[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1550 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1550

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 applied research regarding the causes of 
 chronic wasting disease and methods to control the further spread of 
                  the disease, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 6, 2019

 Mr. Kind (for himself and Mr. Sensenbrenner) 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 support State and tribal efforts to develop and implement management 
  strategies to address chronic wasting disease among deer, elk, and 
moose populations, to support applied 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Chronic Wasting 
Disease Management Act''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Definitions.
Sec. 3. Findings.
Sec. 4. Support for State efforts to manage and control chronic wasting 
                            disease.
Sec. 5. Support for applied research regarding chronic wasting disease.
Sec. 6. Multi-agency cooperation with States to address chronic wasting 
                            disease.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Chronic wasting disease.--The term ``chronic wasting 
        disease'' means the animal disease afflicting among 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) Eligible grant recipient.--The term ``eligible grant 
        recipient'' means a State department of wildlife, State 
        department of agriculture, college or university, or related 
        research center conducting scientific applied research 
        regarding chronic wasting disease.
            (3) Indian tribe.--The term ``Indian tribe'' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self-
        Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b).
            (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Agriculture, acting through the Animal and Plant Health 
        Inspection Service-Wildlife Services.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Pursuant to State and Federal law, the States retain 
        primary and policy-making authority with regard to wildlife 
        management, and nothing in this Act interferes with or 
        otherwise affects the primary authority of the States in 
        managing wildlife generally, or managing, surveying, and 
        monitoring the incidence of chronic wasting disease.
            (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 in recent months necessitates an escalation in 
        applied research, surveillance, monitoring, and management 
        activities focused on containing and managing this lethal 
        disease.
            (3) As the States move to manage existing levels of chronic 
        wasting disease and insulate noninfected wild and captive 
        cervid populations from the disease, the Federal Government 
        should endeavor to provide integrated and holistic financial 
        and technical support to these States and the many State 
        departments of wildlife, State departments of agriculture, 
        colleges and universities, and related research centers 
        conducting scientific applied 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 the broad array of 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 and the many State departments of wildlife, State 
        departments of agriculture, colleges and universities, and 
        related research centers conducting scientific applied research 
        regarding chronic wasting disease.

SEC. 4. SUPPORT FOR STATE EFFORTS TO MANAGE AND CONTROL CHRONIC WASTING 
              DISEASE.

    (a) Availability of Assistance.--The Secretary shall allocate funds 
made available under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of subsection (e)(1) 
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.
    (b) Petition Process.--A State or tribal agency shall petition the 
Secretary for a portion of the funds available under subsection (a).
    (c) Funding Priorities.--In determining the amounts to be allocated 
to State and tribal agencies under subsection (a), the Secretary shall 
give priority to States and tribal agencies based on the following 
criteria:
            (1) Relative scope of incidence of chronic wasting disease 
        on lands of the State or Indian tribe, with priority given to 
        those States and Indian tribes with the highest incidence of 
        the disease.
            (2) State or tribal expenditures on chronic wasting disease 
        management, monitoring, surveillance, and applied research, 
        with priority given to those States and Indian tribes that have 
        shown the greatest financial commitment to managing, 
        monitoring, surveying, and researching chronic wasting disease.
            (3) Comprehensive and integrated State or tribal policies 
        and programs focused on chronic wasting disease management 
        between involved State or tribal wildlife and agricultural 
        agencies, with priority given to those States and Indian tribes 
        that have integrated the programs and policies of all involved 
        agencies related to chronic wasting disease management.
            (4) Rapid response to new outbreaks of chronic wasting 
        disease, whether occurring in areas in which chronic wasting 
        disease is already found or areas with first infections, with 
        the intent of containing the disease in any new area of 
        infection.
    (d) Rapid Response Fund.--The Secretary shall use funds made 
available under subsection (e)(1)(C) as a rapid response fund to 
support State and tribal efforts to control the spread of chronic 
wasting disease upon the detection of chronic wasting disease among 
deer, elk, or moose populations not previously infected.
    (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--There are authorized to be appropriated to 
        the Secretary $35,000,000 to support State and tribal efforts 
        to manage and control chronic wasting disease, of which--
                    (A) $20,000,000 shall be allocated to States under 
                subsection (a);
                    (B) $5,000,000 shall be allocated to tribal 
                agencies under subsection (a); and
                    (C) $10,000,000 shall be retained for the rapid 
                response fund under subsection (d).
            (2) Availability.--Funds appropriated pursuant to the 
        authorization of appropriations in paragraph (1) shall remain 
        available until expended.
            (3) Limitation on administrative costs.--Not more than 
        three percent of the amount appropriated pursuant to the 
        authorization of appropriations in paragraph (1) may be used to 
        cover administrative expenses incurred by the Secretary.

SEC. 5. SUPPORT FOR APPLIED RESEARCH REGARDING CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE.

    (a) Expansion of Applied Research Grants.--The Secretary shall make 
grants to support efforts to expand and accelerate applied research on 
chronic wasting disease, including (but not limited to) research 
regarding the following:
            (1) Sustainable cervid harvest management practices to 
        reduce chronic wasting disease occurrence and to prevent or 
        limit spatial spread of chronic wasting disease.
            (2) Management experiments and strategies designed for 
        long-term suppression of chronic wasting disease.
            (3) 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.
            (4) 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.
            (5) Methods and products to effectively detect infectious 
        prions in, and decontaminate infectious prions from natural 
        environments and inorganic surfaces.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--There are authorized to be appropriated to 
        the Secretary $10,000,000 to make grants under subsection (a).
            (2) Availability.--Funds appropriated pursuant to the 
        authorization of appropriations in paragraph (1) shall remain 
        available until expended.
            (3) Limitation on administrative costs.--Not more than 
        three percent of the amount appropriated pursuant to the 
        authorization of appropriations in paragraph (1) may be used to 
        cover administrative expenses incurred by the Secretary.

SEC. 6. MULTI-AGENCY 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 applied research regarding chronic 
        wasting disease; and
            (2) in the implementation of State chronic wasting disease 
        response plans to reduce the spread and prevalence of chronic 
        wasting disease.
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