Federal Animal Research Accountability Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Federal Animal Research Accountability Act amends the Public Health Service Act animal-care reporting rules for research entities. Each covered research entity must annually file a form with the NIH Director listing the total number of animals bred, housed, and used in the previous fiscal year. The form must break out common species names and counts for animals used in teaching, research, experiments, or tests involving no pain or distress; animals used with pain or distress where anesthetic, analgesic, or tranquilizing drugs were used; animals used with pain or distress where pain-relieving drugs would have adversely affected the research; and animals bred, conditioned, or held for use but not yet used. NIH must provide the form to animal care committees and, within three months after filing, post the form in a publicly accessible and searchable online database. The reporting requirement begins two years after enactment.
Who Benefits and How
Animal welfare organizations benefit from public species-level data on animals bred, housed, used, and held by NIH-funded research entities. Taxpayers benefit from a searchable database showing how federally connected research uses animals. Research oversight committees benefit from a standardized NIH form for collecting animal use data. Journalists and researchers benefit from comparable data on pain, distress, pain-relief use, and animals held for later research.
Who Bears the Burden and How
NIH research entities must count and report animals annually by species, use category, pain or distress level, and held-for-use status. Animal care committees must collect and file the new form with the NIH Director. NIH database staff must create the form and publish filed reports online within three months. Laboratory administrators must build tracking systems before the two-year effective date.
Key Provisions
- Requires annual NIH animal use reports with common species names and counts.
- Adds reporting categories for no-pain use, pain with relief, pain without relief because it would affect research, and animals held for use.
- Requires NIH to provide the form to animal care committees and publish filed forms in a searchable database within three months.
- Applies the new reporting requirement beginning two years after enactment.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires NIH-funded research entities to file annual species-level animal use reports covering animals bred, housed, used without pain, used with pain relief, used where pain relief would affect research, and held for later use, with searchable public posting within three months.
Key Policy Areas
Research, Animal Welfare, Transparency
Primary Purpose
Requires NIH-funded research entities to file annual species-level animal use reports covering animals bred, housed, used without pain, used with pain relief, used where pain relief would affect research, and held for later use, with searchable public posting within three months.
Policy Domains
Resolution provisions
Identified Gains
- Animal welfare organizations
- Taxpayers
- Research oversight committees
- Journalists
Identified Costs
- NIH research entities
- Animal care committees
- NIH database staff
- Laboratory administrators
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMs. Malliotakis (for herself, Mr. Davis of North Carolina, Mrs. …
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Animal care committees, NIH research entities, Research oversight committees
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology