[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1934 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1934

To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to establish the John 
       H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 25, 1999

Mr. Saxton (for himself, Mr. Faleomavaega, and Mr. LoBiondo) introduced 
  the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to establish the John 
       H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Act 
of 1999''.

SEC. 2. JOHN H. PRESCOTT MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Title IV of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 
1972 (16 U.S.C. 1371 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating sections 408 and 409 as sections 409 
        and 410, respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after section 407 the following:

``SEC. 408. JOHN H. PRESCOTT MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE ASSISTANCE GRANT 
              PROGRAM.

    ``(a) In General.--Subject to the availability of appropriations, 
the Secretary shall conduct a grant program to be known as the John H. 
Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program, to provide 
grants to eligible stranding centers and eligible stranding network 
participants for the recovery or treatment of marine mammals, the 
collection of health information relating to marine mammals, and the 
operation of facilities for those purposes.
    ``(b) Application.--To receive a grant under this section, a 
stranding center or stranding network participant shall submit an 
application in such form and manner as the Secretary may prescribe.
    ``(c) Eligibility Criteria.--The Secretary, in consultation with 
stranding network participants, shall establish criteria for 
eligibility for grants under this section.
    ``(d) Limitation.--The amount of a grant under this section shall 
not exceed $100,000.
    ``(e) Matching Requirement.--The non-Federal share of an activity 
conducted with a grant under this section shall be 25 percent of the 
cost of that activity.
    ``(f) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' has the meaning 
        given that term in section 3(12)(A).
            ``(2) Stranding center defined.--The term `stranding 
        center' means a center with respect to which the Secretary has 
        entered into an agreement referred to in section 403 to take 
        marine mammals under section 109(h)(1) in response to a 
        stranding.
    ``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section $5,000,000 for 
each of fiscal years 2001 through 2003.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 3(12)(B) of the Marine Mammal 
Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1362(12)(B)) is amended by inserting 
``(other than section 408)'' after ``title IV''.
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in the first section 
of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (86 Stat. 1027) is amended 
by striking the items relating to sections 408 and 409 and inserting 
the following:

``Sec. 408. John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant 
                            Program.
``Sec. 409. Authorization of appropriations.
``Sec. 410. Definitions.''.
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