I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1802
To prohibit the use of animals in federally funded research, promote the
adoption of humane and scientifically advanced alternatives, and ensure
the ethical rehoming of retired research animals, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH3, 2025
Ms. M
ALLIOTAKIS(for herself and Mr. BEANof Florida) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and
Technology, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Com-
merce, Agriculture, and Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To prohibit the use of animals in federally funded research,
promote the adoption of humane and scientifically ad-
vanced alternatives, and ensure the ethical rehoming of
retired research animals, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Safeguard Pets, Ani-4
mals, and Research Ethics Act’’ or the ‘‘SPARE Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
Congress finds the following: 2
(1) Tens of millions of animals are used annu-3
ally in federally funded research, including dogs, 4
cats, rabbits, primates, and other species. 5
(2) Many of these animals cost thousands of 6
tax dollars each, burdening taxpayers with billions of 7
dollars annually in inefficient and unnecessary re-8
search costs. 9
(3) Modern non-animal research alternatives, 10
such as human-cell-based models, artificial intel-11
ligence, and organ-on-chip technology, provide more 12
reliable and ethical research methods. 13
(4) The continued use of animals in federally 14
funded research contradicts existing Three Rs (Re-15
duce, Refine, Replace) policy goals aimed at reduc-16
ing reliance on animal models. 17
(5) Many animals used in federally funded re-18
search are viable for adoption or sanctuary place-19
ment upon the cessation of experiments. 20
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN RESEARCH, TESTING, 21
AND EXPERIMENTATION THAT UTILIZES AN 22
ANIMAL. 23
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Except as otherwise provided in 24
this section, a Federal department, Federal agency, Fed-25
eral contractor, subcontractor, or grantee may not author-26
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ize, obligate or expend funds for, or otherwise engage in 1
research, testing, and experimentation that utilizes an ani-2
mal. 3
(b) S
ANCTIONS ANDPENALTIES.— 4
(1) C
IVIL PENALTY.—A Federal contractor, 5
subcontractor, or grantee that violates subsection (a) 6
or subsection (f)(1) shall be subject to a civil penalty 7
in an amount of not more than $250,000. 8
(2) S
ANCTIONS.— 9
(A) F
EDERAL DEPARTMENTS AND AGEN -10
CIES.—If the Secretary of Agriculture or the 11
Director of the National Institutes of Health 12
determines that a Federal department or agen-13
cy has violated subsection (a) or subsection 14
(f)(1), such department or agency shall imple-15
ment a plan, which may include a reporting re-16
quirement, prescribed by such Secretary or Di-17
rector, as the case may be, to correct the viola-18
tion. 19
(B) F
EDERAL CONTRACTORS , SUB-20
CONTRACTORS, AND GRANTEES .—Notwith-21
standing any other provision of law, if the Sec-22
retary of Agriculture or the Director of the Na-23
tional Institutes of Health determines, after 24
reasonable notice and opportunity for a hearing, 25
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that a Federal contractor, subcontractor, or 1
grantee has violated subsection (a) or sub-2
section (f)(1), such contractor, subcontractor, 3
or grantee may be prohibited from receiving, for 4
a period of time specified by such Secretary or 5
Director, as the case may be, a Federal grant 6
for research, testing, and experimentation. 7
(c) D
ELAYEDAPPLICATION.— 8
(1) E
IGHTEEN MONTHS .—With respect to re-9
search, testing, and experimentation that utilizes an 10
animal and relates to cosmetic testing, toxicity test-11
ing, or basic psychological or behavioral experi-12
menting, subsection (a) shall not apply until 18 13
months after the date of the enactment of this sec-14
tion. 15
(2) T
HREE YEARS.—With respect to research, 16
testing, and experimentation that utilizes an animal 17
and relates to biomedical experimenting or drug 18
testing, subsection (a) shall not apply until three 19
years after the date of the enactment of this section. 20
(d) E
XCEPTIONS.— 21
(1) C
ERTAIN VETERINARY RESEARCH OR ANI -22
MALS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to research, 23
testing, and experimentation that utilizes an animal 24
and relates to any of the following: 25
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(A) Clinical veterinary research. 1
(B) A physical exam, training program, or 2
study relating to a military animal or service 3
animal. 4
(2) C
ONGRESSIONAL AUTHORIZATION .—A Fed-5
eral department, Federal agency, Federal contractor, 6
subcontractor, or grantee may authorize, obligate or 7
expend funds for, or otherwise engage in research, 8
testing, and experimentation that utilizes an animal 9
if the following requirements are satisfied: 10
(A) The head of such department, agency, 11
contractor, subcontractor, or grantee submits to 12
Congress an application that states the fol-13
lowing: 14
(i) Such research, testing, and experi-15
mentation would relate to an infectious 16
disease or national security. 17
(ii) Such research, testing, and experi-18
mentation would utilize such animal spar-19
ingly. 20
(iii) Such head has determined that 21
an alternative does not exist for such re-22
search, testing, and experimentation. 23
(B) After Congress receives the application 24
described in subparagraph (A), Congress enacts 25
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a joint resolution that authorizes such research, 1
testing, and experimentation for a period of not 2
more than one year. 3
(e) F
EDERALRESEARCHMODERNIZATIONFUND.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Federal Research Mod-5
ernization Fund (in this subsection referred to as 6
the ‘‘Fund’’) is established in the National Science 7
Foundation. 8
(2) F
UNCTIONS.—Not later than one year after 9
the date of the enactment of this section, the Direc-10
tor of the National Science Foundation, through the 11
Fund, shall carry out the following: 12
(A) Establish a program to award grants 13
on a competitive basis to transition research, 14
testing, and experimentation that utilizes an 15
animal to research, testing, and experimen-16
tation that does not utilize an animal, and not 17
less than one grant under such program shall 18
be awarded to a non-profit rescue or rehabilita-19
tion organization. 20
(B) For Federal contractors engaging in 21
research, testing, and experimentation that uti-22
lizes an animal, offer training to such contrac-23
tors to transition such research, testing, and ex-24
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perimentation to research, testing, and experi-1
mentation that does not utilize an animal. 2
(C) Establish a program to facilitate col-3
laboration between entities to expedite any 4
transition of research, testing, and experimen-5
tation that utilizes an animal to research, test-6
ing, and experimentation that does not utilize 7
an animal. 8
(D) Establish a program to support the 9
validation and standardization of research, test-10
ing, and experimentation that does not utilize 11
an animal. 12
(f) A
NIMALRELEASEPROGRAM.— 13
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Any federally funded re-14
search facility that has utilized an animal for re-15
search, testing, and experimentation prohibited 16
under this section shall carry out the following: 17
(A) Not later than one year after the date 18
of the enactment of this section, establish a 19
program to release each such animal to any of 20
the following: 21
(i) An animal rescue organization. 22
(ii) An accredited sanctuary. 23
(iii) A licensed animal shelter. 24
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(iv) An individual eligible to receive 1
such animal. 2
(B) In carrying out the program described 3
in subparagraph (A), consult with an accredited 4
sanctuary or a specialist in animal behavioral 5
rehabilitation. 6
(C) Before releasing such animal pursuant 7
to such subparagraph, receive from a licensed 8
veterinarian a certification that states such ani-9
mal is suitable for release. 10
(D) Not later than 16 months after the 11
date of the enactment of this section and quar-12
terly thereafter, submit to the Animal and 13
Plant Health Inspection Service of the Depart-14
ment of Agriculture and the Office of Labora-15
tory Animal Welfare of the National Institutes 16
of Health information relating to the number of 17
animals released pursuant to such subpara-18
graph. 19
(2) P
UBLIC DATABASE.—Not later than 20 20
months after the date of the enactment of this sec-21
tion, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Director 22
of the National Institutes of Health shall jointly de-23
velop, maintain not less than quarterly, and make 24
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publicly available a database on each animal released 1
pursuant such program. 2
(g) A
UDITS.—Not later than one year after the date 3
of the enactment of this section and annually thereafter, 4
the Comptroller General of the United States, in consulta-5
tion with the personnel of the Animal and Plant Health 6
Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture and 7
the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare of the National 8
Institutes of Health, shall carry out the following: 9
(1) Audit each Federal department, Federal 10
agency, Federal contractor, subcontractor, or grant-11
ee for compliance with this section. 12
(2) Submit a report to Congress on the compli-13
ance of each such department, agency, contractor, 14
subcontractor, or grantee with this section. 15
(h) C
ONGRESSIONALHEARINGS.—Not later than two 16
years after the date of the enactment of this section and 17
annually thereafter, each House of Congress shall hold a 18
hearing on the annual report submitted under subsection 19
(g). 20
(i) C
ONFLICT.—If a conflict exists between the Ani-21
mal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2131 et seq.), or the Federal 22
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.), 23
and this section, this section shall apply. 24
(j) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 25
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(1) ACCREDITED SANCTUARY .—The term ‘‘ac-1
credited sanctuary’’ means a facility or organization 2
that satisfies the following requirements: 3
(A) Provides lifetime care and shelter to 4
animals. 5
(B) Maintains animals in a protective envi-6
ronment without engaging in breeding, commer-7
cial trade, or for-profit public exhibition. 8
(C) Possesses an accreditation by a nation-9
ally recognized accrediting body, such as the 10
Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, or 11
another entity designated by the Secretary of 12
Agriculture. 13
(D) Adheres to standards of animal care, 14
including adequate housing, nutrition, and vet-15
erinary attention, verified through periodic re-16
views conducted as a condition of such accredi-17
tation. 18
(2) A
NIMAL.—The term ‘‘animal’’ means a liv-19
ing or dead dog, cat, non-human primate, guinea 20
pig, hamster, rabbit, or other warm-blooded animal 21
that the Secretary of Agriculture designates as being 22
used, or intended to be used, for research, testing, 23
and experimentation, exhibition, or as a pet. 24
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(3) ANIMAL RESCUE ORGANIZATION .—The term 1
‘‘animal rescue organization’’ means an organization 2
that satisfies the following requirements: 3
(A) Is described in section 501(c)(3) of the 4
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt 5
from tax under section 501(a) of such Code. 6
(B) Is primarily dedicated to the rescue, 7
rehabilitation, and placement of animals into 8
adoptive homes or other suitable environments, 9
including with respect to the following: 10
(i) Taking custody of such animals 11
from research facilities, shelters, or other 12
sources. 13
(ii) Providing necessary care, includ-14
ing veterinary treatment and socialization, 15
to such animals. 16
(iii) Facilitating the adoption or 17
transfer of such animals to permanent 18
placements. 19
(iv) Maintaining records of the intake, 20
care, and disposition of such animals. 21
(C) Does not engage in the commercial 22
sale or trade of animals. 23
(4) C
LINICAL VETERINARY RESEARCH .—The 24
term ‘‘clinical veterinary research’’ means research 25
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on a dog or cat with a naturally occurring disease 1
or injury that is conducted— 2
(A) for the benefit of the dog or cat; and 3
(B) with the intention of studying the ef-4
fect of a procedure, device, or treatment pro-5
tocol. 6
(5) G
RANTEE.—The term ‘‘grantee’’ means an 7
entity that receives Federal research funds under a 8
grant agreement with a Federal department or agen-9
cy. 10
(6) L
ICENSED ANIMAL SHELTER .—The term 11
‘‘licensed animal shelter’’ means a facility that satis-12
fies the following requirements: 13
(A) Is operated by or under contract with 14
a State or local government, a duly incor-15
porated humane society, or an organization de-16
scribed in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Rev-17
enue Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under 18
section 501(a) of such Code. 19
(B) Is licensed or registered under any ap-20
plicable law to impound, harbor, or care for 21
stray, abandoned, or surrendered animals, in-22
cluding animals released from research facili-23
ties. 24
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(C) Provides humane care and treatment 1
to such animals. 2
(D) Facilitates the adoption or transfer of 3
such animals to suitable placements. 4
(7) M
ILITARY ANIMAL.—The term ‘‘military 5
animal’’ has the meaning given the term in section 6
2583 of title 10, United States Code. 7
(8) R
ESEARCH, TESTING, AND EXPERIMEN -8
TATION.—The term ‘‘research, testing, and experi-9
mentation’’ includes any of the following: 10
(A) Basic research. 11
(B) Behavioral research. 12
(C) Infectious disease research. 13
(D) Drug and device development and test-14
ing. 15
(E) Cosmetic development and testing. 16
(F) Chemical development and testing. 17
(G) Biomedical training. 18
(9) S
ERVICE ANIMAL.—The term ‘‘service ani-19
mal’’ has the meaning given the term in section 37.3 20
of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations. 21
(10) S
UBCONTRACTOR.—The term ‘‘subcon-22
tractor’’ means an entity that performs work under 23
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a subcontract funded by a Federal research grant or 1
another Federal contract. 2
Æ
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