110 HR 1709 IH: Pollinator Protection U.S. House of Representatives 2007-03-27 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I 110th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1709 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.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Pollinator Protection Act.

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.

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.