The Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry stripped L.D. 964 of the language that would have established an additional 1% retail sales tax on petfood in Maine and then voted the bill out of committee, reported the Pet Food Institute .

When the Committee favorably voted for the tax on May 19, it did so without providing advance notice to the public that a higher sales tax on petfood was up for consideration.

Lobbying efforts brought the bill back to the Committee for reconsideration, where it was decided to cut out the tax increase proposal.