I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 208
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to ensure that all dogs and cats used
by research facilities are obtained legally.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2023
Mr. S
MITHof New Jersey (for himself, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. FITZPATRICK,
and Mr. G
OTTHEIMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to ensure that all dogs
and cats used by research facilities are obtained legally.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pet Safety and Protec-4
tion Act of 2023’’. 5
SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF PETS. 6
(a) R
ESEARCHFACILITIES.—Section 7 of the Animal 7
Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2137) is amended to read as fol-8
lows: 9
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‘‘SEC. 7. SOURCES OF DOGS AND CATS FOR RESEARCH FA-1
CILITIES. 2
‘‘(a) D
EFINITION OFPERSON.—In this section, the 3
term ‘person’ means any individual, partnership, firm, 4
joint stock company, corporation, association, trust, es-5
tate, pound, shelter, or other legal entity. 6
‘‘(b) U
SE OFDOGS ANDCATS.—No research facility 7
or Federal research facility may use a dog or cat for re-8
search or educational purposes if the dog or cat was ob-9
tained from a person other than a person described in sub-10
section (d). 11
‘‘(c) S
ELLING, DONATING, OROFFERINGDOGS AND 12
C
ATS.—No person, other than a person described in sub-13
section (d), may sell, donate, or offer a dog or cat to any 14
research facility or Federal research facility. 15
‘‘(d) P
ERMISSIBLESOURCES.—A person from whom 16
a research facility or a Federal research facility may ob-17
tain a dog or cat for research or educational purposes 18
under subsection (b), and a person who may sell, donate, 19
or offer a dog or cat to a research facility or a Federal 20
research facility under subsection (c), shall be— 21
‘‘(1) a dealer licensed under section 3 that has 22
bred and raised the dog or cat; 23
‘‘(2) a publicly owned and operated pound or 24
shelter that— 25
‘‘(A) is registered with the Secretary; 26
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‘‘(B) is in compliance with section 28(a)(1) 1
and with the requirements for dealers in sub-2
sections (b) and (c) of section 28; and 3
‘‘(C) obtained the dog or cat from its legal 4
owner, other than a pound or shelter; 5
‘‘(3) a person that is donating the dog or cat 6
and that— 7
‘‘(A) bred and raised the dog or cat; or 8
‘‘(B) owned the dog or cat for not less 9
than 1 year immediately preceding the dona-10
tion; 11
‘‘(4) a research facility licensed by the Sec-12
retary; and 13
‘‘(5) a Federal research facility licensed by the 14
Secretary. 15
‘‘(e) P
ENALTIES.— 16
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—A person that violates this 17
section shall be fined $1,000 for each violation. 18
‘‘(2) A
DDITIONAL PENALTY .—A penalty under 19
this subsection shall be in addition to any other ap-20
plicable penalty. 21
‘‘(f) N
OREQUIREDSALE ORDONATION.—Nothing 22
in this section requires a pound or shelter to sell, donate, 23
or offer a dog or cat to a research facility or Federal re-24
search facility.’’. 25
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(b) FEDERALRESEARCHFACILITIES.—Section 8 of 1
the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2138) is amended— 2
(1) by striking ‘‘Sec. 8. No department’’ and 3
inserting the following: 4
‘‘SEC. 8. FEDERAL RESEARCH FACILITIES. 5
‘‘Except as provided in section 7, no department’’; 6
(2) by striking ‘‘research or experimentation 7
or’’; and 8
(3) by striking ‘‘such purposes’’ and inserting 9
‘‘that purpose’’. 10
(c) C
ERTIFICATION.—Section 28(b)(1) of the Animal 11
Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2158(b)(1)) is amended by striking 12
‘‘individual or entity’’ and inserting ‘‘research facility or 13
Federal research facility’’. 14
SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 15
The amendments made by section 2 take effect on 16
the date that is 90 days after the date of enactment of 17
this Act. 18
Æ
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