I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3709 
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to direct the Secretary of Agriculture 
to enter into cooperative agreements to support the microchipping of 
dogs and cats in the care of animal shelters or similar establishments, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 25, 2023 
Mr. LIEU (for himself, Ms. TLAIB, and Mr. MOSKOWITZ) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to direct the Secretary 
of Agriculture to enter into cooperative agreements to 
support the microchipping of dogs and cats in the care 
of animal shelters or similar establishments, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Keeping Pets and 
Families Together Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS TO SUPPORT MICRO-
CHIPPING OF DOGS AND CATS. 
The Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2131 et seq.) is 
amended by inserting after section 28 (7 U.S.C. 2158) 
the following: 
‘‘SEC. 28A. COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS TO SUPPORT 
MICROCHIPPING OF DOGS AND CATS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of ap-
propriations, the Secretary shall establish a program 
under which the Secretary will enter into cooperative 
agreements with State and local governments for purposes 
of supporting the capability of entities described in sub-
section (b) to provide for microchipping of dogs and cats 
in their care before allowing such dogs or cats to be recov-
ered by their original owner, adopted by other individuals, 
or transferred to another animal shelter or rescue organi-
zation. 
‘‘(b) ENTITIES DESCRIBED.—An entity described in 
this subsection is— 
‘‘(1) each pound or shelter owned and operated 
by a State or a unit of local government; and 
‘‘(2) each private entity established for the pur-
pose of caring for animals, such as a humane soci-
ety, or other organization that is under contract 
with a State or a unit of local government that oper-
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ates as a pound or shelter and that releases animals 
on a voluntary basis. 
‘‘(c) UNIT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT DEFINED.—In 
this section, the term ‘unit of local government’ means a 
county, municipality, town, township, village, or other unit 
of general government below the State level; 
‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028.’’. 
SEC. 3. REPORT ON EFFECTIVENESS OF MICROCHIPPING 
PROGRAM. 
Not later than December 31, 2028, the Secretary of 
Agriculture shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture 
of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a re-
port that— 
(1) assesses the effectiveness of the program es-
tablished under section 28A of the Animal Welfare 
Act, as added by section 2; 
(2) contains the Secretary’s recommendation on 
whether to extend such program for an additional 5- 
fiscal-year period; and 
(3) the amount of funding necessary to effec-
tively extend such program over such period. 
Æ 
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