Billboards in and around Lancaster County in recent years have criticized the county and state for their abundance of puppy mills.

Today, Gov. Ed Rendell is scheduled to attend the ceremonial signing of a new statewide dog law that state Sen. Mike Brubaker of Warwick Township says should lead to the disappearance of those billboards.

"I expect Pennsylvania's adverse label regarding puppy mills should be erased," he said.

The ceremonial signing into law of House Bill 2525 is scheduled for noon at the Center for Animal Referral and Emergency Services in Bucks County. Brubaker said he plans to be there.

Rendell officially signed the law into action Oct. 10 — one day after the bill was passed by the Senate.

According to Brubaker, the governor signed the bill into law quickly to activate some provisions immediately.

Most notably, Brubaker said, was the provision that now forbids kennel operators from euthanizing dogs. Only veterinarians can do that.

"The governor wanted to make sure there was no chance for a repeat of the incident that occurred in Berks County," Brubaker said.

In July, two kennel operators near Kutztown shot to death 80 dogs, allegedly to avoid paying veterinary care required by a state inspector.

The requirement that only veterinarians can euthanize dogs for kennel operators is one of three major changes to Pennsylvania's dog law that Brubaker said stand out in House Bill 2525.

The other two are:

* A ban on wire floors for kennel cages. Floors must be solid material that can be slatted, so that urine can still drain out of the cage.

* A doubling of the minimum cage size for breeding dogs and a requirement that those dogs have free access to exercise areas that are at least twice the size of their cages.

The new law also calls for the creation of the nine-member Canine Health Board, which will set standards for kennel lighting, ventilation, temperature and flooring options.

"The final product gives Pennsylvania the strongest and most comprehensive law regulating dog breeding in the country," Brubaker said.

Marsha Perelman is a member of Gov. Rendell's Dog Law Advisory Board, serving on that board's Kennel Conditions Working Group.

She said the new law "has the potential to significantly improve the lives of breeding dogs in Pennsylvania's commercial kennels."

Those dogs will have even better lives, she said, if the Legislature next year passes House Bill 2532, which seeks to broaden Pennsylvania's animal-cruelty law.

Through the passage of that bill, Perelman said she hopes to see an end to the performance of many surgical procedures, such as cesarean sections and debarking, by kennel operators.

"Those procedures could only be performed by veterinarians" under House Bill 2532, Perelman said.

Brubaker cited two reasons Pennsylvania needed a new dog law.

"It was the right thing to do," he said. "The dogs deserve it, and the public demanded it."

Also, he said Pennsylvania's lucrative tourism business — which he noted is particularly important to Lancaster County — stood to lose many visitors.

Animal-rights organizations from across the country were running campaigns urging tourist groups to stay away from Pennsylvania and Lancaster County because of the proliferation of puppy mills.

"We couldn't ignore those threats," Brubaker said.

Before the Senate approved House Bill 2525 on Oct. 9, Brubaker said he first secured endorsements of the bill from several organizations, including Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association, Humane Society of the United States and American Kennel Club.

"This law had bipartisan support in the House and the Senate, and it has the support of the public," Brubaker said.

He added that "If you are going to breed dogs in Pennsylvania, you will have to meet a high bar of care for those dogs."

E-mail: preilly@lnpnews.com