[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 697 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 697

  To amend the African Elephant Conservation Act of 1988 to conserve 
  elephants while appropriately regulating ivory in the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 3, 2015

   Mr. Young of Alaska (for himself and Mr. Peterson) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the African Elephant Conservation Act of 1988 to conserve 
  elephants while appropriately regulating ivory in the United States.

    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 ``African Elephant Conservation and 
Legal Ivory Possession Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. REFERENCES.

    Except as otherwise specifically provided, whenever in this Act an 
amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal 
of, a provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to a 
provision of the African Elephant Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 4201 et 
seq.).

SEC. 3. LIMITED EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN AFRICAN ELEPHANT IVORY.

    Section 2203 (16 U.S.C. 4223) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a) In General.--'' before the first 
        sentence;
            (2) by inserting ``and subsection (b) of this section'' 
        after ``2202(e)''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Exemption.--Nothing in this Act or subsection (a) or (d) of 
section 9 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1538) shall 
be construed to prohibit importation or exportation, or to require 
permission of the Secretary for importation or exportation, of--
            ``(1) any raw ivory or worked ivory--
                    ``(A) imported solely for purposes of becoming part 
                of a museum's permanent collection, return to a lending 
                museum, or display in a museum; or
                    ``(B) exported solely for purposes of--
                            ``(i) display in a foreign museum; or
                            ``(ii) return to a foreign person who lent 
                        such ivory to a museum in the United States;
            ``(2) any raw ivory or worked ivory that was lawfully 
        importable into the United States on February 24, 2014, 
        regardless of when acquired; or
            ``(3) any worked ivory that was previously lawfully 
        possessed in the United States.''.

SEC. 4. PLACEMENT OF UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE LAW 
              ENFORCEMENT OFFICER IN EACH AFRICAN ELEPHANT RANGE 
              COUNTRY.

    Part I (16 U.S.C. 4211 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

``SEC. 2105. PLACEMENT OF UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE LAW 
              ENFORCEMENT OFFICER IN EACH AFRICAN ELEPHANT RANGE 
              COUNTRY.

    ``The Secretary, in coordination with the Secretary of State, may 
station one United States Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement 
officer in the primary United States diplomatic or consular post in 
each African country that has a significant population of African 
elephants, who shall assist local wildlife rangers in the protection of 
African elephants and facilitate the apprehension of individuals who 
illegally kill, or assist the illegal killing of, African elephants.''.

SEC. 5. CERTIFICATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE FISHERMEN'S PROTECTIVE 
              ACT OF 1967.

    Section 2202 of the African Elephant Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 
4222) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(g) Certification.--When the Secretary of the Interior finds that 
a country, directly or indirectly, is a significant transit or 
destination point for illegal ivory trade, the Secretary shall certify 
such fact to the President with respect to the country for the purposes 
of section 8(a) of the Fishermen's Protective Act of 1967 (22 U.S.C. 
1978(a)).''.

SEC. 6. TREATMENT OF ELEPHANT IVORY.

    Section 2203 (16 U.S.C. 4223) is further amended by adding at the 
end the following:
    ``(c) Treatment of Elephant Ivory.--Nothing in this Act or the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1538) shall be construed--
            ``(1) to prohibit, or to authorize prohibiting, the 
        possession, sale, delivery, receipt, shipment, or 
        transportation of African elephant ivory, or any product 
        containing African elephant ivory, that has been lawfully 
        imported or crafted in the United States; or
            ``(2) to authorize using any means of determining for 
        purposes of this Act or the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
        whether African elephant ivory has been lawfully imported, 
        including any presumption or burden of proof applied in such 
        determination, other than such means used by the Secretary as 
        of February 24, 2014.''.

SEC. 7. SPORT-HUNTED ELEPHANT TROPHIES.

    Section 2203 (16 U.S.C. 4223) is further amended by adding at the 
end the following:
    ``(d) Sport-Hunted Elephant Trophies.--Nothing in this Act or 
subsection (a) or (d) of section 9 of the Endangered Species Act of 
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1538) shall be construed to prohibit any citizen or 
legal resident of the United States, or an agent of such an individual, 
from importing a sport-hunted African elephant trophy under section 
2202(e) of this Act, if the country in which the elephant was taken had 
an elephant population on Appendix II of CITES at the time the trophy 
elephant was taken.
    ``(e) Relationship to the Convention.--Nothing in this section 
shall be construed as modifying or repealing the Secretary's duties to 
implement CITES and the appendices thereto, or as modifying or 
repealing section 8A or 9(c) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 
U.S.C. 1537a and 1538(c)).''.

SEC. 8. AFRICAN ELEPHANT CONSERVATION ACT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PRIORITY 
              AND REAUTHORIZATION.

    (a) Financial Assistance Priority.--Section 2101 of the African 
Elephant Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 4211) is amended by redesignating 
subsections (e) and (f) as subsections (f) and (g), respectively, and 
by inserting after subsection (d) the following:
    ``(e) Priority.--In providing financial assistance under this 
section, the Secretary shall give priority to projects designed to 
facilitate the acquisition of equipment and training of wildlife 
officials in ivory producing countries to be used in anti-poaching 
efforts.''.
    (b) Reauthorization.--Section 2306(a) of the African Elephant 
Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 4245(a)) is amended by striking ``2007 
through 2012'' and inserting ``2016 through 2020''.
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