I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3484

To amend the Animal Welfare Act to improve the standards for the care 

and treatment of certain animals, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 7, 2003

Mr. WHITFIELD (for himself, Mr. FARR, Mr. KILDEE, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. 

MCDERMOTT, Mr. FILNER, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. 

KIRK, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. OLVER, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, 

Mr. SHAYS, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Mr. 

LEACH, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. STARK, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. 

BLUMENAUER, Mr. KOLBE, Mr. HONDA, Mr. HOLT, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. 

LIPINSKI, Mr. UPTON, Mr. COSTELLO, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. PASTOR, Mrs. 

LOWEY, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms. 

BERKLEY, and Mr. INSLEE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL

To amend the Animal Welfare Act to improve the standards 

for the care and treatment of certain animals, and for 

other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Puppy Protection Act 

5 of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. BREEDING REQUIREMENTS. 

2 Section 13(a)(2) of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 

3 2143(a)(2)) is amended—

4 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

5 the end; 

6 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period 

7 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

8 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(C) for addressing the initiation and fre10 quency of breeding of female dogs so that a fe11 male dog is not—

12 ‘‘(i) bred before the female dog has 

13 reached at least 1 year of age; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) whelped more frequently than 3 

15 times in any 24-month period.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF LICENSE, CIVIL 

17 PENALTIES, JUDICIAL REVIEW, AND CRIMI18 NAL PENALTIES. 

19 Section 19 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 

20 2149) is amended—

21 (1) by striking ‘‘SEC. 19. (a) If the Secretary’’ 

22 and inserting the following: 

23 ‘‘SEC. 19. SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF LICENSE, CIVIL 

24 PENALTIES, JUDICIAL REVIEW, AND CRIMI25 NAL PENALTIES. 

26 ‘‘(a) SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF LICENSE.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary’’; 

2 (2) in subsection (a)—

3 (A) in paragraph (1) (as designated by 

4 paragraph (1)), by striking ‘‘if such violation’’ 

5 and all that follows and inserting ‘‘if the Sec6 retary determines that 1 or more violations 

7 have occurred.’’; and 

8 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(2) EFFECT OF MULTIPLE SERIOUS VIOLA10 TIONS.—If the Secretary finds that any person li11 censed as a dealer, exhibitor, or operator of an auc12 tion sale subject to section 12 has committed a seri13 ous violation (as determined by the Secretary) of 

14 any rule, regulation, or standard governing the hu15 mane handling, transportation, veterinary care, 

16 housing, breeding, feeding, watering, or other hu17 mane treatment of dogs under section 12 or 13 on 

18 3 or more separate inspections within any 8-year pe19 riod, the Secretary shall—

20 ‘‘(A) suspend the license of the person; and 

21 ‘‘(B) after providing notice and a hearing 

22 not more than 30 days after the third violation 

23 is noted on an inspection report, revoke the li24 cense of the person unless the Secretary makes 

25 a written finding that revocation is unwar-
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1 ranted because of extraordinary extenuating cir2 cumstances.’’; 

3 (3) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘(b) Any deal4 er’’ and inserting ‘‘(b) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Any 

5 dealer’’; 

6 (4) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘(c) Any deal7 er’’ and inserting ‘‘(c) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Any 

8 dealer’’; and 

9 (5) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘(d) Any deal10 er’’ and inserting ‘‘(d) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Any 

11 dealer’’. 

12 SEC. 4. REGULATIONS. 

13 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

14 of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall promulgate 

15 such regulations as are necessary to carry out the amend16 ments made by this Act.

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