House committee advances reauthorization of Colorado’s pet-animal licensing program after hours of testimony over fees, transparency and rulemaking

The House Agriculture, Water and Natural Resources Committee on the record advanced House Bill 26-1183, a reauthorization of the Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act (PACFA), adopting amendment L1002 and sending the measure to the committee on appropriations.

Sponsors said the bill would preserve Colorado’s licensing and inspection framework for facilities that care for companion animals while incorporating stakeholder changes. Representative McCormick, the bill’s sponsor, described the amendment L1002 as shortening the proposed reauthorization window to eight years (to 2034), codifying a veterinary health certificate requirement dated within 10 days of an animal’s arrival, and adjusting the licensing-fee cap for inflation to $1,500. Majority Leader Duran, a co-prime sponsor, urged a yes vote and characterized the legislation as a balance of animal-welfare protections and stakeholder feedback.

The bill drew broad public testimony. Multiple small grooming-business owners, speaking as opposed or seeking changes, said recent rule changes imposed a heavy administrative and cost burden on one- and two-person shops. "With these new rules, small grooming salons like myself . . . we're being charged with having to kennel dogs who may not ever have been kenneled," said Deidra Herd, a master groomer who testified she has operated a cage-free shop for two decades and urged the committee to reject the bill in its current form.

Industry witnesses and local groomers pointed to specific rules adopted last year — including new requirements on vaccination documentation and limits on commingling dogs in grooming areas — that they said were finalized without adequate representation from small, cage-free groomers. "We were ignored entirely and the rules were passed," said Julianne Krause, a Denver groomer who said advisory-board vacancies left the industry without a voice during the rulemaking.

Consumer and animal-welfare witnesses urged a different emphasis. Heidi Ganahl, testifying on her own behalf, recounted cases she described as oversight failures and said a lack of public, searchable enforcement records had left owners without information that could prevent harm. "If this is what oversight looks like, we cannot extend this program for another 15 years without transparency and meaningful scrutiny," Ganahl said. Julie Shea told the committee her family’s dog "Lumi" was killed while in the care of an unlicensed sitter and said accessible enforcement information could have changed her choices.

Shelter and municipal representatives urged removing a provision that would give the commissioner authority to extend stray-holding periods, arguing longer holds would strain already tight shelter capacity and could create legal uncertainty for municipal shelters. Katie Parker, CEO of Humane Colorado, told the committee that most reunifications occur within five days and that extending holds would not meaningfully increase return rates while increasing costs and time animals spend in shelters.

Agency officials defended PACFA’s work. Nick Fisher, PACFA program section chief at the Colorado Department of Agriculture, said the program conducts routine and complaint-driven inspections, handles hundreds of complaints annually and operates largely on licensing fees. Fisher said current advisory-board vacancies were held pending the sunset review and that the department uses an extended stakeholder and public-hearing process during rulemaking.

On the floor of the committee the sponsors moved amendment L1002 to the bill and the committee adopted it without objection. The amendment keeps a statutory cap on licensing fees but adjusts the cap to $1,500, removes the language that would have given the commissioner open-ended authority to extend stray-hold times, shortens the next sunset review to eight years, and retains other stakeholder changes described by the sponsors.

Representative McCormick moved the amended bill to the committee on appropriations and Majority Leader Duran seconded the motion. The clerk announced the result: "That passes 9 2 4," and the bill was reported to appropriations.

What’s next: HB 26-1183 as amended will be considered by the House Appropriations Committee. Sponsors and witnesses said further amendments or follow-up legislation remain possible if implementation of the revised rules creates problems for small businesses or shelters.