HARRISBURG -- Dog lovers were heartened by the state Legislature's approval yesterday of a measure to crack down on "puppy mills," but Gov. Ed Rendell and Senate Republican leaders failed to reach a compromise to extend health insurance to 200,000 or more uninsured Pennsylvanians.

House Bill 2525 requires larger cages for animals in commercial dog kennels, prohibits cages with wire flooring, requires veterinarian care for kennel dogs every six months and requires kennel owners to give the dogs regular exercise.

Sen. Michael Brubaker, R-Lancaster, praised the bill. Lancaster County is known for puppy mills, a term for commercial kennels that don't take proper care of dogs.

Some senators said they'd been deluged with calls and e-mails from dog lovers. Mr. Rendell, who owns two dogs, has been trying to rid Pennsylvania of its reputation as "puppy mill capital of the East."

Many of the bill's provisions won't take effect, however, until 12 months after the governor signs it.

The Senate held its last session of 2008 yesterday, but the House has a few days to meet in November.

Mr. Rendell has tried for months to find a way to extend health insurance to as many as 800,000 uninsured adults, but Senate Republicans have balked at the cost. Mr. Rendell dropped a plan to raise $120 million by raising cigarette taxes and imposing a tax on cigar and smokeless tobacco sales.

Republicans had objected that the cost of the governor's plan could be as much as $1 billion, which they said it too much in uncertain economic times. Mr. Rendell scaled back the plan, first to 275,000 people, then to fewer than 200,000, but it didn't work. He's likely to try again in the 2009-10 legislative session, which starts in January.

The Legislature also didn't make much progress on protecting consumers when electricity rate "caps" expire in two years for several utilities, including Allegheny Energy.

Officials want to protect ratepayers from "rate shocks" -- electric costs jumping by 30 percent to 70 percent in 2010 and 2011. One idea, not yet finalized, would lift the caps over three years or five years rather than all at once.

In other matters, the Legislature approved bills imposing a 20-year mandatory prison sentence for shooting a police officer, and life in prison or the death penalty if the officer dies; banning forced overtime for nurses and other health care workers; and aimed at catching scrap metal thieves.