[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 594 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 594

 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

                            February 5, 1997

Mr. Canady of Florida (for himself, Mr. Brown of California, Mr. Goss, 
  Mr. Calvert, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Kleczka, Mr. Shays, Mr. 
Pallone, Mr. Davis of Virginia, Mr. Yates, Mr. Herger, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. 
 Hyde, Mrs. Meek of Florida, Mr. Murtha, Mr. Leach, Mr. McIntosh, Mr. 
  Miller of California, and Ms. Furse) 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Pet Safety and Protection Act of 
1997''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Section 7.--Section 7 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2137) 
is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 7. SOURCES OF DOGS AND CATS FOR RESEARCH FACILITIES.

    ``(a) Use of Certain Dogs and Cats.--No research facility or 
Federal research facility may use a dog or cat for research or 
educational purposes if the dog or cat was obtained from a person other 
than a person described in subsection (c).
    ``(b) Selling, Donating, or Offering Dogs and Cats.--No person, 
other than a person described in subsection (c), may sell, donate, or 
offer a dog or cat to any research facility or Federal research 
facility.
    ``(c) Permissible Sources.--Persons from whom a research facility 
or a Federal research facility may obtain a dog or cat for research or 
educational purposes under subsection (a) and persons who may sell, 
donate, or offer a dog or cat to a research facility or a Federal 
research facility under subsection (b) are--
            ``(1) a dealer licensed under section 3 who has bred and 
        raised such dog or cat;
            ``(2) a publicly owned and operated pound or shelter that--
                    ``(A) is registered with the Department of 
                Agriculture;
                    ``(B) is in compliance with section 28(a)(1) and 
                with the requirements for dealers in section 28(b) and 
                (c); and
                    ``(C) obtained such dog or cat from its legal 
                owner, other than a pound or shelter;
            ``(3) a person who is donating such dog or cat and who--
                    ``(A) bred and raised such dog or cat; or
                    ``(B) owned such dog or cat for not less than 1 
                year immediately preceding the donation;
            ``(4) a research facility licensed by the Department of 
        Agriculture; and
            ``(5) a Federal research facility licensed by the 
        Department of Agriculture.
    ``(d) Penalties.--(1) Any person found to have violated subsection 
(b) shall pay $1000 for each violation.
    ``(2) Any penalty under this subsection shall be in addition to any 
other applicable penalty and shall be imposed whether or not the 
Secretary imposes any other penalty.
    ``(e) Definition.--For purposes of this section the term ``person'' 
includes any individual, partnership, firm, joint stock company, 
corporation, association, trust, estate, pound, shelter, or other legal 
entity.
    ``(f) Construction.--Nothing in this section may be construed to 
require a pound or shelter to sell, donate, or offer dogs or cats to 
research facilities or Federal research facilities.''.
    (b) Section 8.--Section 8 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2138) 
is amended--
            (1) by striking ``No department'' and inserting in lieu 
        thereof ``Except as provided in section 7, no department'';
            (2) by striking ``research or experimentation or''; and
            (3) by striking ``purposes'' and inserting in lieu thereof 
        ``purpose''.
    (c) Section 28.--Section 28(b)(1) of the Animal Welfare Act (7 
U.S.C. 2158(b)(1)) is amended by striking ``individual or entity'' and 
inserting in lieu thereof ``research facility or Federal research 
facility''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    Section 2 shall take effect three months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
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