I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 349
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to increase enforcement with respect
to violations of that Act, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY13, 2025
Ms. M
ALLIOTAKIS(for herself, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr.
Q
UIGLEY, Mr. SMITHof New Jersey, and Mr. NUNNof Iowa) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to increase enforcement
with respect to violations of that Act, 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 ‘‘Goldie’s Act’’. 4
SEC. 2. INCREASING USDA ENFORCEMENT OF VIOLATIONS 5
OF ANIMAL WELFARE ACT. 6
(a) V
IOLATIONDEFINED.—Section 2 of the Animal 7
Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2132) is amended by adding at the 8
end the following: 9
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‘‘(p) The term ‘violation’ means, with respect to a 1
provision of this Act or any regulation or standard issued 2
thereunder, any deficiency, deviation, or other failure to 3
comply with any such provision or regulation or stand-4
ard.’’. 5
(b) I
NSPECTIONS AND INVESTIGATIONS.—Section 6
16(a) of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2146(a)) is 7
amended to read as follows: 8
‘‘(a)(1) The Secretary shall determine whether any 9
dealer, exhibitor, intermediate handler, carrier, research 10
facility, or operator of an auction sale subject to section 11
12 of this Act, has violated or is violating any provision 12
of this Act or any regulation or standard issued there-13
under. 14
‘‘(2) The Secretary shall, at all reasonable times, 15
have access to the places of business and the facilities, 16
animals, and those records required to be kept pursuant 17
to section 10 of any such dealer, exhibitor, intermediate 18
handler, carrier, research facility, or operator of an auc-19
tion sale. 20
‘‘(3) The Secretary shall make such inspections and 21
investigations necessary to make such a determination and 22
shall document and record a detailed description of any 23
violation observed during such inspections and investiga-24
tions. The Secretary shall inspect each research facility 25
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and the premises of each dealer, and each exhibitor, in-1
cluding any properties, animals, facilities, vehicles, equip-2
ments or other premises used or intended for use in an 3
activity subject to regulation under this Act, at least once 4
each year and, in the case of any violation of this Act, 5
shall conduct such follow-up inspections as may be nec-6
essary until all such violations are corrected. 7
‘‘(4)(A) The Secretary shall promulgate such rules 8
and regulations necessary to require inspectors to con-9
fiscate or destroy in a humane manner any animal de-10
scribed in subparagraph (B). Such confiscation shall occur 11
promptly upon discovery during an inspection or investiga-12
tion conducted pursuant to this section of an animal meet-13
ing the criteria specified in clause (i) of such subpara-14
graph. Any dealer, exhibitor, intermediate handler, or car-15
rier that has been notified of the intent of an inspector 16
to confiscate such an animal shall be prohibited from de-17
stroying that animal, in any manner, and until the Sec-18
retary has completed that confiscation, shall be prohibited 19
from destroying any other animal in their ownership or 20
possession, without prior written consent to do so from 21
the Secretary. 22
‘‘(B) An animal described in this subparagraph is an 23
animal that is— 24
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‘‘(i) found during an inspection or investigation 1
conducted pursuant to this section to be suffering 2
physical or psychological harm as a result of a fail-3
ure to comply with any provision of this Act or any 4
regulation or standard issued thereunder; and 5
‘‘(ii) held by a dealer, exhibitor, an operator of 6
an auction sale, an intermediate handler or carrier, 7
or a research facility, and in the case of an animal 8
held by a research facility, no longer required by 9
such research facility to carry out the research, test, 10
or experiment for which such animal has been uti-11
lized.’’. 12
(c) A
GENCYCOOPERATION.—Section 15 of the Ani-13
mal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2145) is amended by adding 14
at the end the following: 15
‘‘(c) The Secretary shall provide a copy of all records 16
documenting any violation identified during inspection or 17
investigation pursuant to section 16 to State, local, and 18
municipal animal control or law enforcement officials of 19
appropriate jurisdiction within 24 hours of such inspection 20
or investigation.’’. 21
(d) R
EVOCATION OFLICENSE, CIVILPENALTIES, AP-22
PEAL, FINES, ANDIMPRISONMENT.—Section 19(b) of the 23
Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2149(b)) is amended to 24
read as follows: 25
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‘‘(b)(1) Any dealer, exhibitor, research facility, inter-1
mediate handler, carrier, or operator of an auction sale 2
subject to section 12 of this Act, that violates any provi-3
sion of this Act, or any rule, regulation, or standard pro-4
mulgated by the Secretary thereunder, shall be subject to 5
a civil penalty by the Secretary of not more than $10,000 6
for each such violation, and the Secretary shall also make 7
an order that such person shall cease and desist from con-8
tinuing such violation. Each violation and each day during 9
which a violation continues shall be a separate offense. 10
‘‘(2) Verified delivery of an inspection report pre-11
pared pursuant to section 16 shall serve as notice for pur-12
poses of this section. No penalty shall be assessed or cease 13
and desist order issued unless such person is given notice 14
and opportunity to be heard with respect to the alleged 15
violation, and the order of the Secretary assessing a pen-16
alty and making a cease and desist order shall be final 17
and conclusive unless the affected person files an appeal 18
from the Secretary’s order with the appropriate United 19
States Court of Appeals. 20
‘‘(3) A hearing under this section shall be conducted 21
by, at minimum, one veterinarian, and two additional ani-22
mal care specialists or directors. A hearing under this sec-23
tion shall take place within 21 days after notice of the 24
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violation has been delivered unless the Secretary identifies 1
a reasonable basis for continuance. 2
‘‘(4) The Secretary shall give due consideration to the 3
appropriateness of the penalty with respect to the size of 4
the business of the person involved, the gravity of the vio-5
lation, the person’s good faith, and the history of previous 6
violations. Any such penalty shall be calculated on a per 7
animal and per violation basis and may not be reduced 8
by 10 percent or more. The Secretary shall designate a 9
responsible party within the Department of Agriculture to 10
establish penalty guidelines for violations and to verify 11
that the Department adheres to such guidelines. Such 12
guidelines shall be established in a manner to reasonably 13
discourage future violations. 14
‘‘(5) Upon any failure to pay the penalty assessed by 15
a final order under this section, the Secretary shall request 16
the Attorney General to institute a civil action in a district 17
court of the United States or other United States court 18
for any district in which such person is found or resides 19
or transacts business, to collect the penalty, and such 20
court shall have jurisdiction to hear and decide any such 21
action. Any person who knowingly fails to obey a cease 22
and desist order made by the Secretary under this section 23
shall be subject to a civil penalty of $1,500.’’. 24
Æ
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