JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Law Enforcement Animal Safety Harm Reporting Act of 2026, or LEASH Act would require all states nationwide to create an animal abuse database similar to Florida’s.
Filed yesterday by U.S. Representative Greg Steube, the database would be publicly accessible and would list information identifying animal cruelty offenders to “help keep repeat abusers away from animals and strengthen public safety nationwide.”
Per the House bill document, it would require the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act to include “reporting requirements of felony convictions related to animal cruelty, and for other purposes.”
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The woman behind the bill, Deborah Darino, is also responsible for Florida’s animal cruelty database through Dexter’s Law.
“It’s important because there’s so many animals that are killed and tortured every day, and really it’s gotta stop,” Darino said. “These people need to face the consequences of their actions.”
Darino is the president and founder of The Ponce Animal Foundation. She says the bill is aimed at ensuring animal abusers do not go undetected across state lines.
Darino says the database would include information like their name, date of birth, pictures and crime information.
“Say somebody committed a crime in Florida, they’re in our database. Then they move to Wyoming,” Darino said. “We’ll pull up Wyoming’s database and see did they commit any crimes over there or vice versa.”
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The database would help anybody looking to adopt out an animal, Darino says. This include shelters, rescues, law enforcement and animal control.
A brief on the bill states that the LEASH Act states that the bill will also incentivize localities to “share animal cruelty offender information by prioritizing jurisdictions that voluntarily do so in competitive JAG Grant re-allocation.”
It also states that the LEASH Act will not create a new federal offense nor expand the scope of data that states collect. Instead, it creates a uniform record that fills in reporting gaps on animal abuse offenders.
After going live on Jan. 1 of this year, Darino says Florida’s database was missing key information, only listing just first and last names and a middle initial. So, they wrote another bill.
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“We had to have another bill written to tell them exactly what they were supposed to have done the first time, which we did, and so the governor just signed that into law about a month ago during session,” Darino said.
The new and improved version of Florida’s animal cruelty database, which will go live later this year, will mimic what we can expect other state databases to look like if the LEASH Act passes.
Darino says its our job to make sure these animals don’t go into the arms of a known abuser.
“They’re defenseless, they can’t pick up the phone, they can’t drive themselves to a hospital, they can’t even hit you back,” Darino said. “They’re at our mercy. It’s our duty to take care of these animals to make sure that they’re not abused and tortured in some of the most horrific ways.”
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