Title: Animal Welfare Accountability and Transparency Act
Policy area: Animals

Summary:
Animal Welfare Accountability and Transparency Act
This bill requires the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to maintain and publicly disclose records relating to the administration of the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act, including specified details regarding inspections, enforcement actions, regulations, registrations, and licenses under the two laws. Within 90 days of the enactment of this bill, USDA must make the records available to the public in an online searchable database in a machine-readable format on its website.
The bill also amends the Internal Revenue Code to require a taxpayer who has been convicted or assessed civil penalties for violating certain provisions of the Animal Welfare Act or the Horse Protection Act to use the alternative depreciation system that increases the number of years over which property is depreciated. The taxpayer must use the system for any property placed in service during the five-year period beginning with the year in which the period for seeking judicial review of a civil penalty has lapsed or in which there has been a final judgment entered with respect to the violation, whichever is earlier.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 503 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 503

  To require the Secretary of Agriculture to make publicly available 
certain regulatory records relating to the administration of the Animal 
Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act, to amend the Internal Revenue 
  Code of 1986 to provide for the use of an alternative depreciation 
 system for taxpayers violating rules under the Animal Welfare Act and 
           the Horse Protection Act, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 2, 2017

  Mr. Wyden (for himself, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Booker, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. 
 Blumenthal, and Mr. Peters) introduced the following bill; which was 
          read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the Secretary of Agriculture to make publicly available 
certain regulatory records relating to the administration of the Animal 
Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act, to amend the Internal Revenue 
  Code of 1986 to provide for the use of an alternative depreciation 
 system for taxpayers violating rules under the Animal Welfare Act and 
           the Horse Protection Act, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Animal Welfare Accountability and 
Transparency Act''.

SEC. 2. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF REGULATORY RECORDS.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, not later than 90 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture 
(referred to in this section as the ``Secretary'') shall maintain and 
promptly make available to the public in an online searchable database 
in a machine-readable format on the website of the Department of 
Agriculture information relating to the administration of the Animal 
Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2131 et seq.) and the Horse Protection Act (15 
U.S.C. 1821 et seq.), including--
            (1) the entirety of each report of any inspection 
        conducted, and record of any enforcement action taken, under--
                    (A) either of those Acts; or
                    (B) any regulation issued under those Acts;
            (2) with respect to the Animal Welfare Act--
                    (A) the entirety of each annual report submitted by 
                a research facility under section 13 of that Act (7 
                U.S.C. 2143); and
                    (B) the name, address, and license or registration 
                number of each research facility, exhibitor, dealer, 
                and other person or establishment--
                            (i) licensed by the Secretary under section 
                        3 or 12 of that Act (7 U.S.C. 2133, 2142); or
                            (ii) registered with the Secretary under 
                        section 6 of that Act (7 U.S.C. 2136); and
            (3) with respect to the Horse Protection Act, the name and 
        address of--
                    (A) any person that is licensed to conduct any 
                inspection under section 4(c) of that Act (15 U.S.C. 
                1823(c)); or
                    (B) any organization or association that is 
                licensed by the Department of Agriculture to promote 
                horses through--
                            (i) the showing, exhibiting, sale, auction, 
                        or registry of horses; or
                            (ii) the conduct of any activity that 
                        contributes to the advancement of horses.

SEC. 3. USE OF ALTERNATIVE DEPRECIATION SYSTEM FOR TAXPAYERS VIOLATING 
              CERTAIN ANIMAL PROTECTION RULES.

    (a) In General.--Section 168(g)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 is amended by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (D), by 
inserting ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (E), and by inserting 
after subparagraph (E) the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(F) any property placed in service by a 
                disqualified taxpayer during an applicable period,''.
    (b) Definitions.--Section 168(g) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(8) Disqualified taxpayer; applicable period.--For 
        purposes of paragraph (1)(F)--
                    ``(A) Disqualified taxpayer.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The term `disqualified 
                        taxpayer' means any taxpayer if such taxpayer--
                                    ``(I) has been assessed a civil 
                                penalty under section 19(b) of the 
                                Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2149(b)) 
                                or section 6(b) of the Horse Protection 
                                Act (15 U.S.C. 1825(b)) and either the 
                                period for seeking judicial review of 
                                the final agency action has lapsed or 
                                there has been a final judgment with 
                                respect to an appeal of such 
                                assessment, or
                                    ``(II) has been convicted under 
                                section 19(d) of the Animal Welfare Act 
                                (7 U.S.C. 2149(d)) or section 6(a) of 
                                the Horse Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 
                                1825(a)) and there is a final judgment 
                                with respect to such conviction.
                            ``(ii) Aggregation rules.--All persons 
                        treated as a single employer under subsection 
                        (a) or (b) of section 52, or subsection (m) or 
                        (o) of section 414, shall be treated as one 
                        taxpayer for purposes of this subparagraph.
                    ``(B) Applicable period.--The term `applicable 
                period' means, with respect to any violation described 
                in subparagraph (A), the 5-taxable-year period 
                beginning with the taxable year in which the period for 
                seeking judicial review of a civil penalty described in 
                subparagraph (A)(i) has lapsed or in which there has 
                been a final judgment entered with respect to the 
                violation, whichever is earlier.''.
    (c) Conforming Amendment.--The last sentence of section 179(d)(1) 
is amended by inserting ``or any property placed in service by a 
disqualified taxpayer (as defined in section 168(g)(8)(A)) during an 
applicable period (as defined in section 168(g)(8)(B))'' after 
``section 50(b)''.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to property placed in service in taxable years beginning after 
the date of the enactment of this section.
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