[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1709 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1709

 To authorize resources for sustained research and analysis to address 
           Colony Collapse Disorder, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 27, 2007

   Mr. Hastings of Florida introduced the following bill; which was 
                referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To authorize resources for sustained research and analysis to address 
           Colony Collapse Disorder, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Pollinator Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Many of the crops that humans and livestock consume 
        rely on pollinators for healthy growth. More specifically, 
        pollination by honey bees adds over $15,000,000,000 annually to 
        the value of United States crops.
            (2) One-third of our food supply depends on honey bee 
        pollination, which makes the management and protection of 
        pollinators an issue of paramount importance to the security of 
        the United States food supply system.
            (3) Colony Collapse Disorder is the name that has been 
        given to the latest die-off of honey bee colonies, exacerbating 
        the continual decline of pollinators in North America. Colonies 
        in more than 23 states have been affected by this disorder.
            (4) If the current rate of decline continues, the United 
        States will be forced to rely more heavily on imported foods. 
        Thus, American food security would be destabilized through 
        adverse affects on availability, price, and quality of the many 
        fruits, vegetables, and other products that depend on animal 
        pollination.
            (5) Enhanced funding for research on honey bees, parasites, 
        pathogens, toxins, and other environmental factors affecting 
        bees and pollination of cultivated and wild plants will yield 
        responses to Colony Collapse Disorder and other factors causing 
        the decline of pollinators in North America.

SEC. 3. SUSTAINED APICULTURAL RESEARCH AND COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER 
              WORKING GROUP.

    (a) Agricultural Research Service.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 
Agricultural Research Service, the following:
            (1) $3,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 
        2012 for new personnel, facilities improvement, and additional 
        research at Department of Agriculture Apicultural Research 
        Laboratories.
            (2) $2,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 and 2009 for 
        research on honey bee physiology, insect pathology, insect 
        chemical ecology, and honey bee toxicology at other Department 
        of Agriculture facilities in New York, Florida, California, and 
        Texas.
            (3) $1,750,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2010 
        for an area-wide research program to identify causes and 
        solutions for Colony Collapse Disorder in affected States.
    (b) Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service.--
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Agriculture, 
acting through the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension 
Service, $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2012 to 
fund Department of Agriculture research grants to investigate--
            (1) honey bee immunology;
            (2) honey bee biology and ecology;
            (3) pollination biology;
            (4) honey bee genomics;
            (5) honey bee bioinformatics;
            (6) sublethal effects of insecticides, herbicides and 
        fungicides on honey bees and other beneficial insects; and
            (7) effects of genetically modified crops and their 
        interaction with honey bees and other pollinators.
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