[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1442 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1442
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to require that covered persons develop
and implement emergency contingency plans.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 26, 2021
Ms. Titus (for herself, Mr. Rodney Davis of Illinois, Mr. Allred, Mrs.
Axne, Ms. Barragan, Mrs. Beatty, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr.
Blumenauer, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of
Pennsylvania, Mr. Brown, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Buchanan, Mrs. Bustos, Mr.
Carbajal, Mr. Carson, Mr. Cartwright, Mr. Casten, Ms. Chu, Mr.
Cicilline, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Crow, Ms. Dean, Ms.
DeGette, Mr. DeFazio, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Delgado, Mrs. Demings, Mr.
Deutch, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Michael F. Doyle of Pennsylvania, Ms.
Escobar, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Foster, Ms. Lois Frankel of Florida, Mr.
Gallego, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, Mr.
Gottheimer, Mr. Hastings, Ms. Norton, Ms. Houlahan, Ms. Jacobs of
California, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Jones, Mr.
Keating, Mr. Kim of New Jersey, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Mr. Krishnamoorthi,
Ms. Kuster, Mr. Langevin, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Levin of Michigan,
Mr. Levin of California, Mr. Lieu, Mr. Lowenthal, Mr. Lynch, Ms. Mace,
Mr. Malinowski, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, Mr. Sean Patrick
Maloney of New York, Ms. Manning, Mr. Mast, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Meeks,
Ms. Meng, Mr. Morelle, Mrs. Murphy of Florida, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Neal,
Mr. Neguse, Mr. O'Halleran, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Pappas, Mr.
Payne, Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. Peters, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Pocan, Ms.
Pressley, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr. Quigley, Mr. Raskin, Miss
Rice of New York, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Ms. Sanchez, Ms. Scanlon, Ms.
Schakowsky, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Schneider, Mr. Schrader, Mr. Scott of
Virginia, Mr. Sherman, Ms. Sherrill, Mr. Sires, Mr. Smith of
Washington, Mr. Stanton, Ms. Stevens, Ms. Strickland, Mr. Suozzi, Mr.
Swalwell, Ms. Tenney, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Tonko, Mrs. Torres of California,
Mrs. Trahan, Ms. Underwood, Mr. Van Drew, Mr. Vargas, Mr. Veasey, Ms.
Velazquez, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Welch, Ms. Wild, and Mr. Yarmuth)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Agriculture
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Animal Welfare Act to require that covered persons develop
and implement emergency contingency plans.
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 ``Providing Responsible Emergency
Plans for Animals at Risk of Emerging Disasters Act'' or the ``PREPARED
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Recent natural and man-made disasters have highlighted
the need for planning to minimize the impact of disasters.
(2) Lack of preparedness in times of disaster can have
especially devastating effects on animals and the people who
risk their lives to protect them.
(3) Local first-responders, nongovernmental agencies, and
private individuals most often shoulder the cost and
responsibility of animals affected by disasters.
(4) It is reasonable to ask those who use animals
commercially to demonstrate a level of readiness to protect the
animals under their care.
SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT THAT COVERED ENTITIES DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT
EMERGENCY CONTINGENCY PLANS.
(a) In General.--The Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2131 et seq.) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 30. ANIMAL EMERGENCY PLANNING.
``(a) Covered Person.--For purposes of this section, the term
`covered person' means a research facility, dealer, exhibitor,
intermediate handler, carrier, or Federal research facility.
``(b) Contingency Plan.--Each covered person shall develop,
document, and follow a contingency plan to provide for the humane
handling, treatment, transportation, housing, and care of its animals
in the event of an emergency or disaster. Such a contingency plan
shall--
``(1) identify situations that the covered person might
experience, including natural disasters and emergencies such as
electrical outages, faulty HVAC systems, fires, mechanical
breakdowns, and animal escapes, that would trigger the need for
the measures identified in the contingency plan to be put into
action;
``(2) outline specific tasks to be carried out in response
to the identified emergencies or disasters, including detailed
animal evacuation or shelter-in-place instructions and
provisions for providing backup sources of food and water as
well as sanitation, ventilation, bedding, and veterinary care;
``(3) establish a chain of command and identify the
individuals responsible for fulfilling the tasks described in
paragraph (2); and
``(4) address how response and recovery will be handled in
terms of materials, resources, and training needed.
``(c) Annual Review.--Each covered person shall--
``(1) review its contingency plan on at least an annual
basis to ensure that it adequately addresses the criteria
described in subsection (b); and
``(2) maintain documentation of the annual reviews and any
amendments or changes made to its contingency plan since the
previous year's review.
``(d) Training.--Each covered person shall--
``(1) train its personnel in their roles and
responsibilities as outlined in the contingency plan;
``(2) communicate any changes in the contingency plan to
personnel through training within 30 days after making the
changes; and
``(3) maintain documentation of its personnel's
participation in and successful completion of the training
required by this subsection.
``(e) Availability of Documentation.--
``(1) In general.--Each covered person shall submit its
contingency plan, as well as any documentation described in
subsections (c)(2) and (d)(3), to the Secretary annually.
``(2) While traveling.--A covered person engaged in travel
must carry a copy of its contingency plan with it at all times
and make it available for inspection by the Secretary while in
travel status.''.
(b) Regulations.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 30 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture of the
United States shall promulgate such regulations as the
Secretary determines to be necessary to carry out section 30 of
the Animal Welfare Act, as added by subsection (a) of this Act.
(2) Applicability of apa.--The regulations described in
paragraph (1) shall be made without regard to the rulemaking
procedures under section 553 of title 5, United States Code.
(c) No Preemption.--Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by
this Act preempts any law (including a regulation) of a State, or a
political subdivision of a State, containing requirements that provide
equivalent or greater protection for animals than the requirements of
this Act or the amendments made by this Act.
(d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall
apply to covered persons (as defined in such subsection) beginning on
the date that is 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
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