Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB349 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 349
5	5	To amend the Animal Welfare Act to increase enforcement with respect
6	6	to violations of that Act, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	JANUARY13, 2025
9	9	Ms. M
10	10	ALLIOTAKIS(for herself, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr.
11	11	Q
12	12	UIGLEY, Mr. SMITHof New Jersey, and Mr. NUNNof Iowa) introduced
13	13	the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To amend the Animal Welfare Act to increase enforcement
16	16	with respect to violations of that Act, and for other purposes.
17	17	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
18	18	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
19	19	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
20	20	This Act may be cited as ‘‘Goldie’s Act’’. 4
21	21	SEC. 2. INCREASING USDA ENFORCEMENT OF VIOLATIONS 5
22	22	OF ANIMAL WELFARE ACT. 6
23	23	(a) V
24	24	IOLATIONDEFINED.—Section 2 of the Animal 7
25	25	Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2132) is amended by adding at the 8
26	26	end the following: 9
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29	29	•HR 349 IH
30	30	‘‘(p) The term ‘violation’ means, with respect to a 1
31	31	provision of this Act or any regulation or standard issued 2
32	32	thereunder, any deficiency, deviation, or other failure to 3
33	33	comply with any such provision or regulation or stand-4
34	34	ard.’’. 5
35	35	(b) I
36	36	NSPECTIONS AND INVESTIGATIONS.—Section 6
37	37	16(a) of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2146(a)) is 7
38	38	amended to read as follows: 8
39	39	‘‘(a)(1) The Secretary shall determine whether any 9
40	40	dealer, exhibitor, intermediate handler, carrier, research 10
41	41	facility, or operator of an auction sale subject to section 11
42	42	12 of this Act, has violated or is violating any provision 12
43	43	of this Act or any regulation or standard issued there-13
44	44	under. 14
45	45	‘‘(2) The Secretary shall, at all reasonable times, 15
46	46	have access to the places of business and the facilities, 16
47	47	animals, and those records required to be kept pursuant 17
48	48	to section 10 of any such dealer, exhibitor, intermediate 18
49	49	handler, carrier, research facility, or operator of an auc-19
50	50	tion sale. 20
51	51	‘‘(3) The Secretary shall make such inspections and 21
52	52	investigations necessary to make such a determination and 22
53	53	shall document and record a detailed description of any 23
54	54	violation observed during such inspections and investiga-24
55	55	tions. The Secretary shall inspect each research facility 25
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58	58	•HR 349 IH
59	59	and the premises of each dealer, and each exhibitor, in-1
60	60	cluding any properties, animals, facilities, vehicles, equip-2
61	61	ments or other premises used or intended for use in an 3
62	62	activity subject to regulation under this Act, at least once 4
63	63	each year and, in the case of any violation of this Act, 5
64	64	shall conduct such follow-up inspections as may be nec-6
65	65	essary until all such violations are corrected. 7
66	66	‘‘(4)(A) The Secretary shall promulgate such rules 8
67	67	and regulations necessary to require inspectors to con-9
68	68	fiscate or destroy in a humane manner any animal de-10
69	69	scribed in subparagraph (B). Such confiscation shall occur 11
70	70	promptly upon discovery during an inspection or investiga-12
71	71	tion conducted pursuant to this section of an animal meet-13
72	72	ing the criteria specified in clause (i) of such subpara-14
73	73	graph. Any dealer, exhibitor, intermediate handler, or car-15
74	74	rier that has been notified of the intent of an inspector 16
75	75	to confiscate such an animal shall be prohibited from de-17
76	76	stroying that animal, in any manner, and until the Sec-18
77	77	retary has completed that confiscation, shall be prohibited 19
78	78	from destroying any other animal in their ownership or 20
79	79	possession, without prior written consent to do so from 21
80	80	the Secretary. 22
81	81	‘‘(B) An animal described in this subparagraph is an 23
82	82	animal that is— 24
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85	85	•HR 349 IH
86	86	‘‘(i) found during an inspection or investigation 1
87	87	conducted pursuant to this section to be suffering 2
88	88	physical or psychological harm as a result of a fail-3
89	89	ure to comply with any provision of this Act or any 4
90	90	regulation or standard issued thereunder; and 5
91	91	‘‘(ii) held by a dealer, exhibitor, an operator of 6
92	92	an auction sale, an intermediate handler or carrier, 7
93	93	or a research facility, and in the case of an animal 8
94	94	held by a research facility, no longer required by 9
95	95	such research facility to carry out the research, test, 10
96	96	or experiment for which such animal has been uti-11
97	97	lized.’’. 12
98	98	(c) A
99	99	GENCYCOOPERATION.—Section 15 of the Ani-13
100	100	mal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2145) is amended by adding 14
101	101	at the end the following: 15
102	102	‘‘(c) The Secretary shall provide a copy of all records 16
103	103	documenting any violation identified during inspection or 17
104	104	investigation pursuant to section 16 to State, local, and 18
105	105	municipal animal control or law enforcement officials of 19
106	106	appropriate jurisdiction within 24 hours of such inspection 20
107	107	or investigation.’’. 21
108	108	(d) R
109	109	EVOCATION OFLICENSE, CIVILPENALTIES, AP-22
110	110	PEAL, FINES, ANDIMPRISONMENT.—Section 19(b) of the 23
111	111	Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2149(b)) is amended to 24
112	112	read as follows: 25
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115	115	•HR 349 IH
116	116	‘‘(b)(1) Any dealer, exhibitor, research facility, inter-1
117	117	mediate handler, carrier, or operator of an auction sale 2
118	118	subject to section 12 of this Act, that violates any provi-3
119	119	sion of this Act, or any rule, regulation, or standard pro-4
120	120	mulgated by the Secretary thereunder, shall be subject to 5
121	121	a civil penalty by the Secretary of not more than $10,000 6
122	122	for each such violation, and the Secretary shall also make 7
123	123	an order that such person shall cease and desist from con-8
124	124	tinuing such violation. Each violation and each day during 9
125	125	which a violation continues shall be a separate offense. 10
126	126	‘‘(2) Verified delivery of an inspection report pre-11
127	127	pared pursuant to section 16 shall serve as notice for pur-12
128	128	poses of this section. No penalty shall be assessed or cease 13
129	129	and desist order issued unless such person is given notice 14
130	130	and opportunity to be heard with respect to the alleged 15
131	131	violation, and the order of the Secretary assessing a pen-16
132	132	alty and making a cease and desist order shall be final 17
133	133	and conclusive unless the affected person files an appeal 18
134	134	from the Secretary’s order with the appropriate United 19
135	135	States Court of Appeals. 20
136	136	‘‘(3) A hearing under this section shall be conducted 21
137	137	by, at minimum, one veterinarian, and two additional ani-22
138	138	mal care specialists or directors. A hearing under this sec-23
139	139	tion shall take place within 21 days after notice of the 24
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142	142	•HR 349 IH
143	143	violation has been delivered unless the Secretary identifies 1
144	144	a reasonable basis for continuance. 2
145	145	‘‘(4) The Secretary shall give due consideration to the 3
146	146	appropriateness of the penalty with respect to the size of 4
147	147	the business of the person involved, the gravity of the vio-5
148	148	lation, the person’s good faith, and the history of previous 6
149	149	violations. Any such penalty shall be calculated on a per 7
150	150	animal and per violation basis and may not be reduced 8
151	151	by 10 percent or more. The Secretary shall designate a 9
152	152	responsible party within the Department of Agriculture to 10
153	153	establish penalty guidelines for violations and to verify 11
154	154	that the Department adheres to such guidelines. Such 12
155	155	guidelines shall be established in a manner to reasonably 13
156	156	discourage future violations. 14
157	157	‘‘(5) Upon any failure to pay the penalty assessed by 15
158	158	a final order under this section, the Secretary shall request 16
159	159	the Attorney General to institute a civil action in a district 17
160	160	court of the United States or other United States court 18
161	161	for any district in which such person is found or resides 19
162	162	or transacts business, to collect the penalty, and such 20
163	163	court shall have jurisdiction to hear and decide any such 21
164	164	action. Any person who knowingly fails to obey a cease 22
165	165	and desist order made by the Secretary under this section 23
166	166	shall be subject to a civil penalty of $1,500.’’. 24
167	167	Æ
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