I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3137 
To establish a grant program to encourage the use of assistance dogs by 
certain members of the Armed Forces. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 5, 2019 
Mr. MCGOVERN (for himself, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. COHEN, Ms. DELAURO, 
Ms. NORTON, Mr. POCAN, Mr. PETERS, Ms. FRANKEL, Ms. ROYBAL- 
ALLARD, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. WELCH, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. CON-
NOLLY, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. BISHOP of Geor-
gia, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. 
MOULTON, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. HASTINGS, 
Ms. LEE of California, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. 
NEAL, Mr. SWALWELL of California, and Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of 
Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Armed Services 
A BILL 
To establish a grant program to encourage the use of 
assistance dogs by certain members of the Armed Forces. 
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 ‘‘Wounded Warrior 
Service Dog Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. WOUNDED WARRIOR K–9 CORPS. 
(a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—Subject to the avail-
ability of appropriations provided for such purpose, the 
Secretary of Defense shall establish a program, to be 
known as the ‘‘K–9 Service Corps Program’’, to award 
competitive grants to nonprofit organizations to assist 
such organizations in the planning, designing, estab-
lishing, or operating (or any combination thereof) of pro-
grams to provide assistance dogs to covered members. 
(b) USE OF FUNDS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The recipient of a grant 
under this section shall use the grant to carry out 
programs that provide assistance dogs to covered 
members who have a disability described in para-
graph (2). 
(2) DISABILITY.—A disability described in this 
paragraph is any of the following: 
(A) Blindness or visual impairment. 
(B) Loss of use of a limb, paralysis, or 
other significant mobility issues. 
(C) Loss of hearing. 
(D) Traumatic brain injury. 
(E) Post-traumatic stress disorder. 
(F) Any other disability that the Secretary 
considers appropriate. 
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(3) TIMING
OF
AWARD.—The Secretary may 
not award a grant under this section to reimburse 
a recipient for costs previously incurred by the re-
cipient in carrying out a program to provide assist-
ance dogs to covered members unless the recipient 
elects for the award to be such a reimbursement. 
(c) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible to receive a grant 
under this section, a nonprofit organization shall submit 
an application to the Secretary at such time, in such man-
ner, and containing such information as the Secretary may 
require. Such application shall include— 
(1) a proposal for the evaluation required by 
subsection (d); and 
(2) a description of— 
(A) the training that will be provided by 
the organization to covered members; 
(B) the training of dogs that will serve as 
assistance dogs; 
(C) the aftercare services that the organi-
zation will provide for such dogs and covered 
members; 
(D) the plan for publicizing the availability 
of such dogs through a targeted marketing 
campaign to covered members; 
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(E) the recognized expertise of the organi-
zation in breeding and training such dogs; 
(F) the commitment of the organization to 
humane standards for animals; and 
(G) the experience of the organization with 
working with military medical treatment facili-
ties; and 
(3) a statement certifying that the organiza-
tion— 
(A) is accredited by Assistance Dogs Inter-
national, the International Guide Dog Federa-
tion, or another similar widely recognized ac-
creditation organization that the Secretaries de-
termine has accreditation standards that meet 
or exceed the standards of Assistance Dogs 
International and the International Guide Dog 
Federation; or 
(B) is a candidate for such accreditation or 
otherwise meets or exceeds such standards, as 
determined by the Secretary. 
(d) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall require each 
recipient of a grant to use a portion of the funds made 
available through the grant to conduct an evaluation of 
the effectiveness of the activities carried out through the 
grant by such recipient. 
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(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 
(1) ASSISTANCE
DOG.—The term ‘‘assistance 
dog’’ means a dog specifically trained to perform 
physical tasks to mitigate the effects of a disability 
described in subsection (b)(2), except that the term 
does not include a dog specifically trained for com-
fort or personal defense. 
(2) COVERED
MEMBER.—The term ‘‘covered 
member’’ means a member of the Armed Forces who 
is— 
(A) receiving medical treatment, recuper-
ation, or therapy under chapter 55 of title 10, 
United States Code; 
(B) in medical hold or medical holdover 
status; or 
(C) covered under section 1202 or 1205 of 
title 10, United States Code. 
(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 
$11,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024. 
Æ 
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