Canine Members of the Armed Forces Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4081 To amend title 10, United States Code, to provide for certain requirements relating to the retirement, adoption, and recognition of military working dogs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 13, 2023 Ms. SLOTKIN (for herself and Mr. GARBARINO) 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 certain requirements relating to the retirement, adoption, and recognition of military working dogs, and for other pur- poses. 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 ‘‘Canine Members of 4 the Armed Forces Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress makes the following findings: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Jul 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4081.IH H4081 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 4081 IH (1) Each of the Armed Forces and other Gov- 1 ernment agencies, including the Secret Service, the 2 Central Intelligence Agency, and the Transportation 3 Security Administration, use military working dogs 4 in service to the country. 5 (2) Since September 11, 2011, military working 6 dogs have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and have 7 been trained in explosive detection, narcotic detec- 8 tion, sentry, patrol, tracking, and other specific du- 9 ties. 10 (3) Military working dogs, through their train- 11 ing, have prevented injuries and saved the lives of 12 thousands of United States citizens. 13 (4) Military working dogs perform critical and 14 varied roles that go far beyond their current des- 15 ignation as ‘‘equipment’’. 16 SEC. 3. RETIREMENT AND ADOPTION OF MILITARY WORK- 17 ING DOGS. 18 (a) RETIREMENT AND RECLASSIFICATION OF MILI- 19 TARY WORKING DOGS.—Section 2583 of title 10, United 20 States Code, is amended— 21 (1) by redesignating subsections (f), (g), (h), 22 and (i) as subsections (h), (i), (j), and (k), respec- 23 tively; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Jul 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4081.IH H4081 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 4081 IH (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol- 1 lowing new subsections: 2 ‘‘(f) CLASSIFICATION OF MILITARY WORKING 3 DOGS.—The Secretary of Defense shall classify military 4 working dogs as canine members of the Armed Forces. 5 Such dogs shall not be classified as equipment. 6 ‘‘(g) TRANSFER OF RETIRED MILITARY WORKING 7 DOGS.—If the Secretary of the military department con- 8 cerned determines that a military working dog should be 9 retired, and no suitable adoption is available at the mili- 10 tary facility where the dog is located, the Secretary may 11 transfer the dog— 12 ‘‘(1) to the 341st Training Squadron; or 13 ‘‘(2) to another location for adoption under this 14 section.’’. 15 (b) ACCEPTANCE OF FREQUENT TRAVELER 16 MILES.—Section 2613(d) of such title is amended— 17 (1) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘‘; or’’ and 18 inserting a semicolon; 19 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at 20 the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 21 (3) by adding at the end the following new 22 paragraph: 23 ‘‘(3) facilitating the adoption of a military 24 working dog under section 2583 of this title.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Jul 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4081.IH H4081 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 4081 IH SEC. 4. RECOGNITION OF SERVICE OF MILITARY WORKING 1 DOGS. 2 Section 1125 of title 10, United States Code, is 3 amended— 4 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a) GENERAL AUTHORITY.— 5 ’’ before ‘‘The Secretary of Defense’’; and 6 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub- 7 section: 8 ‘‘(b) RECOGNITION OF SERVICE OF MILITARY WORK- 9 ING DOGS.—The Secretary of Defense shall create a deco- 10 ration or other appropriate recognition to recognize mili- 11 tary working dogs under the jurisdiction of the Secretary 12 that are killed in action or perform an exceptionally meri- 13 torious or courageous act in service to the United States.’’. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Jul 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4081.IH H4081 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB