Sponsors (12)
The bill strengthens screening and surveillance of imported dogs to reduce disease risk and speed public‑health response, while imposing new fees, paperwork, age limits, and transition rules that increase costs and administrative burdens for importers, rescues, and buyers.
Pet owners and the general public: imported dogs will be screened for health, vaccinations, and parasites before arrival, reducing the risk of animal disease and zoonotic transmission to U.S. pets and people.
State and local animal health authorities: a centralized electronic record system will share import documentation with State veterinarians within three days, improving disease surveillance and enabling faster public‑health responses to outbreaks.
Taxpayers and program implementers: authority to charge importer and transporter fees provides a funding mechanism to implement screening and permitting systems without relying solely on new appropriations, enabling faster deployment.
Importers, transporters, and buyers/adopters: new fees and potential costs for quarantine, care, removal, or return will raise the price of imported dogs and could be passed on to purchasers or adopters.
Breeders, rescues, carriers, and importers: new electronic documentation, database, and permit requirements will create administrative burdens and may delay legitimate imports during implementation.
Animal rescues and families seeking to adopt: a six‑month minimum age for dogs intended for transfer could block import of younger puppies, limiting adoption options and disrupting rescue placements.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates federal import rules for live dogs including electronic pre-arrival health and ID documentation, a 6‑month minimum age for transfer, centralized data sharing, enforcement, and fee authority.
Introduced May 13, 2025 by Dustin Johnson · Last progress May 13, 2025
Establishes new federal import requirements for live dogs, requiring electronic pre-arrival documentation (health certificates, vaccination/parasite treatment records, negative test results, permanent ID, and import permits) and a minimum age of 6 months for dogs intended for transfer. It creates a timetable for USDA rulemaking, a centralized import database with rapid state veterinarian access and annual reporting, fee authority to support implementation, enforcement penalties, and importer financial responsibility for care, quarantine, removal, or return. Creates narrow exceptions (returning U.S. pets, military/working dogs, research animals, certain veterinary treatment cases with quarantine and reexport, and specific Hawaii imports) and preserves existing Animal Welfare Act import rules until the new rules are finalized, while repealing the old statutory import provision once the new framework is in place.