Support Our Military Working Dogs Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1739 To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide for veterinary care for retired military working dogs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 10, 2021 Mr. GARAMENDI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide for veteri- nary care for retired military working dogs, 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 the ‘‘Support Our Military 4 Working Dogs Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PROVISION OF VETERI- 6 NARY CARE FOR RETIRED MILITARY WORK- 7 ING DOGS. 8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 994 of title 10, United 9 States Code, is amended— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1739.IH H1739 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1739 IH (1) in subsection (a); 1 (A) by striking ‘‘establish and maintain a 2 system to’’; 3 (B) by striking ‘‘for the veterinary care of’’ 4 and inserting ‘‘veterinary care for’’; and 5 (C) by striking the second sentence; 6 (2) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘that the 7 Secretary of the military department concerned de- 8 termines is suitable for adoption or is’’ before 9 ‘‘adopted’’; and 10 (3) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘the system 11 authorized by’’. 12 (b) MULTI-YEAR AGREEMENTS WITH OTHER ENTI- 13 TIES.—Such section is further amended by adding at the 14 end the following new subsection: 15 ‘‘(d) ACCEPTANCE AND USE OF DONATED FUNDS.— 16 (1) The Secretary of Defense may accept donations of 17 funds, gifts, and in-kind contributions for the purpose of 18 providing long-term care for any military working dog 19 adopted under section 2583 of this title. Any amount so 20 accepted shall be available without further appropriation 21 and without fiscal year limitation. 22 ‘‘(2) The Secretary of Defense may enter into a 23 multi-year agreement with a veterans service organization 24 or appropriate nonprofit entity under which— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1739.IH H1739 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1739 IH ‘‘(A) the organization or entity may solicit and 1 accept donations of funds on behalf of the Depart- 2 ment of Defense pursuant to paragraph (1); and 3 ‘‘(B) the organization or entity agrees to trans- 4 fer any funds accepted pursuant to such an agree- 5 ment to the Department of Defense. 6 ‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘veterans service or- 7 ganization’ means an organization recognized by the Sec- 8 retary of Veterans Affairs for the representation of vet- 9 erans under section 5902 of title 38.’’. 10 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON CHARGE FOR ADOPTION OF MILI- 11 TARY ANIMALS. 12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (d) of section 2583 of 13 title 10, United States Code, is amended by striking 14 ‘‘may’’ and inserting ‘‘shall’’. 15 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Subsection (g)(2)(A) 16 of such section is amended by inserting ‘‘or’’ after the 17 semicolon. 18 SEC. 4. CLARIFICATION OF RESEARCH UNDER JOINT TRAU- 19 MA EDUCATION AND TRAINING DIREC- 20 TORATE AND INCLUSION OF MILITARY 21 WORKING DOGS. 22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (b) of section 708 of 23 the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1739.IH H1739 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1739 IH 2017 (Public Law 114–328; 10 U.S.C. 1071 note) is 1 amended— 2 (1) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘of members 3 of the Armed Forces’’ and inserting ‘‘with respect to 4 both members of the Armed Forces and military 5 working dogs’’; and 6 (2) by striking paragraph (9) and inserting the 7 following new paragraph: 8 ‘‘(9) To inform and advise the conduct of re- 9 search on the leading causes of morbidity and mor- 10 tality of members of the Armed Forces and military 11 working dogs in combat.’’. 12 (b) VETERINARIANS IN PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT 13 PLAN.—Subsection (d)(1) of such section is amended— 14 (1) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as sub- 15 paragraph (G); and 16 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the fol- 17 lowing new subparagraph: 18 ‘‘(F) Veterinary care.’’. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 May 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1739.IH H1739 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS