[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5064 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5064

 To direct the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Homeland 
   Security to establish an interagency task force to examine animal 
             disease transmission, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 13, 2019

 Mr. Hagedorn introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
  Committee on Homeland Security, and in addition to the Committee on 
Agriculture, 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 direct the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Homeland 
   Security to establish an interagency task force to examine animal 
             disease transmission, 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 ``Animal Disease Surveillance and 
Detection Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) It is in the national security interest of the United 
        States to prevent foreign animal diseases, such as the deadly 
        African swine fever, from entering our borders, devastating the 
        agricultural economy, and impacting the animal protein and 
        grain producers, which may occur through contaminated meat 
        products and livestock feeds entering United States ports of 
        entry.
            (2) To prevent foreign animal diseases from entering United 
        States borders, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary 
        of Homeland Security need to maximize interagency coordination 
        to inspect all international shipments and travel via airplane 
        and/or ship from countries identified by the World Organisation 
        for Animal Health (OIE) and/or Food and Agriculture 
        Organization (FAO).
            (3) Adequate resources should be provided by the Secretary 
        of Agriculture and the Secretary of Homeland Security to 
        conduct inspections at the ports of entry for incoming raw food 
        products, raw processed, and finished meat products, or goods 
        used in agriculture, including livestock feeds and feed 
        ingredients.

SEC. 3. INCREASING SURVEILLANCE OF AND INSPECTIONS FOR ANIMAL DISEASE 
              TRANSMISSION.

    (a) Establishment of Interagency Task Force To Increase 
Surveillance of and Inspections for Animal Disease Transmission.--The 
Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Under Secretary of 
Marketing and Regulatory Programs (in this Act referred to as the 
``Under Secretary''), and the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting 
through the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (in this 
Act referred to as the ``Commissioner''), shall establish an 
interagency task force to provide recommendations--
            (1) for inspection requirements for flights and shipments 
        arriving in the United States from affected countries for 
        contaminated processed or raw food products, raw processed, and 
        finished meat products, or goods used in agriculture, including 
        livestock feeds and feed ingredients;
            (2) to enhance detection protocols of African swine fever 
        in case of outbreak; and
            (3) to report quarterly on the number of stopped shipments, 
        what was contained in the shipment, intended use of products in 
        the shipments, and what was the origin and end location of 
        stopped shipments.
    (b) Additional U.S. Customs and Border Protection Personnel at 
Ports of Entry.--
            (1) Agriculture specialists.--The Commissioner shall, each 
        fiscal year, hire, train, and assign not fewer than 240 new 
        agriculture specialists above the attrition level for the 
        immediately preceding fiscal year until the total number of 
        agriculture specialists equals and sustains the requirements 
        identified each year in the Agriculture Resource Allocation 
        Model.
            (2) Mission and operational support staff.--
                    (A) In general.--The Commissioner shall hire, 
                train, and assign support staff to support agriculture 
                specialists.
                    (B) Agriculture technicians.--The Commissioner 
                shall, each fiscal year, hire, train, and assign not 
                fewer than 200 new agriculture technicians until the 
                total number of agriculture technicians equals and 
                sustains the requirements identified each year in the 
                Mission and Operational Support Resource Allocation 
                Model.
            (3) Agriculture canine teams.--The Commissioner shall hire, 
        train, and assign not fewer than 20 new agriculture canine 
        teams for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2022.
            (4) Traffic forecasts.--In calculating the number of 
        agriculture specialists needed at each port of entry, the 
        Commissioner shall--
                    (A) rely on data collected by U.S. Customs and 
                Border Protection personnel at each such port of entry 
                with respect to inspections and other related 
                activities, including data with respect to African 
                swine fever;
                    (B) rely on data collected by U.S. Department of 
                Agriculture office of Smuggling Interdiction and Trade 
                Compliance; and
                    (C) consider volume from seasonal surges, other 
                projected changes in commercial and passenger volumes, 
                the most current commercial forecasts, and other 
                relevant information.
    (c) Report.--Not later than 120 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the 
Under Secretary and the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through 
the Commissioner, shall jointly submit to Congress a report on the 
following:
            (1) The efforts of the interagency task force established 
        under subsection (a) to increase detection and prevention 
        activities with respect to African swine fever, including the 
        number of flights and shipments inspected.
            (2) The enhancement of detection capabilities described 
        under subsection (a)(1).
            (3) The number of new U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
        personnel hired pursuant to subsection (b).
            (4) Educational plans to inform the public on affected 
        countries, current testing protocols, and food safety issues of 
        the disease.
            (5) Current regulatory overlaps that help or deter 
        detection and prevention of the disease.
            (6) Overview of importing/exporting countries sanitary and 
        phytosanitary measures that pose a high risk of transmitting 
        this disease.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) U.S. customs and border protection agriculture 
        specialists.--There is authorized to be appropriated to carry 
        out subsection (b)(1)--
                    (A) $36,100,000 for fiscal year 2021; and
                    (B) $40,500,000 for fiscal year 2022.
            (2) U.S. customs and border protection agriculture 
        technician.--There is authorized to be appropriated to carry 
        out subsection (b)(2)--
                    (A) $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2021; and
                    (B) $38,000,000 for fiscal year 2022.
            (3) U.S. customs and border protection agriculture canine 
        teams.--There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
        subsection (b)(3)--
                    (A) $7,400,000 for fiscal year 2021; and
                    (B) $12,200,000 for fiscal year 2022.
            (4) Training.--There is authorized to be appropriated for 
        training costs associated with new personnel and canine teams 
        hired pursuant to paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection 
        (b) $6,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2021, 2022, and 
        2023.
    (e) Affected Country Defined.--In this section, the term ``affected 
country'' means a country identified by the World Organisation for 
Animal Health (OIE) and/or Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as 
having an outbreak of African swine fever.
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