Sponsors (17)
The bill makes it easier to donate and redistribute pet food and supplies—reducing waste and increasing resources for animals—by shielding donors and distributors from liability, but that protection raises health, quality-control, and enforcement risks that could harm animals and impose costs on public actors.
Nonprofits, small businesses, and individual donors face reduced legal risk when giving apparently fit pet food and supplies, which encourages more donations and increases available resources for animals (reducing waste).
Nonprofit and government distributors are shielded from liability for the condition, age, or packaging of donated pet products, enabling wider distribution of donated pet supplies to animals in need and allowing government programs to participate without as much legal exposure.
Donors can transfer nonmarketable, cosmetically imperfect, or distressed-but-repairable pet items (when recipients agree to recondition them), preserving protections while promoting reuse and diverting usable products from waste streams.
Pets and pet owners could face increased risk of illness or injury if lower-quality or improperly reconditioned products are distributed under the law's liability protections.
Local governments and taxpayers could incur costs if distribution of defective or harmful pet products leads to animal health incidents that require public intervention or veterinary care.
The immunity framework may weaken incentives for donors and recipients to maintain strict quality control and could blur enforcement boundaries, creating regulatory complexity for state and local health authorities and increasing circulation of near-expired or marginal products.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Provides federal immunity for good-faith donation, receipt, or handling of apparently fit pet food and supplies for distribution to qualified animals, with exceptions for gross negligence and intentional misconduct.
Introduced June 4, 2025 by Jamie Ben Raskin · Last progress June 4, 2025
Creates a federal legal shield protecting people, nonprofits, and state or local governments that in good faith donate, receive, or handle apparently fit pet food and pet supplies for distribution to qualified animals. The protection covers civil and criminal liability tied to the product’s nature, age, packaging, or condition, but does not protect conduct that rises to gross negligence or intentional misconduct. Also establishes a conditional safe harbor for items that fail to meet quality or labeling standards when the donor notifies the recipient and the recipient agrees and is capable of reconditioning the items before distribution. The law preserves existing health and safety regulations and states that it does not create new liability beyond what already exists under other law.