[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 37 (Thursday, March 2, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1579-S1582]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Booker, Ms.
Cantwell, Mr. Blumenthal, and Mr. Peters):
S. 503. A bill to require the Secretary of Agriculture to make
publicly available certain regulatory records relating to the
administration of the Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act,
to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for the use of an
alternative depreciation system for taxpayers violating rules under the
Animal Welfare Act and the Horse Protection Act, and for other
purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, today I am introducing the Animal Welfare
Accountability and Transparency Act. This bill is a necessary step to
restoring public information on animal cruelty that was removed from
the U.S. Department of Agriculture's, USDA, Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service, APHIS, website under the Trump administration.
On February 3, 2017, APHIS removed information from its website
related to oversight and enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, AWA,
and Horse Protection Act, HPA, including animal inspection and
licensing reports for more than 9,000 licensed facilities that use
animals--facilities like commercial dog breeding operators, animal
research labs, roadside zoos, and horse show participants. Since 2009,
APHIS has made this information public to increase transparency and
hold violators of these animal cruelty laws accountable. This
information is now hidden from the public and is only available through
a Freedom of Information Act Request, which can take months and
sometimes even years for an agency to respond.
The Animal Welfare Accountability and Transparency Act restores
transparency by requiring APHIS to once again make AWA and HPA
inspection reports accessible to the public. In my view, transparency
is key when it comes to giving animal lovers and consumers information
about whether their pets or the products they buy are the result of
heartbreaking beginnings. These inspection reports also help law
enforcement officials track and understand trends in animal welfare
violations.
Preventing animal cruelty starts with getting facts out to consumers.
By shedding light on AWA and HPA violations, the Animal Welfare
Accountability and Transparency Act holds accountable puppy mill
operators and other businesses that use animals for breeding, research,
and testing.
To ensure that taxpayers are not paying for entities that violate
animal welfare laws, the Animal Welfare Accountability and Transparency
Act also prohibits businesses that are found to be in violation of the
AWA or HPA from collecting certain tax benefits.
Under current tax and accounting rules, companies can write off the
value of breeding and working animals on their taxes using accelerated
depreciation, as if those animals are machinery. They keep that
preferential and valuable tax benefit, even if they violate animal
cruelty laws. The Animal Welfare Accountability and Transparency Act
puts an end to this practice and holds companies accountable for
breaking the law by prohibiting businesses found to have violated AWA
or HPA from claiming accelerated depreciation for tax purposes for five
years.
The Animal Welfare Accountability and Transparency Act is a much
needed step to restore transparency in animal cruelty and to hold
companies accountable for violating the law.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 503
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 ``Animal Welfare
Accountability and Transparency Act''.
SEC. 2. PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF REGULATORY RECORDS.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, not later than
90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Secretary of Agriculture (referred to in this section as the
``Secretary'') shall maintain and promptly make available to
the public in an online searchable database in a machine-
readable format on the website of the Department of
Agriculture information relating to the administration of the
Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2131 et seq.) and the Horse
Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1821 et seq.), including--
(1) the entirety of each report of any inspection
conducted, and record of any enforcement action taken,
under--
(A) either of those Acts; or
(B) any regulation issued under those Acts;
[[Page S1581]]
(2) with respect to the Animal Welfare Act--
(A) the entirety of each annual report submitted by a
research facility under section 13 of that Act (7 U.S.C.
2143); and
(B) the name, address, and license or registration number
of each research facility, exhibitor, dealer, and other
person or establishment--
(i) licensed by the Secretary under section 3 or 12 of that
Act (7 U.S.C. 2133, 2142); or
(ii) registered with the Secretary under section 6 of that
Act (7 U.S.C. 2136); and
(3) with respect to the Horse Protection Act, the name and
address of--
(A) any person that is licensed to conduct any inspection
under section 4(c) of that Act (15 U.S.C. 1823(c)); or
(B) any organization or association that is licensed by the
Department of Agriculture to promote horses through--
(i) the showing, exhibiting, sale, auction, or registry of
horses; or
(ii) the conduct of any activity that contributes to the
advancement of horses.
SEC. 3. USE OF ALTERNATIVE DEPRECIATION SYSTEM FOR TAXPAYERS
VIOLATING CERTAIN ANIMAL PROTECTION RULES.
(a) In General.--Section 168(g)(1) of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 is amended by striking ``and'' at the end of
subparagraph (D), by inserting ``and'' at the end of
subparagraph (E), and by inserting after subparagraph (E) the
following new subparagraph:
``(F) any property placed in service by a disqualified
taxpayer during an applicable period,''.
(b) Definitions.--Section 168(g) of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following
new paragraph:
``(8) Disqualified taxpayer; applicable period.--For
purposes of paragraph (1)(F)--
``(A) Disqualified taxpayer.--
``(i) In general.--The term `disqualified taxpayer' means
any taxpayer if such taxpayer--
``(I) has been assessed a civil penalty under section 19(b)
of the Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2149(b)) or section 6(b)
of the Horse Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1825(b)) and either
the period for seeking judicial review of the final agency
action has lapsed or there has been a final judgment with
respect to an appeal of such assessment, or
``(II) has been convicted under section 19(d) of the Animal
Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2149(d)) or section 6(a) of the Horse
Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1825(a)) and there is a final
judgment with respect to such conviction.
``(ii) Aggregation rules.--All persons treated as a single
employer under subsection (a) or (b) of section 52, or
subsection (m) or (o) of section 414, shall be treated as one
taxpayer for purposes of this subparagraph.
``(B) Applicable period.--The term `applicable period'
means, with respect to any violation described in
subparagraph (A), the 5-taxable year period beginning with
the taxable year in which the period for seeking judicial
review of a civil penalty described in subparagraph (A)(i)
has lapsed or in which there has been a final judgment
entered with respect to the violation, whichever is
earlier.''.
(c) Conforming Amendment.--The last sentence of section
179(d)(1) is amended by inserting ``or any property placed in
service by a disqualified taxpayer (as defined in section
168(g)(8)(A)) during an applicable period (as defined in
section 168(g)(8)(B))'' after ``section 50(b)''.
(d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section
shall apply to property placed in service in taxable years
beginning after the date of the enactment of this section.
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