Legislation often moves quickly. You can view daily updates on state and federal bills via the AKC Government Relations Legislation Tracking Tool, available on the AKC website 24 hours a day. Links to this tool are provided in each issue of Taking Command, and you can follow the steps below to immediately access information on bills that may impact dog owners:

• Go to the AKC website at www.akc.org.


• Click on “Government Relations” in the left panel


• Click on the U.S. map


• Click on “US Fed” to see federal bills


• Click on your state to see state bills


• The gray bar with your state’s name shows the session status. Check to see if your state is in session or if it has adjourned for the year.


• Some state legislatures convene for “special sessions” which are not noted in the gray bar. The nature of the special session determines if a dog-related bill may be taken up.


• In some states, bills that are not acted upon in the 2011 session will “carry over” to the 2012 session.


• Scroll down to find a particular bill.


• Bills are listed alphabetically.


• Bill naming protocol varies by state. For example “HB” refers to “House Bill.” “SR” usually means “Senate Resolution.”


• When you find the bill, click on “Title,” which will lead to the bill text. There may be multiple versions listed, so look for the most current.


• Click on “Status,” which will lead to information about the status of bill in the legislative process.

The information displayed by the Legislation Tracking Tool is sourced from state websites and is updated each weekday. For the most up-to-date information, search for bills and view bill status on your state government website.

Occasionally a dog-related bill is written in a way that isn’t recognized by the tracking tool’s keyword searches or a bill update is formatted in a manner that the automated tracking settings cannot interpret. Please contact AKC GR at 919-816-3720 or doglaw@akc.org if you have questions or if you receive information about a state bill that does not match the Legislation Tracking Tool’s output.