I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5885 

To establish a grant program to facilitate the veterinary care of former 

law enforcement canines, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 3, 2023 

Mr. FEENSTRA introduced the following bill 

OCTOBER 25, 2023 

Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish a grant program to facilitate the veterinary 

care of former law enforcement canines, 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 ‘‘Honoring Police Offi5 cer and K9 Service Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO FACILITATE VETERINARY 

2 CARE FOR FORMER LAW ENFORCEMENT CA3 NINES. 

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen6 eral shall establish a grant program to facilitate the care 

7 of former law enforcement canines (in this section referred 

8 to as the ‘‘program’’). 

9 (b) GRANT AUTHORITY AND ELIGIBLE RECIPI10 ENTS.—In carrying out the program, the Attorney Gen11 eral may award a grant on a competitive basis to any enti12 ty that qualifies as a nonprofit organization under section 

13 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and that 

14 the Attorney General determines has— 

15 (1) a demonstrated history of successfully as16 sisting the owners of former law enforcement ca17 nines with costs associated with veterinary care, 

18 medication and antibiotics, or other medical ex19 penses for the canine; and 

20 (2) the capacity to record and provide a de21 tailed accounting of the purposes for which grant 

22 amounts are expended. 

23 (c) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—A recipient of a grant 

24 under the program may only use grant funds to cover the 

25 costs associated with veterinary care, medication and antiVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:47 Oct 31, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5885.IH H5885

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1 biotics, or other medical expenses determined necessary by 

2 a veterinarian for the former law enforcement canine. 

3 (d) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible for a grant under 

4 the Program, an entity shall submit to the Secretary an 

5 application at such time, in such form, and containing 

6 such information as the Attorney General determines ap7 propriate. 

8 (e) REPORTS.— 

9 (1) REPORTS TO ATTORNEY GENERAL.—As a 

10 condition of receiving a grant under the program, a 

11 prospective recipient shall agree to submit to the At12 torney General, on an annual basis for the duration 

13 of the project to be carried out using grant funds a 

14 report containing, with respect to the year covered 

15 by the report— 

16 (A) a detailed accounting of how grant 

17 funds were used; and 

18 (B) a proposal for how activities carried 

19 out under the project may be improved in the 

20 future. 

21 (2) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Upon receiv22 ing a report under paragraph (1), the Attorney Gen23 eral shall submit a copy of the report to Congress. 


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1 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

2 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

3 out this section $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2024. 

4 (g) FORMER LAW ENFORCEMENT CANINE DE5 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘former law enforce6 ment canine’’ means a canine that has been used by a 

7 Federal, State, or local agency in the performance of law 

8 enforcement duties and that has been determined by such 

9 agency to be no longer needed for official purposes. 

Æ 


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