Sponsors (4)
The bill creates a short pilot to place shelter dogs as support animals for CBP staff—potentially improving employee wellbeing and boosting shelter adoptions—while posing upfront costs, a tight 60-day startup that risks poor execution, and a three-year sunset that may impede long-term care and evaluation.
CBP staff (customs and border protection officers and other federal employees) could receive emotional and operational support from shelter-adopted support dogs placed through the Support Canine Program, improving workplace wellbeing and stress management.
Local animal shelters and nonprofit rescue groups may see increased dog adoptions and reduced shelter burden as dogs are adopted into the pilot program.
A time-limited three-year pilot lets DHS/CBP test effectiveness and costs before committing to a permanent program, limiting long-term fiscal exposure while gathering evidence.
CBP may incur training, veterinary, and ongoing care costs for the support dogs, increasing agency expenses that could require taxpayer funding or divert resources from other priorities.
The requirement to implement the pilot within 60 days risks straining CBP operational capacity and could lead to rushed procurement, insufficient planning, or poor initial execution.
A three-year sunset may disrupt continuity of care for adopted dogs and limit the ability to evaluate long-term outcomes, potentially undermining animal welfare and program assessment.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Requires CBP to launch, within 60 days, a three-year pilot adopting shelter dogs and training them as support dogs for CBP’s Support Canine Program.
Introduced March 12, 2026 by Ruben Gallego · Last progress March 12, 2026
Requires U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), under the Department of Homeland Security, to start a pilot program to adopt dogs from local animal shelters and train them as support dogs for CBP’s Support Canine Program. The agency must establish the pilot within 60 days of the law taking effect, and the pilot ends three years after it begins. The law also sets the official short title for the act but does not specify funding or other implementation details in the text provided.