The AKC Government Relations team continues to monitor Congress for issues of interest to dog owners. Visit our 2017 Legislation Tracking page and click on “US Fed” on the map to get the latest updates on federal bills currently being monitored by the AKC. Highlights of issues we are currently addressing on the federal level include:
USDA/APHIS — In early February, the U.S Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which oversees implementation of federal Animal Welfare Act regulations and pet breeder/dealer licensing announced it was removing certain documents, including inspection reports from its online databases for review pending litigation and to ensure full compliance with privacy requirements. Removal of records is temporary. Starting in mid- February, batches of documents have been returned to the database weekly. More information here.
H.R. 909/S. 322 — The Pet and Women Safety Act (PAWS) would add federal protections for the pets of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and dating violence. It would include pets in protection orders for human victims and would provide that a person who commits an interstate violation of a protection order would be subject to fines and/or imprisonment and could be required to pay restitution for veterinary care of a victim’s pet that was harmed as the result of an offense. It creates an Emergency and Transitional Pet Shelter and Housing Assistance Grant Program to award grants to eligible entities to carry out programs to provide assistance to victims of crimes related to stalking and domestic violence. The AKC supports this measure and has been working with members of Congress to advance it. The House version has been referred to the House Judiciary committee; the Senate version has been referred to the Senate Agriculture committee.