[Senate Report 118-137]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                Calendar No. 281
                                                
                                                
118th Congress }                                  { Report
                          SENATE                   
!st Session    }                                  {  118-137    
                                              
_______________________________________________________________________

                                     

                                                      


                    WORKING DOG HEALTH AND WELFARE 
                              ACT OF 2023

                               __________

                              R E P O R T

                                 of the

                   COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND

                          GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                              to accompany

                                S. 2414

            TO REQUIRE AGENCIES WITH WORKING DOG PROGRAMS TO
            IMPLEMENT THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT
            ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE RELATING TO THE HEALTH AND
            WELFARE OF WORKING DOGS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES




               December 13, 2023.--Ordered to be printed
               
               
               
       
                       ______

             U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 
                     WASHINGTON : 2024         
               
               
               
        COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                   GARY C. PETERS, Michigan, Chairman
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware           RAND PAUL, Kentucky
MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire         RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona              JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada                  MITT ROMNEY, Utah
JON OSSOFF, Georgia                  RICK SCOTT, Florida
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut      JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri
LAPHONZA R. BUTLER, California       ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas

                   David M. Weinberg, Staff Director
         Christopher J. Mulkins, Director of Homeland Security
            Benjamin J. Schubert, Professional Staff Member
           William E. Henderson III, Minority Staff Director
              Christina N. Salazar, Minority Chief Counsel
                  Andrew J. Hopkins, Minority Counsel
                     Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
                      

                                                       Calendar No. 281
                                                       
118th Congress }                                               {   Report
                                 SENATE
 1st Session   }                                               { 118-137

======================================================================



 
               WORKING DOG HEALTH AND WELFARE ACT OF 2023

                                _______
                                

               December 13, 2023.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

 Mr. Peters, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
                    Affairs, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 2414]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 2414) to require 
agencies with working dog programs to implement the 
recommendations of the Government Accountability Office 
relating to the health and welfare of working dogs, and for 
other purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably 
thereon with an amendment, in the nature of a substitute, and 
recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
  I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
 II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................3
 IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported.............3
  V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact..................................4
 VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................4
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............5

                         I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

    S. 2414, the Working Dog Health and Welfare Act of 2023, 
requires agencies that manage working dog programs to implement 
recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office 
(GAO) to improve the health and welfare of working dogs. In 
particular, the bill provides for implementation of 
recommendations made in GAO's 2022 report, ``Working Dogs: 
Federal Agencies Need to Better Address Health and Welfare.'' 
The bill extends this requirement to contractors that manage 
working dog programs on behalf of agencies and to foreign 
partners that receive working dogs from the Department of 
State. The bill would also require agencies to implement GAO's 
recommendations in any new working dog programs.

              II. BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR THE LEGISLATION

    Agencies across the federal government use working dogs to 
fulfill critical mission areas, such as law enforcement and 
security. As of February 2022, federal government entities 
utilized over 5,100 working dogs across 64 programs of varying 
sizes, at 8 departments and 3 federal agencies. These dogs 
perform significant roles, including explosives detection, 
narcotics detection, patrol, human detection, suspect 
apprehension, search and rescue, wildlife management, and 
disease surveillance.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\Government Accountability Office, Working Dogs: Federal Agencies 
Need to Better Address Health and Welfare (GAO-23-104489) (Oct. 19, 
2022).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    To provide for the health and wellbeing of these working 
dogs, agencies publish specific policies for their working dog 
programs. In October 2022, GAO issued a report that identified 
18 foundational issues ``important to the health and welfare of 
working dogs'' which agencies should address in their policies. 
These issues are: detection of abuse and neglect, emergency 
medical care, euthanasia, exercise, food and water, grooming, 
health and welfare training, housing, medical needs after 
retirement, medical records, medication, procurement, rest and 
length of on-duty time, retirement, routine veterinary care, 
routine welfare evaluations, sanitation, and transportation.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\Id. at 16-17.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    In its report, GAO found that of the 40 federal working dog 
programs that are directly managed by federal agencies, only 9 
programs addressed all 18 issues that GAO identified as 
important to working dogs' health and welfare. GAO also found 
that policies for federally-managed working dog programs 
typically addressed a range of health and welfare issues, but 
often omitted specific factors such as abuse and neglect, rest, 
and length of on-duty time.\3\ Of the 21 federal working dog 
programs that are managed by contractors, only 3 programs 
addressed all 18 health and welfare criteria.\4\ Finally, of 
the 3 Department of State programs that donate working dogs to 
foreign partners, only 1 program addressed all 18 of GAO's 
criteria.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\Id. at 19-20.
    \4\Id. at 22.
    \5\Id. at 30.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Several agencies have taken steps to address the gaps in 
working dog policies that GAO identified, while others are 
still working to update their policies to incorporate essential 
health and welfare criteria.\6\ To ensure parity in working dog 
program policies across the federal government, this bill 
requires all departments, agencies, and contractors managing 
working dog programs on behalf of an agency to implement GAO's 
recommendations within 180 days of the bill's enactment. This 
legislation also ensures that any new working dog program 
policies created after the enactment of this bill address GAO's 
recommendations.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\Id. at 35-36.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

                        III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) introduced S. 2414, the Working 
Dog Health and Welfare Act of 2023, on July 20, 2023, with 
original cosponsor Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ). The bill was 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs.
    The Committee considered S. 2414 at a business meeting on 
October 25, 2023. At the business meeting, Senator Sinema 
offered a substitute amendment to the bill, as well as a 
modification to the substitute amendment. The Sinema substitute 
amendment, as modified, removed Congress, the courts of the 
United States, the governments of the territories or 
possessions of the United States, and the government of the 
District of Columbia as entities that need to reissue working 
dog program policies. The Sinema substitute amendment, as 
modified, also added section (e), which disallows the 
authorization of additional funds to carry out the bill.
    The Committee adopted the modification to the Sinema 
substitute amendment, and the Sinema substitute amendment as 
modified, by unanimous consent, with Senators Peters, Hassan, 
Sinema, Rosen, Ossoff, Blumenthal, Butler, Paul, Lankford, 
Romney, and Scott present. The bill, as amended by the Sinema 
substitute amendment as modified, was ordered reported 
favorably by roll call vote of 11 yeas to 0 nays, with Senators 
Peters, Hassan, Sinema, Rosen, Ossoff, Blumenthal, Butler, 
Paul, Lankford, Romney, and Scott voting in the affirmative. 
Senators Carper, Johnson, Hawley, and Marshall voted yea by 
proxy, for the record only.
    Consistent with Committee Rule 3(G), the Committee reports 
the bill with a technical amendment by mutual agreement of the 
Chairman and Ranking Member.

        IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE BILL, AS REPORTED

Section 1. Short title

    This section establishes the short title of the bill as the 
``Working Dog Health and Welfare Act of 2023.''

Section 2. Implementation of working dog recommendations

    Subsection (a) defines the terms ``agency,'' ``working 
dog,'' ``working dog program,'' and ``working dog 
recommendations.'' The ``working dog recommendations'' are 
those included in GAO's October 2022 report ``Working Dogs: 
Federal Agencies Need to Better Address Health and Welfare.''
    Subsection (b)(1) requires the head of each agency that 
manages a working dog program to implement the working dog 
recommendations within 180 days of the enactment of the bill.
    Subsection (b)(2) requires contractors that manage a 
working dog program on behalf of an agency to implement the 
working dog recommendations within 180 days of the enactment of 
the bill.
    Subsection (b)(3) requires the head of each agency that 
manages a working dog program to submit a report to the 
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the 
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability within 60 days 
of the completion of subsection (b)(1) or subsection (b)(2) on 
the explicit steps agencies and contractors have taken to 
complete the implementation.
    Subsection (c) requires the Secretary of State to ensure 
that donations of working dogs by the Department of State to 
foreign partners are executed and monitored according to the 
working dog recommendations within 180 days of the enactment of 
the bill.
    Subsection (d) requires agency heads to ensure that the 
working dog recommendations are implemented in any new working 
dog program established by an agency after the date of 
enactment of the bill.
    Subsection (e) specifies that no additional funds are 
authorized to be appropriated for the purposes of carrying out 
the bill.

                   V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT

    Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule 
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has 
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined 
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning 
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional 
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no 
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the 
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs 
on state, local, or tribal governments.

             VI. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE



    S. 2414 would require federal agencies and contractors that 
use dogs to implement the recommendations outlined in the 
Government Accountability Office (GAO) report ``Working Dogs: 
Federal Agencies Need to Better Address Health and Welfare,'' 
published on October 19, 2022, within 180 days of enactment. 
Within 60 days of implementing the recommendations, the bill 
would require each of those agencies to submit a report to the 
Congress outlining the steps they took to comply with GAO's 
recommendations. Additionally, S. 2414 would require the 
Department of State to ensure that the foreign countries to 
which it provides dogs also comply with the report's 
recommendations.
    The GAO report identified 18 issues important to dogs' 
health and welfare, including emergency medical care, grooming, 
housing, retirement, and transportation. GAO recommended that 
federal agencies that directly employ dogs or contract with 
entities that employ dogs revise their policies to ensure all 
the issues are addressed.
    Based on information from GAO, CBO estimates that about 10 
federal agencies directly employ about 5,200 dogs. 
Additionally, federal contractors employ about 400 dogs and the 
Department of State provides about 1,000 dogs to foreign 
partners to assist with counterterrorism and security. Most 
agencies already address some of or all 18 recommended issues. 
Based on the costs of similar activities, CBO estimates that 
each agency would incur small administrative and personnel 
costs to update policies and issue the report.
    Most agencies would use discretionary funds to meet the 
requirements under S. 2414; CBO estimates that it would cost 
less than $500,000 over the 2024-2028 period for those agencies 
to implement the bill. Such spending would be subject to the 
availability of appropriated funds.
    Two agencies that employ dogs have direct spending 
authority for administrative expenses: the Tennessee Valley 
Authority (TVA) and the Postal Service. (Cash flows for the 
Postal Service are recorded in the federal budget in the Postal 
Service Fund and are classified as off-budget direct spending.) 
CBO estimates that the costs to those agencies would be 
negligible. Furthermore, under current law, TVA sells 
electricity at prices sufficient to recover any costs it incurs 
in lieu of receiving annual appropriations. On that basis, CBO 
expects that any increase in spending would be treated as an 
operating expense and recovered quickly in TVA's rates for 
electricity.
    S. 2414 would also affect the Federal Reserve. Costs 
incurred by the Federal Reserve reduce remittances to the 
Treasury, which are recorded in the budget as revenues; CBO 
estimates that the reduction in revenues under the bill would 
be negligible.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeremy Crimm. 
The estimate was reviewed by Emily Stern, Senior Adviser for 
Budget Analysis.
                                         Phillip L. Swagel,
                             Director, Congressional Budget Office.

       VII. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED

    This legislation would make no change in existing law, 
within the meaning of clauses (a) and (b) of subparagraph 12 of 
rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, because this 
legislation would not repeal or amend any provision of current 
law.