WOOF! Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1002 To amend the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit the issuance of licenses to certain individuals connected to dealers of dogs who have had licenses revoked, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 6, 2019 Mr. FITZPATRICK (for himself, Mr. CRIST, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, and Mr. MCGOVERN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture A BILL To amend the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit the issuance of licenses to certain individuals connected to dealers of dogs who have had licenses revoked, 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 ‘‘Welfare of Our Friends 4 Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘WOOF! Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1002.IH H1002 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1002 IH SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON ISSUING LICENSES TO CERTAIN 1 PERSONS AS A RESULT OF LICENSE REVOCA- 2 TION. 3 (a) DEFINITION.—Section 2 of the Animal Welfare 4 Act (7 U.S.C. 2132) is amended by adding at the end the 5 following: 6 ‘‘(p) The term ‘immediate family member’ means, 7 with respect to a dealer— 8 ‘‘(1) a spouse, domestic partner, child, parent, 9 brother, sister, grandparent, or grandchild; and 10 ‘‘(2) a spouse of a child, parent, brother, sister, 11 grandparent, or grandchild.’’. 12 (b) PROHIBITION ON ISSUING LICENSES TO CERTAIN 13 PERSONS AS A RESULT OF LICENSE REVOCATION.—Sec- 14 tion 3 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2133) is 15 amended— 16 (1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary shall’’ and in- 17 serting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall’’; 18 (2) by striking ‘‘issued’’ and inserting ‘‘issued 19 or renewed’’; 20 (3) by striking ‘‘demonstrated’’ and inserting 21 ‘‘demonstrated through facility inspection’’; and 22 (4) by adding at the end the following: 23 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION ON ISSUING LICENSES TO CER- 24 TAIN PERSONS AS A RESULT OF LICENSE SUSPENSION 25 OR REVOCATION.—(1) The Secretary shall not issue or 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1002.IH H1002 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1002 IH renew a license for the purpose of being a dealer of dogs 1 to a person who is an immediate family member of, or 2 who resides at the same address of, a dealer of dogs if— 3 ‘‘(A) the license is for purposes of operating a 4 facility for dogs at a location that such dealer has 5 used as a facility for dogs; and 6 ‘‘(B) within the last 10 years, a license of such 7 dealer has been suspended after notice and oppor- 8 tunity for hearing or revoked pursuant to section 9 19(a) of this Act. 10 ‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a person de- 11 scribed in such paragraph if such person shows by clear 12 and convincing evidence that a dealer described in para- 13 graph (1)— 14 ‘‘(A) will have no ownership interest in the fa- 15 cility for which such person seeks a license; 16 ‘‘(B) will play no role in the care of dogs at the 17 facility; and 18 ‘‘(C) will play no role in the management of the 19 facility. 20 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITION ON ISSUING LICENSES TO CER- 21 TAIN LEGAL ENTITIES AS A RESULT OF LICENSE SUS- 22 PENSION OR REVOCATION.—(1) The Secretary shall not 23 issue or renew a license for the purpose of being a dealer 24 of dogs to any person (including a partnership, firm, joint 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1002.IH H1002 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1002 IH stock company, corporation, association, trust, estate, or 1 other legal entity) if any person who holds an ownership 2 interest in the partnership, firm, joint stock company, cor- 3 poration, association, trust, estate, or other legal entity— 4 ‘‘(A) previously held a license for purposes of 5 operating a facility for dogs at the same address of 6 the facility for which the license is being sought; and 7 ‘‘(B) within the last 10 years, such license has 8 been suspended after notice and opportunity for 9 hearing or revoked pursuant to section 19(a) of this 10 Act. 11 ‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a person seek- 12 ing the issuance or renewal of a license described in such 13 paragraph if such person shows by clear and convincing 14 evidence that a person who previously held a license for 15 purposes of operating a facility for dogs described in sub- 16 paragraph (A) of such paragraph— 17 ‘‘(A) will play no role in the care of dogs at the 18 facility; and 19 ‘‘(B) will play no role in the management of the 20 facility. 21 ‘‘(d) TEN-YEAR BAR FOR SUSPENSION OR REVOCA- 22 TION OF A LICENSE OF A DEALER OF DOGS.—The Sec- 23 retary shall not issue or renew a license for the purpose 24 of being a dealer of dogs to a person if— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1002.IH H1002 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1002 IH ‘‘(1) within the last 10 years, a license for the 1 purpose of being a dealer of dogs of such person has 2 been suspended after notice and opportunity for 3 hearing or revoked pursuant to section 19(a) of this 4 Act; and 5 ‘‘(2) the license is for purposes of operating a 6 facility for dogs at a location that such person has 7 used as a facility for dogs.’’. 8 (c) REVOCATION OF IMPROPERLY GRANTED LI- 9 CENSES.—Section 19 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 10 2149) is amended by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(e) REVOCATION OF IMPROPERLY GRANTED LI- 12 CENSES.—The Secretary shall revoke a license issued after 13 the date of the enactment of this subsection if the Sec- 14 retary subsequently determines that, at the time of 15 issuance, the issuance of the license violated section 3 of 16 this Act.’’. 17 SEC. 3. REGULATIONS. 18 The Secretary of Agriculture may prescribe such reg- 19 ulations as the Secretary determines to be necessary to 20 implement the amendments made by this Act. Any such 21 regulations shall be prescribed not later than one year 22 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:26 Feb 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1002.IH H1002 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS