally clear that its writers have attempted to right one wrong by creating another. I assume that the addition of rabbits to this bill is laudably intended to reduce or apparently just regulate the grotesque practice of selling Easter bunnies to ignorant parents. What the creator(s) of this bill clearly have not considered is that meat rabbits are ready for slaughter at extraordinarily young ages—generally 8 to 12 weeks old—and that New York regulations on selling meat do not permit the commercial sale of rabbit meat that hasn’t been processed at an inspected and certified facility, something most meat rabbit raisers cannot afford to run. So the 8-12-week old rabbits must be sold LIVE to certified processors or to members of the public who wish to save money by processing their own meat for private consumption. Neither of these purchasers will accept sick rabbits, and so there is already an inherent incentive by small scale meat rabbitries to take very good care of their rabbits. It is crucial that you understand how thin the profit margin of these small businesses is. A rabbit farmer can expect to make about one or two dollars of profit per meat rabbit once all costs have been considered. Rabbits are one of the most environmentally friendly sources of meat and because of their small size it is easy to give them very good lives during the short time they are alive. What is absolutely untenable is requiring such a small business to have every single one of these young rabbits examined by a veterinarian during the extremely short period of time they are alive. There is simply no way that the harm of this bill is outweighed by its good. I challenge you to only pass this bill if you can prove that you are preventing more suffering than you are causing. Or at least specify that the sales of rabbits for meat are an exception not governed by this bill.