Legislative sessions across US kick off with focus on pet food

U.S. state legislatures have been busy this spring on issues of interest to the pet food industry, but remarkably, no bills have been introduced proposing to tax pet food to pay for animal welfare programs or subsidize low cost spay-and-neuter programs. While there are several bills requesting inspection fee increases, these seem to be warranted in the face of increased operating costs for state regulatory agencies.

Between 2024 and 2025, state legislatures saw a very slight swing to the right as the total number of Republican lawmakers increased by a small margin in statehouses across the country. Perhaps this subtle shift has slowed the momentum for the inappropriate use of fees collected from the industry.