Minneapolis Scraps $250 Felony Pet Fee After Just 18 Applied in Six Years

Minneapolis residents with certain felony convictions no longer have to pay a $250 fee just to own a dog over 20 pounds. The City Council voted unanimously Thursday to repeal the 18-year-old requirement, part of an ordinance called Bark Down Barriers that supporters say removes an unnecessary barrier for people rebuilding their lives after incarceration.

The measure was co-authored by Council Members Jason Chavez, Jamison Whiting, Aurin Chowdhury and Robin Wonsley, according to a Facebook post from Jason Chavez - Minneapolis Ward 9. Chavez described the ordinance's passage as a win for criminal justice reform, framing pet ownership as a source of stability and companionship for people rebuilding their lives after incarceration. Since 2008, Minneapolis municipal code had required residents convicted of specific felonies — including drug charges, murder, assault, burglary and domestic assault — to pay $250 for a so-called prohibited animal permit before they could keep a dog over 20 pounds or any animal deemed potentially dangerous, according to the Star Tribune.

A Rule Almost No One Used

The numbers behind the repeal tell their own story. Between 2020 and mid-2026, Minneapolis Animal Care and Control received just 18 applications for the felony pet permit, approving 11 and denying seven, mostly over public safety risk determinations, the Star Tribune reported. That six-year trickle of applications helped convince animal control leadership and council members that the rule created an unnecessary burden for returning citizens without measurably improving public safety, according to the same report.

Tony Schendel, director of Minneapolis Animal Care and Control, publicly advocated for repealing the requirement, calling it unnecessarily restrictive. He argued that justice-impacted residents seeking pets are overwhelmingly responsible owners attempting to rebuild their lives, the outlet's report notes. The fee also stood out for its size: standard annual pet license fees in Minneapolis run $30 for spayed or neutered dogs and cats, with discounts down to $15 for low-income residents and seniors, according to the City of Minneapolis — meaning the old felony permit cost more than eight times the standard rate.

Testimony From Returning Residents

The push to repeal the fee was shaped by personal testimony from people who had run into it firsthand. Formerly incarcerated resident Mike McHaney told city leaders that after adopting a 73-pound American bulldog named Houdini from the city shelter, he was surprised to face the $250 permit hurdle despite having trained service dogs for the blind while incarcerated, per the same account.

JohnTaye Hudson, who served 21 years after being incarcerated at age 16, testified before the council that pets provide essential family connections for formerly incarcerated people. He criticized the fee as forcing returning citizens to “pay to have family.” Academic research on correctional animal programs, including a thesis published through ScholarWorks at Seattle University, indicates that human-animal bonding supports emotional well-being and social reintegration for justice-impacted individuals, lending broader context to why advocates pushed so hard on the issue.

Safety Provisions That Remain

The ordinance advanced through the City Council's Public Health, Safety, and Equity Committee following a public hearing held on August 19, after co-authors introduced the measure earlier in the summer, according to a City of Minneapolis Ward 9 update. While the ordinance eliminates automatic felony-based pet restrictions, it explicitly preserves the city's authority to deny permits to people convicted of animal cruelty or of using an animal to commit assault, along with enforcement of existing dangerous dog regulations, per the update.

State law adds another layer of protection that the local repeal does not touch. Under Minnesota Statute § 347.542, statewide restrictions still prohibit dog ownership for individuals convicted of multiple dangerous dog violations or severe attacks causing bodily harm, independent of any municipal permit code, according to the Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Taken together, city officials frame Bark Down Barriers as narrowing the net to target actual animal-related risk rather than any felony conviction, while leaving the state's dangerous-dog safeguards fully intact.