[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6272 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6272

To authorize a special resource study on the spread vectors of chronic 
          wasting disease in Cervidae, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 28, 2018

Mr. Abraham (for himself, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, Mr. Costello of 
Pennsylvania, Mr. Marino, and Mr. Gosar) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to 
  the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize a special resource study on the spread vectors of chronic 
          wasting disease in Cervidae, 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 ``Chronic Wasting Disease Transmission 
in Cervidae Study Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Chronic wasting disease continues to spread in wild, 
        free-ranging cervid herds and in captive cervid herds across 
        the United States, and as of June 2018, is in 25 States.
            (2) From June 2017 to June 2018 alone, the disease was 
        detected for the first time in free-ranging cervid herds in 
        Mississippi and Montana and there were new positive detections 
        of the disease in 13 captive cervid herds from Illinois, 
        Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
            (3) Five of such herds are being monitored by the National 
        Chronic Wasting Disease Herd Certification Program of the 
        Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and therefore are 
        considered to be at low-risk for chronic wasting disease.
            (4) From June 2017 to June 2018, 10 States, including 
        Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, 
        Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, are already 
        fighting to control the transmission and spread of chronic 
        wasting disease and found positive detections for the disease 
        in additional wild, free-ranging cervid herds.
            (5) New positive detections in captive cervid herds were 
        found in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and 
        Wisconsin.
            (6) There is no known cure for chronic wasting disease, no 
        reliable live animal test to detect the disease, and only a 
        post-mortem test that provides some measure of reliable 
        detection of the disease.
            (7) Chronic wasting disease is 100 percent fatal and is 
        arguably the most important disease threatening North American 
        cervid resources.
            (8) The spread of chronic wasting disease continues to 
        increasingly and adversely affect the economic well-being of 
        rural communities, the hunting public, farmed cervid producers, 
        and State wildlife and agricultural agencies, because the only 
        known measure for reducing the spread of chronic wasting 
        disease is the complete depopulation of herds that test 
        positive for the disease, a drastic measure which comes with 
        great costs for all.
            (9) The long-term environmental persistence of chronic 
        wasting disease's causative agent means that State wildlife 
        management agencies, State departments of agriculture, and 
        private cervid farmers have relatively few options to mitigate 
        the effects of such disease.
            (10) There are ongoing debates about the predominant 
        transmission pathways that are causing the new detections and 
        continued spread of chronic wasting disease in cervids across 
        the United States.

SEC. 3. CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE TRANSMISSION IN CERVIDAE RESOURCE 
              STUDY.

    (a) Study.--The Secretary shall conduct a special resource study to 
identify the predominant pathways and mechanisms of the transmission of 
chronic wasting disease in wild, captive, and farmed populations of 
species of the family Cervidae in the United States.
    (b) Conducting the Study.--
            (1) In general.--In conducting the study under subsection 
        (a), the Secretary shall request the National Academy of 
        Sciences to conduct such study under an arrangement under which 
        the actual expenses incurred by such Academy in conducting such 
        study will be paid by the Secretary. If the National Academy of 
        Sciences is willing to do so, the Secretary shall enter into 
        such an arrangement with such Academy for the conduct of such 
        study.
            (2) Other entities.--If the National Academy of Sciences is 
        unwilling to conduct such study under such an arrangement, then 
        the Secretary shall enter into a similar arrangement with an 
        appropriate research institute or institute of higher education 
        under which such institute will conduct such study and prepare 
        and submit the reports thereon.
            (3) Data sharing.--For integration into the study, the 
        Secretary shall share with the National Academy of Sciences or 
        the institute referred to in paragraph (2) (as the case may 
        be), data and databases on chronic wasting disease under the 
        jurisdiction of Veterinary Services Program within the United 
        States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health 
        Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture.
    (c) Contents of the Study.--Within and between wild, captive, and 
farmed cervid populations, the study shall--
            (1) identify--
                    (A) the pathways and mechanisms for the 
                transmission of chronic wasting disease in cervids in 
                the United States;
                    (B) the dosage and infection rates for each such 
                pathway and mechanism; and
                    (C) the relative frequency of each mode of such 
                transmission;
            (2) identify anthropogenic and environmental factors 
        contributing to new chronic wasting disease emergence events, 
        the development of geographic areas with increased chronic 
        wasting disease prevalence, and overall geographic patterns of 
        chronic wasting disease distribution;
            (3) identify significant gaps in current scientific 
        knowledge regarding the transmission pathways identified under 
        paragraph (1);
            (4) identify and prioritize scientific research projects 
        that will address the knowledge gaps referred to in paragraph 
        (3); and
            (5) review science-based best practices, standards, and 
        guidance regarding the management of chronic wasting disease in 
        wild, captive, and farmed cervid populations in the United 
        States which have been developed by--
                    (A) the National Chronic Wasting Disease Herd 
                Certification Program referred to in section 2(3); and
                    (B) State wildlife and agricultural agencies, which 
                provide practical, science-based recommendations to 
                State and Federal agencies for minimizing or 
                eliminating the risk of transmission of chronic wasting 
                disease in the United States.
    (d) Report.--Not later than 6 months after the date on which funds 
are first made available for the study under subsection (a), the 
Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
Forestry of the Senate a report that describes--
            (1) the findings of the study; and
            (2) any conclusions and recommendations that the Secretary 
        determines to be appropriate.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Chronic wasting disease.--The term ``chronic wasting 
        disease'' means the animal disease afflicting deer, elk, and 
        moose populations that--
                    (A) is a transmissible disease of the nervous 
                system resulting in distinctive lesions in the brain; 
                and
                    (B) belongs to the group of diseases known as 
                transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, which group 
                includes scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and 
                Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Agriculture, acting through the Animal and Plant Health 
        Inspection Service.
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