CBP will adopt shelter dogs to work as support animals.
S. 4079 — PEARL Act · Filed by Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 12, 2026 · Reported out
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What it does
The bill tells U.S. Customs and Border Protection to start a three-year pilot program. CBP will adopt dogs from local animal shelters. The agency will train these dogs to help with CBP work. The program must start within 60 days after the law passes.
Who it affects
Shelter dogs will get adopted and trained for work. CBP will have new support dogs for its operations.
One thing to notice
The bill does not cost taxpayers money. It does not change any rules about rights or liability.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 3 Republicans, 2 Democrats.
- Mar 12, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Mar 12, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs”
- Aug 6, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment favorably”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- pilot program — A test project that runs for a set time to see if an idea works.
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection — The federal agency that guards U.S. borders and checks people and goods entering the country.
- support animals — Animals trained to help people or agencies do their jobs.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (605 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 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.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-17.
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