Federal shelter-dog adoption pilot launches at border agency
H.R. 3965 — PEARL Act · Filed by Tony Gonzales (R-TX) · 12 cosponsors · Introduced Jun 12, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill directs U.S. Customs and Border Protection to launch a three-year pilot program adopting dogs from local animal shelters and training them as support dogs for CBP personnel. The program must begin within 60 days of enactment. It is a straightforward animal-welfare initiative that diverts shelter dogs from potential euthanasia into federal service roles.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is establishing a shelter-dog adoption pilot within CBP. It is a narrow, functional animal-welfare initiative with no hidden provisions or market implications.
What the text implies
- Pilot success may create political pressure to expand the program government-wide, potentially affecting federal procurement practices for working animals across agencies.
- If pilot demonstrates cost savings vs. commercial breeding, it could shift federal canine sourcing norms and indirectly reduce demand for private dog-breeding contractors.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill directs federal resources toward animal welfare by creating adoption pathways for shelter dogs, reducing euthanasia pressure and potentially lowering CBP's canine procurement costs compared to commercial breeding. No citizen rights are restricted, and the program serves a legitimate public function (support animals for federal personnel) while advancing animal protection.
Named in the bill
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Department of Homeland Security, local animal shelters
Where it stands
12 cosponsors: 6 Democrats, 6 Republicans.
- Jun 12, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jun 12, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Homeland Security and Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement”
- Jun 25, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Jun 25, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by Voice Vote”
- Nov 19, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H4786)”
- Nov 19, 2025 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Guest moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $80,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 36 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Tony Gonzales, the sponsor, reported $458,550 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Clark County Nv (office of the County Manager) — $80,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (686 characters) on May 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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