[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\
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\1\Government Accountability Office, Working Dogs: Federal Agencies
Need to Better Address Health and Welfare (GAO-23-104489) (Oct. 19,
2022).
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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\
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\2\Id. at 16-17.
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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\
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\3\Id. at 19-20.
\4\Id. at 22.
\5\Id. at 30.
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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.
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\6\Id. at 35-36.
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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.