PEARL Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The PEARL Act would require the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, to create a support-dog pilot inside CBP. The agency must establish the pilot within 60 days after enactment. It would adopt dogs from local animal shelters and train them as support dogs for CBP's existing Support Canine Program.
The pilot would terminate three years after CBP establishes it. The bill does not specify how many dogs or shelters must participate, how shelters are selected, what training or placement standards apply, how much may be spent, or whether the agency may continue the pilot as a permanent program after the three-year term.
Who Benefits and How
CBP employees served by the Support Canine Program could receive additional workplace emotional-support capacity. CBP's existing program could gain a new source of dogs rather than relying only on other acquisition channels. Local animal shelters could obtain adoption placements and reduce the time and cost of caring for participating dogs. Shelter dogs selected for the pilot would receive placement and training for a support role.
Who Bears the Burden and How
DHS and CBP program staff must design and launch the pilot within 60 days, coordinate with local shelters, evaluate and adopt suitable dogs, arrange training, place trained support dogs, and administer the effort for three years. Participating shelter employees may need to provide records, coordinate transfer, and assist with suitability review, although shelters are not required to join. Federal program resources cover an additional activity even though the bill provides no separate appropriation.
Key Provisions
- Requires DHS and CBP to establish the pilot within 60 days after enactment.
- Directs CBP to adopt dogs from local animal shelters for support-dog training.
- Places trained dogs in CBP's Support Canine Program.
- Terminates the pilot three years after it is established.
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
Require Customs and Border Protection to operate a three-year pilot that adopts dogs from local animal shelters and trains them for CBP's Support Canine Program.
Key Policy Areas
Homeland Security, Federal Workforce, Animal Welfare
Primary Purpose
Require Customs and Border Protection to operate a three-year pilot that adopts dogs from local animal shelters and trains them for CBP's Support Canine Program.
Policy Domains
Section 2 - CBP shelter-dog adoption and training pilot
Identified Gains
- Customs and Border Protection employees using support-dog services
- CBP Support Canine Program
- Local animal shelters placing dogs through the pilot
Identified Costs
- Customs and Border Protection pilot administration staff
- CBP support-dog trainers
- Local animal shelter employees joining the pilot
- Department of Homeland Security program resources
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedOrdered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 30 …
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
Mr. Joyce of Ohio (for himself, Mr. Correa, Mr. Fitzpatrick, …
Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
CBP support-dog trainers, Customs and Border Protection employees using support-dog services
Positive-direction: Customs and Border Protection employees using support-dog services
Negative-direction: CBP support-dog trainers
CBP Support Canine Program, Customs and Border Protection pilot administration staff
Positive-direction: CBP Support Canine Program
Negative-direction: Customs and Border Protection pilot administration staff
Local animal shelter employees joining the pilot, Local animal shelters placing dogs through the pilot
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "program"
- → CBP Support Canine Program
- "shelters"
- → Local animal shelters
- "secretary"
- → Secretary of Homeland Security
- "commissioner"
- → Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Note: {'scope_ids': ['cbp_support_dog_pilot'], 'description': 'CBP must establish the pilot within 60 days, but the three-year term runs from the date the pilot is established rather than enactment.'}
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