The Puppy Mill Law

Iowa just passed a law to deal with "puppy mills," where dog breeders keep the dogs in poor conditions. This is from a story by Rod Boshart of the Cedar Rapids Gazette:

Sen. Joe Seng, D-Davenport, a licensed veterinarian, called the bill a good compromise that “solves a lot of people’s problems” by providing for better regulation of the commercial companion animal business while capturing fees and sales tax from the sale of those animals to help pay for the increased state oversight.

I wasn't clear on exactly what this bill does that wasn't already being done. Weren't there already laws that made this stuff illegal? But according to "Blog for Iowa,"

Currently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture licenses and inspects some puppy mills, but only those that sell wholesale to pet stores — not those that sell over the Internet or directly to the public. Iowa is one of only two states (along with Kansas ) where state officials are not able to inspect these puppy mills, even if complaints have been reported.

According to the Gazette story, some Iowa lawmakers aren't sure it's even going to do anything. Others are worried that this is opening the door to regulation on other kinds of animals (like chickens, on farms). But it seems to me that if it allows the state to do something about people keeping puppies in little cages in order to sell them online, that's probably a good thing.