Unintended consequences

I would like to write a running column discussing the unintended consequences of government action, something that I believe is often overlooked when we constantly pine for government to solve our problems. So here is my first entry:

California bill AB 1634 "the healthy pets act" authored by Lloyd Levine is the latest bill to completely overlook those pesky unintended consequences. This bill would require all cats and dogs in california be spayed or neutered unless they are a police dog, service dog, or a breeding dog owned by a licensed breeder AND of an approved breed.

Think about this last part for a second as it is the most important part of the bill. Gone are the neighborhood mutts, in fact gone are all kittens and puppies unless they come from a licensed breeder. So california is attempting to create a monopoly on pet breeding which would naturally drive the cost of pets to insane levels because all of the competition would be wiped out.

Not to mention the fact that many purebred dogs have health problems that mutts do not which would drive the cost of long-term pet care to astronomical heights.

This bill almost seems deliberately written to please specialized dog breeders and resellers.

So to Lloyd Levine and Judie Mancuso I say "nice going geniuses, any more brilliant schemes that I should be looking forward too?"