Horse Protection Amendments Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1157 To amend the Horse Protection Act to provide increased protection for horses participating in shows, exhibitions, or sales, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 13, 2019 Mr. DESJARLAIS (for himself, Mr. FLEISCHMANN, Mr. BARR, Mr. COMER, Mr. BURCHETT, Mr. JOHN W. ROSE of Tennessee, Mr. KUSTOFF of Ten- nessee, Mr. DAVID P. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky, Mr. GREEN of Tennessee, and Mr. GUTHRIE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Horse Protection Act to provide increased protection for horses participating in shows, exhibitions, or sales, 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 ‘‘Horse Protection 4 Amendments Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITION. 6 Section 2 of the Horse Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 7 1821) is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1157.IH H1157 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1157 IH (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as 1 paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively; and 2 (2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol- 3 lowing new paragraph: 4 ‘‘(2) The term ‘objective inspection’ means an 5 inspection conducted using only inspection methods 6 based on science-based protocols (including swabbing 7 or blood testing protocols) that— 8 ‘‘(A) have been the subject of testing and 9 are capable of producing scientifically reliable, 10 reproducible results; 11 ‘‘(B) have been subjected to peer review; 12 and 13 ‘‘(C) have received acceptance in the vet- 14 erinary or other applicable scientific commu- 15 nity.’’. 16 SEC. 3. INCREASING PROTECTIONS FOR HORSES PARTICI- 17 PATING IN HORSE SHOWS, EXHIBITIONS, OR 18 SALES OR AUCTIONS. 19 (a) FINDINGS.—Section 3 of the Horse Protection 20 Act (15 U.S.C. 1822) is amended— 21 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (4) and (5) as 22 paragraphs (5) and (6), respectively; and 23 (2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol- 24 lowing new paragraph: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1157.IH H1157 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1157 IH ‘‘(4) the Inspector General of the Department 1 of Agriculture has determined the program through 2 which the Secretary inspects horses is not adequate 3 to ensure compliance with this Act;’’. 4 (b) HORSE SHOWS AND EXHIBITIONS.—Section 4(c) 5 of the Horse Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1823(c)) is 6 amended— 7 (1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘appoint- 8 ment by the management of any horse show, horse 9 exhibition, or horse sale or auction of persons quali- 10 fied to detect and diagnose a horse which is sore or 11 to otherwise inspect horses for the purposes of en- 12 forcing this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘that affiliation and 13 appointment’’; 14 (2) by inserting before the first sentence, the 15 following: ‘‘(1) The Horse Industry Organization es- 16 tablished under paragraph (2) shall establish a for- 17 mal affiliation with the management of each horse 18 sale, horse exhibition, and horse sale or auction, ap- 19 point inspectors to conduct inspections at each such 20 show, exhibition, and sale or auction, and in coordi- 21 nation with the Secretary, otherwise ensure compli- 22 ance with this Act.’’; and 23 (3) by adding at the end the following new 24 paragraph: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1157.IH H1157 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1157 IH ‘‘(2)(A) Not later than 180 days after the date 1 of the enactment of this paragraph, the Secretary 2 shall prescribe by regulation the establishment of a 3 single horse industry organization (referred to in 4 this Act as the ‘Horse Industry Organization’ or the 5 ‘HIO’). The HIO shall be headed or otherwise gov- 6 erned by not more than nine individuals appointed 7 in accordance with the following: 8 ‘‘(i) Four individuals shall be appointed by 9 the heads of State agencies on agriculture, two 10 of whom shall be appointed by the Commis- 11 sioner of Agriculture for the State of Tennessee 12 and two of whom shall be appointed by the 13 Commissioner of Agriculture for the Common- 14 wealth of Kentucky. 15 ‘‘(ii) Two individuals representing the Ten- 16 nessee Walking Horse industry shall be ap- 17 pointed from within such industry by the indi- 18 viduals appointed under clause (i) in accordance 19 with a process developed by the individuals so 20 appointed in consultation with the Walking 21 Horse Trainers’ Association. 22 ‘‘(iii) Not more than three individuals shall 23 be appointed by the six individuals appointed 24 under clauses (i) and (ii). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1157.IH H1157 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1157 IH ‘‘(B) The nine individuals appointed under 1 clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) of subparagraph (A) shall 2 establish a process for filling any vacancy and for 3 the subsequent appointment of individuals initially 4 appointed under such subparagraph. 5 ‘‘(C) Section 14(a)(2)(B) of the Federal Advi- 6 sory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.; relating to the 7 termination of advisory committees) shall not apply 8 to the HIO. 9 ‘‘(D) The Horse Industry Organization shall 10 issue policies establishing requirements for any per- 11 son licensed by the Horse Industry Organization or 12 a member of the immediate family of such a person 13 to be free from conflicts of interest, by reason of any 14 association or connection with the walking horse in- 15 dustry including through— 16 ‘‘(i) being employed by or providing any 17 services to any show manager, trainer, owner, 18 or exhibitor of Tennessee Walking horses, Spot- 19 ted Saddle horses, or Racking horses; and 20 ‘‘(ii) training, exhibiting, shoeing, breeding, 21 or selling Tennessee Walking horses, Spotted 22 Saddle horses, or Racking horses. 23 ‘‘(E) Not later than 90 days after the date on 24 which the Horse Industry Organization is estab- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1157.IH H1157 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1157 IH lished pursuant to this paragraph, the Secretary 1 shall revoke the certification issued to any horse in- 2 dustry organization under section 11.7 of title 9, 3 Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu- 4 lation), as in effect on such date.’’. 5 (c) UNLAWFUL ACTS.—Section 5 of the Horse Pro- 6 tection Act (15 U.S.C. 1824) is amended— 7 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘appoint and 8 retain a person in accordance with section 4(c) of 9 this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘establish a formal affili- 10 ation with the Horse Industry Organization under 11 section 4(c)’’; 12 (2) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘appoint and 13 retain a qualified person in accordance with section 14 4(c) of this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘establish a formal 15 affiliation with the Horse Industry Organization 16 under section 4(c)’’; 17 (3) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘appointed 18 and retained a person in accordance with section 19 4(c) of this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘establish a formal 20 affiliation with the Horse Industry Organization 21 under section 4(c)’’; and 22 (4) in paragraph (6)— 23 (A) by striking ‘‘appointed and retained a 24 person in accordance with section 4(c) of this 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1157.IH H1157 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 1157 IH Act’’ and inserting ‘‘established a formal affili- 1 ation with the Horse Industry Organization 2 under section 4(c)’’; and 3 (B) by striking ‘‘such person or the Sec- 4 retary’’ and inserting ‘‘a person licensed by the 5 Horse Industry Organization’’. 6 SEC. 4. REGULATIONS. 7 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact- 8 ment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue regulations to 9 carry out the amendments made by this Act. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:51 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1157.IH H1157 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS