United States S 2370: BARK Act of 2023

Bill Text

II
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION S. 2370
To amend the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act to provide
protection for the good faith donation of pet products, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JULY 19, 2023
Mr. WARNOCK (for himself and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu-
trition, and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation
Act to provide protection for the good faith donation
of pet products, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bring Animals Relief 4
and Kibble Act of 2023’’ or as the ‘‘BARK Act of 2023’’. 5
SEC. 2. LIABILITY FOR PET PRODUCT DONATIONS. 6
The Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation 7
Act (42 U.S.C. 1791) is amended— 8
(1) in subsection (b)— 9
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•S 2370 IS
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (4) 1
through (11) and (12) as paragraphs (5) 2
through (12) and (15), respectively; 3
(B) by inserting after paragraph (3) the 4
following: 5
‘‘(4) EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL.—The term 6
‘emotional support animal’ means an animal that 7
is— 8
‘‘(A) covered by the exclusion described in 9
section 5.303 of title 24, Code of Federal Regu-10
lations (or a successor regulation); and 11
‘‘(B) not a service animal.’’; 12
(C) in paragraph (5) (as so redesignated), 13
by striking ‘‘for human consumption’’ and in-14
serting the following: ‘‘for— 15
‘‘(A) human consumption; or 16
‘‘(B) consumption by a pet, emotional sup-17
port animal, or service animal’’; 18
(D) in paragraph (8) (as so redesignated), 19
by inserting ‘‘pet supply,’’ after ‘‘household 20
cleaning product,’’; 21
(E) in paragraph (12) (as so redesig-22
nated), in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘pet 23
food supplier,’’ after ‘‘farmer,’’; 24
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•S 2370 IS
(F) by inserting after paragraph (12) (as 1
so redesignated) the following: 2
‘‘(13) PET.—The term ‘pet’ means a domes-3
ticated animal, such as a dog, cat, bird, rodent, fish, 4
or turtle, that is kept for pleasure rather than for 5
commercial purposes. 6
‘‘(14) PET SUPPLY.—The term ‘pet supply’ 7
means tangible personal property used for a pet, in-8
cluding a pet carrier, crate, kennel, house, cage, arti-9
cle of clothing, bedding, toy, collar, leash, lead, tie- 10
out, feeder, bowl, dish, pet gate, and pet door.’’; and 11
(G) by adding at the end the following: 12
‘‘(16) SERVICE ANIMAL.—The term ‘service 13
animal’ has the meaning given the term in section 14
36.104 of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations (or 15
a successor regulation).’’; and 16
(2) in subsection (c)— 17
(A) by redesignating paragraph (4) as 18
paragraph (5); 19
(B) by inserting after paragraph (3) the 20
following: 21
‘‘(4) LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO PETS, SERV-22
ICE ANIMALS, OR EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMALS.— 23
‘‘(A) DONATIONS MADE.—A person or 24
gleaner shall not be subject to civil or criminal 25
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•S 2370 IS
liability arising from the nature, age, pack-1
aging, or condition of food described in sub-2
section (b)(5)(B) or pet supplies that the per-3
son or gleaner donates in good faith to a non-4
profit organization or State or unit of local gov-5
ernment for direct distribution to pets, service 6
animals, or emotional support animals. 7
‘‘(B) DONATIONS RECEIVED.—A nonprofit 8
organization or State or unit of local govern-9
ment shall not be subject to civil or criminal li-10
ability arising from the nature, age, packaging, 11
or condition of food described in subsection 12
(b)(5)(B) or pet supplies that the nonprofit or-13
ganization or State or unit of local government 14
receives as a donation in good faith from a per-15
son or gleaner for direct distribution to pets, 16
service animals, or emotional support animals.’’; 17
and 18
(C) in paragraph (5) (as so redesig-19
nated)— 20
(i) by striking ‘‘and (3)’’ and inserting 21
‘‘(3), and (4)’’; and 22
(ii) by inserting ‘‘State or local gov-23
ernment,’’ after ‘‘gleaner,’’; and 24
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•S 2370 IS
(3) in subsection (d), by inserting ‘‘, pets, serv-1
ice animals, or emotional support animals’’ after 2
‘‘needy individuals’’. 3
Æ
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