A Puppy in Mariposa County
Credit: Linda Gast/Sierra Sun Times
What will change? Since 2017, people using Animal Care’s searchable database have not been able to search by name or license number to find inspection reports for facilities that operate a homestead business or out of a home. This is so because at that time, these records were removed to address potential privacy concerns. Most of the documents that were removed were reposted within weeks, however certain inspection reports were deemed to contain private information and were therefore not reposted or were heavily redacted.
Why is this changing? In December 2019 Congress passed a law to fund the Federal government through September 30, 2020 (Public Law Number 116-44). In addition to funding the government, the law contained requirements regarding the Animal Welfare Act. The legislation (Section 788) requires our Agency to “restore on its website the searchable database and its contents that were available on January 30, 2017, and all content generated since that date,” and to do so “notwithstanding any other provision of law.”
February 23, 2020 - The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is restoring certain Animal Welfare Act records on its website. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020, passed on December 20, 2019, included a provision that directs the restoration of these records.
Section 788 of the law requires the Agency to “restore on its website the searchable database and its contents that were available on January 30, 2017, and all content generated since that date”. APHIS removed these records in 2017 to address potential privacy concerns. While the Agency reposted most of the documents in 2017, the Agency did not repost or heavily redacted certain inspection reports and other documents that contained private information.
In response to the latest requirements, APHIS has restored the searchable database including all of the documents that were available January 30, 2017, as well as documents that have been created since that date.
Also, within 60 days APHIS will post records without redactions (except signatures) generated since the legislation was passed and continue hereafter. These records will include AWA inspection reports (including any non-compliant items), animal inventories, teachable moments, and final AWA and Horse Protections Act enforcement records. Within six months of receipt, APHIS will also post final Annual Reports and attachments from Research Facilities with appropriate redaction for confidential business information. All these records will remain available for a period of three years from posting.
APHIS searchable database may be found at https://acis.aphis.edc.usda.gov/ords/f?p=118:1.
A Letter to Animal Welfare Act Licensees and Registrants
Source: USDA
