Massachusetts Senate Panel Faults 82 Towns for Failing to Report Kennel Data

BOSTON -- May 5, 2026, Massachusetts Senate panel finds 82 towns still defying Ali's Law kennel reporting requirement. At a joint hearing of the Senate Post-Audit and Oversight Committee and Senate Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, Michael Cahill, director of the Division of Animal Health at MDAR, told lawmakers that 269 of 351 municipalities had filed required kennel licensing data as of May 4, leaving 82, or just over 23 percent, out of compliance. The state has recorded 1,408 licensed kennels from the data received, with MDAR estimating roughly 1,800 to 1,850 statewide. Draft regulations required under Ali's Law were forwarded to the secretariat for review about two weeks before the hearing, but no public hearing date has been set, potentially missing the statute's late-June 18-month deadline. Committee chair Senator Marc Montigny and the panel's witnesses flagged House Bill 4849, now in House Ways and Means, as the key vehicle for granting MDAR authority to fine noncompliant municipalities and require injury reports to flow to the state rather than stopping at the local level. Advisory committee chair Jenny Mather, who oversaw 16 meetings of the panel between March 2025 and March 2026, warned that unlicensed operators advertising on third-party platforms represent the fastest-growing enforcement gap in the law.