[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 837 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 837

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

                            January 29, 2019

Mr. Abraham (for himself, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, Mr. Gosar, Mr. 
 Emmer, Mr. Veasey, Mr. Graves of Louisiana, Mr. Kelly of Mississippi, 
  Mr. Gianforte, Mr. Kelly of Pennsylvania, Mr. King of Iowa, and Mr. 
    Duffy) 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 Canada, and as of December 2018, is in 26 
        States and three Canadian provinces.
            (2) From December 2017 to December 2018 alone, the disease 
        was detected for the first time in free-ranging cervid herds in 
        Mississippi, Montana, and Tennessee, and there were new 
        positive detections of the disease in 13 captive cervid herds 
        from Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, 
        Wisconsin and Quebec, Canada.
            (3) Six 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 September 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 and Canada.

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

    (a) Study.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretaries shall enter into an 
        arrangement with the Academy under which the Academy shall 
        conduct, and submit to the Secretaries a report--
                    (A) describing the findings of, 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 
                cervids in the United States; and
                    (B) which may include the potential impacts on the 
                disease from transmissions from Canada.
            (2) Requirements.--The arrangement under paragraph (1) 
        shall provide that the actual expenses incurred by the Academy 
        in conducting the study under paragraph (1) shall be paid by 
        the Secretaries.
    (b) Contents of the Study.--Within and between wild, captive, and 
farmed cervid populations, the study--
            (1) may include, to the extent the United States is 
        affected on a continental scale, the potential impacts on the 
        disease from transmissions from Canada; and
            (2) shall--
                    (A) identify--
                            (i) the pathways and mechanisms for the 
                        transmission of chronic wasting disease in 
                        cervids and cervid products;
                            (ii) the dosage and infection rates for 
                        each such pathway and mechanism; and
                            (iii) the relative frequency of each mode 
                        of such transmission;
                    (B) 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;
                    (C) identify significant gaps in current scientific 
                knowledge regarding the transmission pathways 
                identified under subparagraph (A);
                    (D) identify and prioritize scientific research 
                projects that will address the knowledge gaps referred 
                to in subparagraph (C); and
                    (E) 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--
                            (i) the National Chronic Wasting Disease 
                        Herd Certification Program of the Animal and 
                        Plant Health Inspection Service;
                            (ii) the United States Geological Survey; 
                        and
                            (iii) 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.
    (c) Deadline.--Not later than 6 months after the date on which 
funds are first made available for the study under subsection (a), the 
Secretaries shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the House 
of Representatives, the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of 
Representatives, the Committee on Environment and Public Works of the 
Senate, 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.
    (d) Data Sharing.--The Secretaries shall share with the entity 
conducting the study under subsection (a) data and access to databases 
on chronic wasting disease under the jurisdiction of--
            (1) the Veterinary Services Program of the Animal and Plant 
        Health Inspection Service; and
            (2) the United States Geological Survey.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Chronic wasting disease.--The term ``chronic wasting 
        disease'' means the animal disease afflicting deer, elk, 
        reindeer, 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) Secretaries.--The term ``Secretaries'' means--
                    (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through 
                the Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health 
                Inspection Service; and
                    (B) the Secretary of the Interior, acting through 
                the Director of the United States Geological Survey.
            (3) Academy.--The term ``Academy'' means the National 
        Academy of Sciences.
            (4) Cervid.--The term ``cervid'' means any species within 
        the family Cervidae.
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