[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2252 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2252

 To amend the Animal Health Protection Act to support State and Tribal 
   efforts to develop and implement management strategies to address 
  chronic wasting disease among deer, elk, and moose populations, to 
 support research regarding the causes of chronic wasting disease and 
  methods to control the further spread of the disease, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 19, 2017

  Mr. Tester introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Animal Health Protection Act to support State and Tribal 
   efforts to develop and implement management strategies to address 
  chronic wasting disease among deer, elk, and moose populations, to 
 support research regarding the causes of chronic wasting disease and 
  methods to control the further spread of the disease, 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 Support for 
States Act''.

SEC. 2. CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE SUPPORT FOR STATES AND TRIBES.

    (a) In General.--The Animal Health Protection Act is amended by 
inserting after section 10409A (7 U.S.C. 8308a) the following:

``SEC. 10409B. CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE SUPPORT FOR STATES AND TRIBES.

    ``(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            ``(1) Pursuant to State and Federal law, the States retain 
        primacy and policymaking authority with regard to wildlife 
        management.
            ``(2) Chronic wasting disease, the fatal neurological 
        disease found in cervids, is a fundamental threat to the health 
        and vibrancy of deer, elk, and moose populations, and the 
        increased occurrence of chronic wasting disease in regionally 
        diverse locations necessitates an escalation in research, 
        surveillance, monitoring, and management activities focused on 
        containing and managing chronic wasting disease.
            ``(3) As the States move to manage existing levels of 
        chronic wasting disease and insulate noninfected wild and 
        captive cervid populations from chronic wasting disease, the 
        Federal Government should provide integrated and holistic 
        financial and technical support to States, State departments of 
        wildlife, State departments of agriculture, institutions of 
        higher education, and related research centers conducting 
        scientific research regarding chronic wasting disease.
            ``(4) The Secretary should provide consistent, coherent, 
        and integrated support structures and programs for the benefit 
        of State wildlife and agricultural administrators, as chronic 
        wasting disease can move freely between captive and wild 
        cervids across Federal, State, Tribal, and local land 
        management jurisdictions.
            ``(5) The Secretary can provide consistent, coherent, and 
        integrated support systems under existing legal authorities to 
        States, State departments of wildlife, State departments of 
        agriculture, institutions of higher education, and related 
        research centers conducting scientific research regarding 
        chronic wasting disease.
    ``(b) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(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 
                includes scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and 
                Cruetzfeldt-Jakob disease.
            ``(2) Eligible grant recipient.--The term `eligible grant 
        recipient' means a State department of wildlife, a State 
        department of agriculture, an institution of higher education, 
        or a related research center conducting scientific research 
        regarding chronic wasting disease.
    ``(c) Support for State Efforts To Manage and Control Chronic 
Wasting Disease.--
            ``(1) Availability of assistance.--The Secretary shall 
        allocate funds made available under clauses (i) and (ii) of 
        paragraph (5)(A) directly to State and Tribal agencies 
        responsible for wildlife management to support State and Tribal 
        efforts to develop and implement management strategies to 
        address chronic wasting disease.
            ``(2) Applications.--To be eligible to receive funding 
        under paragraph (1), a State or Tribal agency shall submit to 
        the Secretary an application for the funding at such time, in 
        such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary 
        may require.
            ``(3) Funding priorities.--In determining the amounts to be 
        allocated to State and Tribal agencies under paragraph (1), the 
        Secretary shall give priority to States and Indian tribes--
                    ``(A) with the highest incidence of chronic wasting 
                disease;
                    ``(B) that have shown the greatest financial 
                commitment to managing, monitoring, surveying, and 
                researching chronic wasting disease;
                    ``(C) that have comprehensive policies and programs 
                focused on chronic wasting disease management that are 
                integrated among all involved State or Tribal wildlife 
                and agricultural agencies; or
                    ``(D) that have the greatest need for rapid 
                response to new outbreaks of chronic wasting disease 
                occurring in areas in which chronic wasting disease is 
                already found or areas with first infections, with the 
                intent of containing chronic wasting disease in any new 
                area of infection.
            ``(4) Rapid response.--If a State or Indian tribe detects 
        chronic wasting disease in a deer, elk, or moose population 
        that was not previously infected with chronic wasting disease, 
        the Secretary shall use funds made available under paragraph 
        (5)(A)(iii) to support State and Tribal efforts to immediately 
        control the spread of chronic wasting disease within that 
        population.
            ``(5) Authorization of appropriations.--
                    ``(A) In general.--There is authorized to be 
                appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this 
                subsection $35,000,000 for each fiscal year, to remain 
                available until expended, of which--
                            ``(i) $20,000,000 shall be allocated to 
                        States under paragraph (1);
                            ``(ii) $5,000,000 shall be allocated to 
                        Tribal agencies under paragraph (1); and
                            ``(iii) $10,000,000 shall be retained for 
                        rapid response under paragraph (4).
                    ``(B) Limitation on administrative costs.--Not more 
                than 3 percent of the amount made available under 
                subparagraph (A) may be used to cover administrative 
                expenses incurred by the Secretary in carrying out this 
                subsection.
    ``(d) Support for Applied Research Regarding Chronic Wasting 
Disease.--
            ``(1) Expansion of research grants.--The Secretary shall 
        make grants to eligible grant recipients to support efforts to 
        expand and accelerate applied research on chronic wasting 
        disease, including research relating to--
                    ``(A) methods and products to effectively detect 
                infectious prions in, and decontaminate infectious 
                prions from, natural environments and inorganic 
                surfaces;
                    ``(B) sustainable cervid harvest management 
                practices to reduce chronic wasting disease occurrence 
                and to prevent or limit spatial spread of chronic 
                wasting disease;
                    ``(C) management experiments and strategies 
                designed for long-term suppression of chronic wasting 
                disease;
                    ``(D) harvest management practices and other 
                practices that exacerbate chronic wasting disease 
                occurrence, with an emphasis on retrospective analyses 
                of available harvest management and chronic wasting 
                disease trend data; or
                    ``(E) factors contributing to local emergence of 
                chronic wasting disease, increased prevalence of 
                chronic wasting disease, and distribution of chronic 
                wasting disease, including mechanisms of disease 
                transmission and effective barriers to transmission.
            ``(2) Limitations on administrative costs.--
                    ``(A) Eligible grant recipients.--Not more than 15 
                percent of the amount of a grant under paragraph (1) 
                may be used by an eligible grant recipient for 
                administrative costs incurred by the eligible grant 
                recipient.
                    ``(B) Secretary.--Not more than 3 percent of the 
                amount made available under paragraph (3) may be used 
                to cover administrative expenses incurred by the 
                Secretary in carrying out this subsection.
            ``(3) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized 
        to be appropriated to the Secretary to make grants under 
        paragraph (1) $25,000,000 for each fiscal year, to remain 
        available until expended.
    ``(e) Multiagency Cooperation With States To Address Chronic 
Wasting Disease.--Land management agencies of the Department of 
Agriculture and the Department of the Interior shall work cooperatively 
with States--
            ``(1) in the conduct of chronic wasting disease research; 
        and
            ``(2) in the implementation of State management strategies 
        to reduce the spread and prevalence of chronic wasting disease.
    ``(f) Effect.--Nothing in this section interferes with or otherwise 
affects the primacy of the States in managing wildlife generally, 
including managing, surveying, and monitoring the incidence of chronic 
wasting disease.''.
    (b) Technical Amendment.--Section 10403(8) of the Animal Health 
Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 8302(8)) is amended by striking ``(25 U.S.C. 
450b)'' and inserting ``(25 U.S.C. 5304)''.
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