AFTER Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2322 To amend the Animal Welfare Act to allow for the retirement of certain animals used in Federal research. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 30, 2019 Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. PETERS, Ms. MCSALLY, and Mrs. SHAHEEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Animal Welfare Act to allow for the retirement of certain animals used in Federal research. 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 ‘‘Animal Freedom from 4 Testing, Experiments, and Research Act of 2019’’ or the 5 ‘‘AFTER Act of 2019’’. 6 SEC. 2. PLACEMENT OF ANIMALS USED IN FEDERAL RE- 7 SEARCH. 8 Section 14 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 9 2144) is amended to read as follows: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 Aug 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2322.IS S2322 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2322 IS ‘‘SEC. 14. STANDARDS FOR FEDERAL FACILITIES. 1 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 2 ‘‘(1) ANIMAL RESCUE ORGANIZATION.—The 3 term ‘animal rescue organization’ means a nonprofit 4 organization the purpose of which is to rescue cov- 5 ered animals and find permanent adoptive homes for 6 those animals. 7 ‘‘(2) ANIMAL SANCTUARY.—The term ‘animal 8 sanctuary’ means a nonprofit organization that— 9 ‘‘(A) is registered with the Secretary; 10 ‘‘(B) operates a place of refuge in which— 11 ‘‘(i) a covered animal is provided care 12 for the lifetime of the animal; and 13 ‘‘(ii) an unescorted public visitation of 14 that animal is not permitted; 15 ‘‘(C) does not engage in commercial trade 16 of covered animals; 17 ‘‘(D) does not breed covered animals; 18 ‘‘(E) does not permit direct contact be- 19 tween the public and covered animals; 20 ‘‘(F) does not allow the use of a covered 21 animal for performance or exhibition purposes; 22 and 23 ‘‘(G) does not conduct or permit research 24 on a covered animal other than noninvasive be- 25 havioral research. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 Aug 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2322.IS S2322 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2322 IS ‘‘(3) ANIMAL SHELTER.—The term ‘animal 1 shelter’ means a facility that— 2 ‘‘(A) accepts or seizes covered animals— 3 ‘‘(i) to care for the animals; 4 ‘‘(ii) to place those animals in a per- 5 manent adoptive home; or 6 ‘‘(iii) for purposes of law enforcement; 7 and 8 ‘‘(B) does not— 9 ‘‘(i) engage in commercial trade of 10 covered animals; 11 ‘‘(ii) breed covered animals; 12 ‘‘(iii) allow the use of a covered ani- 13 mal for performance or exhibition pur- 14 poses; or 15 ‘‘(iv) conduct or permit research on a 16 covered animal other than noninvasive be- 17 havioral research. 18 ‘‘(4) COVERED ANIMAL.—The term ‘covered 19 animal’ means an animal that is unwanted, aban- 20 doned, or otherwise in need of placement in a home. 21 ‘‘(5) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The term 22 ‘nonprofit organization’ means an organization de- 23 scribed in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 Aug 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2322.IS S2322 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2322 IS Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under sec- 1 tion 501(a) of that Code. 2 ‘‘(6) SUITABLE FOR RETIREMENT.—The term 3 ‘‘suitable for retirement’’ means, with respect to an 4 animal, that the animal has been evaluated by a li- 5 censed veterinarian and is determined to be mentally 6 and physically healthy. 7 ‘‘(b) LABORATORY ANIMAL FACILITIES AND EXHIBI- 8 TORS.—Any department, agency, or instrumentality of the 9 United States that operates laboratory animal facilities or 10 exhibits animals shall comply with the standards and other 11 requirements promulgated by the Secretary under sub- 12 sections (a), (f), (g), and (h) of section 13. 13 ‘‘(c) RETIREMENT.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 15 after the date of enactment of the AFTER Act of 16 2019, any department, agency, or instrumentality of 17 the United States operating a Federal research facil- 18 ity shall, after public notice and comment, promul- 19 gate regulations that, with respect to any animal of 20 the facility that is no longer needed for research and 21 determined to be suitable for retirement— 22 ‘‘(A) facilitate and encourage the adoption 23 of the animal by or placement of the animal 24 with an animal rescue organization, animal 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 Aug 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2322.IS S2322 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2322 IS sanctuary, animal shelter, or individual who in- 1 tends to keep the animal as a pet; and 2 ‘‘(B) to the maximum extent practicable, 3 collaborate with appropriate nonprofit organiza- 4 tions to carry out subparagraph (A). 5 ‘‘(2) NATIONAL PLACEMENT.—The regulations 6 promulgated to carry out paragraph (1)(A) shall in- 7 clude consideration of placing animals with the enti- 8 ties described in that subparagraph that are located 9 beyond the immediate geographic vicinity of the 10 Federal research facility at which the animal being 11 retired is located.’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 Aug 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2322.IS S2322 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS