FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Starting in August, cities across Arkansas will no longer have the power to ban pet stores from selling dogs and cats.
This all stems from a legal battle between the city of Fayetteville and Petland of Fayetteville.
On April 14, Gov. Sarah Sanders signed of on legislation changing a three-decade old law.
"For the last 32 years, retail pet stores have been under regulated by the state of Arkansas rather than the local level," said District 69, Republican State Rep. David Ray. "That's never been a problem until last year"
Last July, the Fayetteville City Council unanimously passed an ordinance that bans the retail sale of dogs and cats unless they come from a shelter or rescue center.
"We can't regulate what happens everywhere right but we can regulate what happens within our city limits," said City Of Fayetteville Animal Service Superintendent Justine Lentz in an interview with 5NEWS in July.
However, with the new law, the city can no longer regulate the retail sale of pets.
In an August interview, Fayetteville City Attorney Kit Williams says he became worried if the ordinance could even take effect. "We discovered a new state law that was passed last year," Williams said. "That is ambiguous but gives me a little bit of concern."
Williams was worried about Act 1091 Working Animal Protection Act, states "An ordinance or resolution shall not be enacted by a municipality that terminates, bans, effectively bans, or creates an undue hardship relating to the job or use of a working animal or animal enterprise in commerce, service, legal hunting, agriculture, husbandry, transportation, ranching, entertainment, education, or exhibition."
The weekend before Fayetteville's ordinance was supposed to go into effect, Petland filed a preliminary injunction.
"We don't need government overreach. But secondly, these sorts of regulations are also very anti-business,” Ray said.
Ray is a sponsor of HB1591, an amendment to a 1991 law. It now states: local government (cities) can no longer pass rules to ban pet stores from acquiring or selling animals from kennels or breeders.
“We don't need a patchwork of laws and every different city or every different county, said Ray. "And that's why this has been regulated at the state level.”
5NEWS did reach out to the City of Fayetteville for a comment on Sunday. However, the city usually responds to inquires during the week.
Currently, Fayetteville and Petland Fayetteville are in a lawsuit over whether Petland can sell dogs and cats. But come August, Fayetteville's ordinance will become invalid.