Guys, you are NOT getting it, and that really surprises me.
Stop looking at the pretty window dressing, and look at what this bill DOESN'T HAVE.
There's no limit on cost, period. EVERY JURIDICTION in California is allow to set ANY ANNUAL fee for the 'intact' animal permit that they choose to set, so long as they base in on their purported 'costs.' Cities and counties could decide to fund their entire Animal Control budget on the backs of breeders.
How many really good breeders can afford--given the good breeder are already losing money the vast majority of the time!--an intact animal permit that may very quickly begin to cost thousands per dog?
And there are NO EXCEPTIONS in this bill for non-resident dogs of any kind. Every owner coming to a competition of any kind from anywhere would have to purchase one of these permits for every dog they're bringing to compete, or Animal Control can confiscate their dogs, and will neuter them before returning them. Heck...never mind a competition. You couldn't even bring your dog to the beach on a VACATION.
Local jurisdictions are given TOTAL CARTE BLANCHE to decide to not only grant but revoke these permits annually or upon a single allegation of misconduct--without any recourse. There are NO overarching standards set by this law, other than "S/N by the age of four months." Any jurisdiction can do ANY thing they decide.
And understand very clearly that this law does NOTHING to prevent puppy mills--because the law allows local jurisidictions to recognize or refuse to recognize ANY ADDITIONAL REGISTRY/S THEY CHOOSE TO. That includes the so-called private registries, the various hybrid registries, and so on and so on. The bill ONLY mentions 4 specific ones, but local jurisdictions to can set any arbitrary standard that they choose, including not setting any standard at all!
A puppy mill could set up a 'private' registry, and afford to pay whatever price the jurisdiction set, because they're going to make the money back on badly breed, sickly puppies sent to pet stores. And they're going to be paying sales tax and other fees to the jurisdiction as well. A puppy mill would be a total windfall for a city or county.
This bill is a disaster.
I've been researching this issue since I first heard about this disaster in the making, and the fact is that NO MANDATORY SPAY NEUTER BILL IN ANY JURISDICTION HAS WORKED.
Not anywhere.
No place, no time, no circumstance.
NOT EVEN ONCE.
In point of actual fact, MSN laws have across the board increased numbers of dogs being put down in shelters, in part because confiscated intact animals end up being put down BY THE PEOPLE WHO TOOK THEM, when owners can't afford to pay the $20+/day boarding fee for 30-60-90 days until their case comes to court! And because the dogs are involved in a court case, they can't be adopted out or found new homes. So their 'time' runs out, and they're PTS.
MSN bills are provably a failure. To claim otherwise is a lie worthy of Heinrich Himmler.
The radical anti-pet PETA people and the Humane Society of the US (who do not now, or have they ever had anything to do with shelters--that's only the SPCA, so if you're giving the HSUS money, please STOP) are behind this bill. The Humane Society, in particular, wants to eliminate the ownership of ALL DOMESTIC ANIMALS. Dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, everything.
And what's the easiest way to do that? Keep them from ever being born.
Look, I know how much everyone here loves their dogs, and wants to make sure every dog gets a shot at a home and a family that will love them just as much. I want that, too. I firmly believe that every responsible pet owner should be talking with their vet from the minute they get that puppy about when their puppy should be neutered.
But bills/laws like this are NOT the way to accomplish our goal.
All bills/laws like this are going to do is 1) rip the gonads out of puppies without regard for best medical practice based on a vet's evaluation of each puppy; and 2) make it financially impossible for GOOD, loving, home/hobby breeders to produce well-thought out, well-cared for litters of well-socialized puppies who are as healthy as their genetics allow.
This is the first shot of a war our dogs can't afford for us to lose.
Are you aware that the PETA people have already gotten a law passed in San Diego requiring any breeder who is going to have more than one litter of pups over the life of his/her dog to become licensed as a COMMERCIAL KENNEL? And abide by all the zoning requirements OF said commerical kennel? And if, for example, your backyard is only 700 sq ft instead of 725 sq ft, you can't get a license, and are subject to thousands of dollars of fines if you breed your National Champion Chiahuahua twice in 3 years.
How long do you think it's going to be before there AREN'T any more breeders in San Diego?
And that all started with local spay/neuter legislation.
I suggest that you start where I did several weeks ago:
http://www.pet-law.com/index.html This guy has done a lot of the initial research and while he sees the worst case scenario, I think his extrapolations are well supported by the data available.