Major’s Law

Proposed Texas Pet Grooming Safety and Accountability Act

Major’s Law is proposed legislation designed to establish basic safety standards, accountability measures, and consumer protections within the pet grooming industry in Texas. The law would recognize that groomers assume temporary custody and responsibility for the health, safety, and welfare of animals entrusted to their care and would create statewide standards to help prevent injury, suffering, and death during grooming services.

Key provisions would include:

• Licensing and registration requirements for pet groomers and grooming establishments, including mobile grooming businesses.
• Mandatory training and certification in animal handling, grooming safety, pet first aid, CPR, and emergency response.
• Criminal background checks for groomers and grooming shop owners.
• Mandatory liability insurance coverage and disclosure of insurance information to pet owners upon request.
• Written safety protocols governing animal restraint, handling, supervision, transportation, and emergency procedures.
• Restrictions on neck-only restraint systems and encouragement of safer chest-supported or no-neck restraint alternatives when appropriate.
• Restrictions on unattended heated cage drying systems (“hot boxes”) and requirements for temperature monitoring and continuous supervision.
• Mandatory incident reporting when a pet suffers serious injury, neurological injury, heat-related illness, requires emergency veterinary treatment, or dies during or within a specified period following grooming services.
• Immediate owner notification requirements following any injury, medical emergency, or veterinary referral.
• Mandatory preservation of surveillance footage, photographs, grooming records, and incident documentation following any reported injury or death.
• Facility permitting, inspections, and enforcement authority for grooming establishments and mobile grooming units.
• Creation of a public complaint and disciplinary database to allow consumers to review substantiated complaints and enforcement actions.
• Civil penalties and potential license suspension or revocation for violations of safety standards or failure to report incidents.

Major’s Law is modeled in part on existing animal welfare and grooming regulations adopted in jurisdictions such as El Paso, Texas, and Virginia, while addressing current gaps in Texas law regarding grooming oversight, transparency, injury reporting, consumer protection, and accountability.

The purpose of Major’s Law is not to punish responsible groomers, but to establish reasonable statewide safeguards that protect pets, support ethical grooming professionals, provide transparency for consumers, and help prevent avoidable tragedies.