Title: WOOF! Act
Policy area: Animals

Summary:
Welfare of Our Friends Act of 2017 or the WOOF! Act
This bill amends the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit the Department of Agriculture (USDA) from licensing a dealer of dogs whose previous licenses have been suspended or revoked in the last 10 years if the license is for operating a facility that the dealer previously used. Further, USDA may not issue or renew a license to: (1) the dog dealer's immediate family members, (2) a person who resides at the same address as the dog dealer, or (3) certain legal entities if such dealer holds an ownership interest in the entity.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4691 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4691

To amend the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit the issuance of licenses to 
certain individuals connected to dealers of dogs who have had licenses 
                    revoked, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 20, 2017

 Mr. Fitzpatrick (for himself and Mr. Crist) introduced the following 
        bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit the issuance of licenses to 
certain individuals connected to dealers of dogs who have had licenses 
                    revoked, 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 ``Welfare of Our Friends Act of 2017'' 
or the ``WOOF! Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON ISSUING LICENSES TO CERTAIN PERSONS AS A RESULT 
              OF LICENSE REVOCATION.

    (a) Definition.--Section 2 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 
2132) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(p) The term `immediate family member' means, with respect to a 
dealer--
            ``(1) a spouse, domestic partner, child, parent, brother, 
        sister, grandparent, or grandchild; and
            ``(2) a spouse of a child, parent, brother, sister, 
        grandparent, or grandchild.''.
    (b) Prohibition on Issuing Licenses to Certain Persons as a Result 
of License Revocation.--Section 3 of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 
2133) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``The Secretary shall'' and inserting ``(a) 
        In General.--The Secretary shall'';
            (2) by striking ``issued'' and inserting ``issued or 
        renewed'';
            (3) by striking ``demonstrated'' and inserting 
        ``demonstrated through facility inspection''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Prohibition on Issuing Licenses to Certain Persons as a 
Result of License Suspension or Revocation.--(1) The Secretary shall 
not issue or renew a license for the purpose of being a dealer of dogs 
to a person who is an immediate family member of, or who resides at the 
same address of, a dealer of dogs if--
            ``(A) the license is for purposes of operating a facility 
        for dogs at a location that such dealer has used as a facility 
        for dogs; and
            ``(B) within the last 10 years, a license of such dealer 
        has been suspended after notice and opportunity for hearing or 
        revoked pursuant to section 19(a) of this Act.
    ``(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a person described in such 
paragraph if such person shows by clear and convincing evidence that a 
dealer described in paragraph (1)--
            ``(A) will have no ownership interest in the facility for 
        which such person seeks a license;
            ``(B) will play no role in the care of dogs at the 
        facility; and
            ``(C) will play no role in the management of the facility.
    ``(c) Prohibition on Issuing Licenses to Certain Legal Entities as 
a Result of License Suspension or Revocation.--(1) The Secretary shall 
not issue or renew a license for the purpose of being a dealer of dogs 
to any person (including a partnership, firm, joint stock company, 
corporation, association, trust, estate, or other legal entity) if any 
person who holds an ownership interest in the partnership, firm, joint 
stock company, corporation, association, trust, estate, or other legal 
entity--
            ``(A) previously held a license for purposes of operating a 
        facility for dogs at the same address of the facility for which 
        the license is being sought; and
            ``(B) within the last 10 years, such license has been 
        suspended after notice and opportunity for hearing or revoked 
        pursuant to section 19(a) of this Act.
    ``(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a person seeking the 
issuance or renewal of a license described in such paragraph if such 
person shows by clear and convincing evidence that a person who 
previously held a license for purposes of operating a facility for dogs 
described in subparagraph (A) of such paragraph--
            ``(A) will play no role in the care of dogs at the 
        facility; and
            ``(B) will play no role in the management of the facility.
    ``(d) Ten-Year Bar for Suspension or Revocation of a License of a 
Dealer of Dogs.--The Secretary shall not issue or renew a license for 
the purpose of being a dealer of dogs to a person if--
            ``(1) within the last 10 years, a license for the purpose 
        of being a dealer of dogs of such person has been suspended 
        after notice and opportunity for hearing or revoked pursuant to 
        section 19(a) of this Act; and
            ``(2) the license is for purposes of operating a facility 
        for dogs at a location that such person has used as a facility 
        for dogs.''.
    (c) Revocation of Improperly Granted Licenses.--Section 19 of the 
Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2149) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(e) Revocation of Improperly Granted Licenses.--The Secretary 
shall revoke a license issued after the date of the enactment of this 
subsection if the Secretary subsequently determines that, at the time 
of issuance, the issuance of the license violated section 3 of this 
Act.''.

SEC. 3. REGULATIONS.

    The Secretary of Agriculture may prescribe such regulations as the 
Secretary determines to be necessary to implement the amendments made 
by this Act. Any such regulations shall be prescribed not later than 
one year after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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