Sponsors (25)
The bill seeks to improve safety for horses and people by restricting multilevel interstate horse transport and creating penalties for violations, while imposing additional compliance costs on small carriers and leaving some legal uncertainty about enforcement.
Horse owners, commercial horse transporters, and drivers: reduced risk of injury and death to horses and people by limiting or prohibiting use of multilevel highway conveyances for interstate horse transport.
Transportation workers and regulators: establishment of a civil penalty for knowing violations provides a federal enforcement tool to deter unsafe transport practices.
Small trucking and horse-transport businesses and drivers: higher compliance costs and the possibility of fines when using multilevel trailers for interstate moves increases operating expenses and may reduce available transport options.
Transportation workers and small-business owners: ambiguous or incomplete civil-action/enforcement language creates legal uncertainty about how penalties will be applied and whether private remedies are available, risking litigation and inconsistent enforcement.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits interstate transport of horses in highway vehicles with two or more stacked levels and creates per-horse civil penalties for knowing violations.
Prohibits interstate transport of horses in motor vehicles that have two or more stacked levels (double-deck trailers or similar) and adds a civil penalty for knowing violations of $100–$500 per horse. It revises cross-references in the federal statute regulating railroad and motor carrier safety and leaves an unfinished provision authorizing civil actions.
Official title: To amend title 49, United States Code, to prohibit the transportation of horses in interstate transportation in a motor vehicle containing 2 or more levels stacked on top of one another, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 29, 2025 by Stephen Cohen · Last progress May 29, 2025