PAST Act of 2025
Official title: To amend the Horse Protection Act to designate additional unlawful acts under the Act, strengthen penalties for violations of the Act, improve Department of Ag… Show full official titleShow less
Official title: To amend the Horse Protection Act to designate additional unlawful acts under the Act, strengthen penalties for violations of the Act, improve Department of Agriculture enforcement of the Act, and for other purposes.
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Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Prevent All Soring Tactics Act of 2025 or the PAST Act of 2025
This bill increases protections for horses at shows, exhibitions, sales, or auctions (horse events) to prevent the practice of soring horses. Generally, the soring of horses includes certain actions taken on horses' limbs to produce higher gaits that may cause pain, distress, inflammation, or lameness.
Specifically, the bill expands existing soring prohibitions under the Horse Protection Act, including by banning the use of certain action devices (e.g., nonprotective boots) on specified horse breeds.
The bill also requires soring inspectors at horse events to be assigned by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the Department of Agriculture rather than appointed by the management of horse events. APHIS must also license, train, and oversee inspectors to detect and diagnose soring at such events.
Additionally, the bill increases penalties for violations of the act. It also directs APHIS to disqualify horses found to be sore from being shown or exhibited for specified periods. Further, APHIS may permanently disqualify violators from participating in horse events after the third or any subsequent violation.
By way of background, APHIS issued a rule in 2024 to increase efforts to protect horses from soring practices. However, in 2025, a court vacated parts of the rule as exceeding APHIS' statutory authority (e.g., prohibiting the use of certain action devices) while deeming other parts acceptable (e.g., establishing APHIS-designated inspectors). APHIS subsequently delayed the effective date of the rule to December 31, 2026.
- Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
- HUMANE WORLD ACTION FUND AND AFFILIATES (FORMERLY KNOWN AS HUMANE SOCIETY LEGISLATIVE FUND)
- ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE FKA SOCIETY FOR ANIMAL PROTECTIVE LEGISLATION
- JBS COMMUNICATIONS, LLC
- AMERICAN VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
- HUMANE WORLD ACTION FUND AND AFFILIATES (FORMERLY KNOWN AS HUMANE SOCIETY LEGISLATIVE FUND)
- ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE FKA SOCIETY FOR ANIMAL PROTECTIVE LEGISLATION
Bodies those filers lobbied
- HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
- SENATE
- Agriculture, Dept of (USDA)
- Interior, Dept of (DOI)
- Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS)
- Justice, Dept of (DOJ)
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- White House Office
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 1684: PAST Act of 2025. 119th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1684/
"H.R. 1684: PAST Act of 2025." 119th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1684/.
H.R. 1684, 119th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1684/.
[H.R. 1684: PAST Act of 2025](https://openamerica.io/bill/119-HR-1684/)