I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3058
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to improve the treatment of certain
animals, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 5, 2001
Mr. WHITFIELD (for himself, Mr. FARR of California, Mr. GEORGE MILLER
of California, Mr. CARDIN, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. KUCINICH,
Mr. STARK, Mr. HORN, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr.
DEFAZIO, Mr. COSTELLO, Ms. SOLIS, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mrs.
DAVIS of California, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr.
BONIOR, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. SHAYS, Ms. RIVERS, Mr.
KOLBE, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. GORDON, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mrs. MORELLA,
Mr. GILMAN, Mr. EVANS, Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. WOOLSEY,
Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. SIMMONS, Mr. FRANK,
Mr. FILNER, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Ms. ROY-
BAL-ALLARD, Mrs. BONO, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi,
Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. SABO, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mr.
JONES of North Carolina, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. LEACH,
Mr. DICKS, Mr. CLYBURN, Mrs. JOHNSON
of Connecticut, Mr.
GALLEGLY, Mr. INSLEE, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. KILDEE, and Mrs. LOWEY)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ag-
riculture
A BILL
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to improve the treatment
of certain animals, 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 ‘‘Puppy Protection
Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Puppies in the United States are mass-pro-
duced at breeding facilities known as ‘‘puppy mills’’.
(2) Those puppies are typically sold at eight
weeks of age to retail operations or to live animal
brokers that subsequently sell the puppies to retail
operations.
(3) There are more than 3,000 commercial dog
breeding operations in the United States.
(4) Problems documented at puppy mills
include—
(A) overcrowding in cages;
(B) lack of protection from the elements;
(C) infestation of food by rodents or in-
sects;
(D) overbreeding;
(E) inbreeding;
(F) lack of proper veterinary care;
(G) lack of socialization with humans; and
(H) the killing of unwanted animals.
(5) Lack of early socialization seriously affects
a dog’s ability to function as part of a human family
and contributes to behavior problems such as ag-
gression.
(6) Factors contributing to the declining health
of female dogs and litters include—
(A) the breeding of female dogs during the
first estrus cycle when the female dogs are not
fully mature; and
(B) the breeding of female dogs each
estrus cycle without sufficient rest between lit-
ters.
(7) The Department of Agriculture is respon-
sible for inspecting those facilities using a set of reg-
ulations for care and treatment of the puppies and
dogs promulgated under the Animal Welfare Act (7
U.S.C. 2131 et seq.).
(8) Those facilities continue to operate despite
repeated violations of the regulations cited by De-
partment of Agriculture inspectors.
(9) Consumers purchase from retail operations
puppies that are believed to be healthy and geneti-
cally sound, but that—
(A) suffer from an array of physical and
behavioral problems after purchase; or
(B) harbor genetic diseases and defi-
ciencies that may not surface until several years
later.
SEC. 3. SOCIALIZATION PLAN; BREEDING RESTRICTIONS.
Section 13(a)(2) of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C.
2143(a)(2)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and’’ at
the end;
(2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period
at the end and inserting a semicolon; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(C) for the development of an engineering
standard, including a written plan of activities,
based on the recommendations of animal wel-
fare and behavior experts, for the socialization
of dogs to facilitate contact with other dogs and
people; and
‘‘(D) for addressing the initiation and fre-
quency of breeding female dogs so that a female
dog is not bred—
‘‘(i) before the female dog has reached
at least one year of age; and
‘‘(ii) more frequently than three times
in an 24-month period.’’.
SEC. 4. REVOCATION OF LICENSE.
Section 19 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C.
2149) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘SEC. 19. (a) If the Secretary’’
and inserting the following:
‘‘SEC. 19. SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF LICENSE, CIVIL
PENALTIES, JUDICIAL REVIEW, AND CRIMI-
NAL PENALTIES.
‘‘(a) SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF LICENSE.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary’’;
(2) in subsection (a)—
(A) in paragraph (1) (as designated by
paragraph (1)), by striking ‘‘if such violation’’
and all that follows and inserting ‘‘if the Sec-
retary determines that 1 or more violations
have occurred.’’; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(2) MANDATORY REVOCATION.—If any person
licensed as a dealer, exhibitor, or operator of an auc-
tion sale subject to section 12, is found, after notice
and opportunity for hearing, to have violated any of
the rules, regulations, or standards governing the
humane handling, transportation, veterinary care,
housing, breeding, socialization, feeding, watering, or
other humane treatment of animals under section 12
or 13 on three or more separate occasions within
any eight-year period, the Secretary, on finding a
third violation, shall revoke the license of the person
unless the Secretary makes a written finding that
the violations were minor and inadvertent, that the
violations did not pose a threat to the animals, or
that revocation is inappropriate for other good
cause.’’;
(3) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘(b) Any deal-
er’’ and inserting ‘‘(b) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Any
dealer’’;
(4) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘(c) Any deal-
er’’ and inserting ‘‘(c) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Any
dealer’’; and
(5) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘(d) Any deal-
er’’ and inserting ‘‘(d) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Any
dealer’’.
SEC. 5. REGULATIONS.
Not later than one year after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall pro-
mulgate such regulations as are necessary to carry out the
amendments made by this Act, including development of
the standards required by the amendment made by section
3.
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