I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4691 

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 

DECEMBER 20, 2017 

Mr. FITZPATRICK (for himself and Mr. CRIST) 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. 

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 ‘‘Welfare of Our Friends 

5 Act of 2017’’ or the ‘‘WOOF! Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON ISSUING LICENSES TO CERTAIN 

2 PERSONS AS A RESULT OF LICENSE REVOCA3 TION. 

4 (a) DEFINITION.—Section 2 of the Animal Welfare 

5 Act (7 U.S.C. 2132) is amended by adding at the end the 

6 following: 

7 ‘‘(p) The term ‘immediate family member’ means, 

8 with respect to a dealer— 

9 ‘‘(1) a spouse, domestic partner, child, parent, 

10 brother, sister, grandparent, or grandchild; and 

11 ‘‘(2) a spouse of a child, parent, brother, sister, 

12 grandparent, or grandchild.’’. 

13 (b) PROHIBITION ON ISSUING LICENSES TO CERTAIN

14 PERSONS AS A RESULT OF LICENSE REVOCATION.—Sec15 tion 3 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2133) is 

16 amended— 

17 (1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary shall’’ and in18 serting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall’’; 

19 (2) by striking ‘‘issued’’ and inserting ‘‘issued 

20 or renewed’’; 

21 (3) by striking ‘‘demonstrated’’ and inserting 

22 ‘‘demonstrated through facility inspection’’; and 

23 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION ON ISSUING LICENSES TO CER25 TAIN PERSONS AS A RESULT OF LICENSE SUSPENSION

26 OR REVOCATION.—(1) The Secretary shall not issue or 


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1 renew a license for the purpose of being a dealer of dogs 

2 to a person who is an immediate family member of, or 

3 who resides at the same address of, a dealer of dogs if— 

4 ‘‘(A) the license is for purposes of operating a 

5 facility for dogs at a location that such dealer has 

6 used as a facility for dogs; and 

7 ‘‘(B) within the last 10 years, a license of such 

8 dealer has been suspended after notice and oppor9 tunity for hearing or revoked pursuant to section 

10 19(a) of this Act. 

11 ‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a person de12 scribed in such paragraph if such person shows by clear 

13 and convincing evidence that a dealer described in para14 graph (1)— 

15 ‘‘(A) will have no ownership interest in the fa16 cility for which such person seeks a license; 

17 ‘‘(B) will play no role in the care of dogs at the 

18 facility; and 

19 ‘‘(C) will play no role in the management of the 

20 facility. 

21 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITION ON ISSUING LICENSES TO CER22 TAIN LEGAL ENTITIES AS A RESULT OF LICENSE SUS23 PENSION OR REVOCATION.—(1) The Secretary shall not 

24 issue or renew a license for the purpose of being a dealer 

25 of dogs to any person (including a partnership, firm, joint 


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1 stock company, corporation, association, trust, estate, or 

2 other legal entity) if any person who holds an ownership 

3 interest in the partnership, firm, joint stock company, cor4 poration, association, trust, estate, or other legal entity— 

5 ‘‘(A) previously held a license for purposes of 

6 operating a facility for dogs at the same address of 

7 the facility for which the license is being sought; and 

8 ‘‘(B) within the last 10 years, such license has 

9 been suspended after notice and opportunity for 

10 hearing or revoked pursuant to section 19(a) of this 

11 Act. 

12 ‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a person seek13 ing the issuance or renewal of a license described in such 

14 paragraph if such person shows by clear and convincing 

15 evidence that a person who previously held a license for 

16 purposes of operating a facility for dogs described in sub17 paragraph (A) of such paragraph— 

18 ‘‘(A) will play no role in the care of dogs at the 

19 facility; and 

20 ‘‘(B) will play no role in the management of the 

21 facility. 

22 ‘‘(d) TEN-YEAR BAR FOR SUSPENSION OR REVOCA23 TION OF A LICENSE OF A DEALER OF DOGS.—The Sec24 retary shall not issue or renew a license for the purpose 

25 of being a dealer of dogs to a person if— 


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1 ‘‘(1) within the last 10 years, a license for the 

2 purpose of being a dealer of dogs of such person has 

3 been suspended after notice and opportunity for 

4 hearing or revoked pursuant to section 19(a) of this 

5 Act; and 

6 ‘‘(2) the license is for purposes of operating a 

7 facility for dogs at a location that such person has 

8 used as a facility for dogs.’’. 

9 (c) REVOCATION OF IMPROPERLY GRANTED LI10 CENSES.—Section 19 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 

11 2149) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(e) REVOCATION OF IMPROPERLY GRANTED LI13 CENSES.—The Secretary shall revoke a license issued after 

14 the date of the enactment of this subsection if the Sec15 retary subsequently determines that, at the time of 

16 issuance, the issuance of the license violated section 3 of 

17 this Act.’’. 

18 SEC. 3. REGULATIONS. 

19 The Secretary of Agriculture may prescribe such reg20 ulations as the Secretary determines to be necessary to 

21 implement the amendments made by this Act. Any such 

22 regulations shall be prescribed not later than one year 

23 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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