State lawmakers OK ban on pet dealer websites

Measure targets out-of-state puppy mills and brokers who pose as local breeders.

- MELODY GUTIERREZ AND ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN

STATE lawmakers Steve Bennett, from left, Marc Berman and Tom Umberg at the Capitol in February.

State lawmakers approved a bill Monday that would ban pet dealer websites and shadowy middlemen who pose as local breeders from selling dogs to California consumers — the latest move to curtail the pipeline from out-of-state puppy mills.

Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) said Assembly Bill 519 will help ensure buyers aren't misled about where their puppies come from after a Times investigation last year detailed how designer dogs are trucked into California from out-of-state commercial breeders and resold by people claiming to be small, local operators.

“AB 519 would close this loophole that allows this dishonest practice,” Berman said.

California became the first state in the nation with a 2019 law to bar pet stores from selling commercially bred dogs. That retail ban, however, did not apply to online pet sales, which grew rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.

Berman's bill would ban online marketplaces where dogs are sold by brokers, which is defined as any person or business that sells or transports a dog bred by someone else for profit. That would include major national pet retailers such as PuppySpot as well as California-based operations that market themselves as petmatchmakersandresellers who falsely claim to be breeders. AB 519, which now heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom for his consideration, applies to dogs, cats and rabbits under a year old.