[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8678 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8678
To establish a global zoonotic disease task force, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 23, 2020
Ms. Meng (for herself and Mr. Fortenberry) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a global zoonotic disease task force, 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 ``Global Wildlife Trade Biosecurity
Act''.
SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It shall be the policy of the United States Government to--
(1) support scalable and sustainable availability for local
communities of alternative animal and plant-sourced protein in
order to minimize human reliance on the live and fresh wildlife
trade;
(2) support foreign governments to--
(A) transition from the sale of such wildlife for
human consumption in markets and restaurants to
alternate protein sources; and
(B) ban the commercial trade of such wildlife,
except for the meat of game species--
(i) traded in markets in countries with
effective implementation and enforcement of
scientifically based, nationally implemented
policies and legislation for processing,
transport, trade, marketing; and
(ii) sold after being slaughtered and
processed under sanitary conditions; and
(3) consider the needs of indigenous people and local
communities dependent on such wildlife for nutritional needs
and food security.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the
Administrator of the United States Agency for International
Development.
(2) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the
Committee on Appropriations in the House of
Representatives; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the
Committee on Appropriations in the Senate.
(3) Commercial wildlife trade.--The term ``commercial
wildlife trade'' means trade in wildlife can be considered as
commercial when its purpose is to obtain economic benefit,
whether in cash or otherwise, and is directed toward sale,
resale, exchange, or any other form of economic use or benefit.
(4) Institution of higher education.--The term
``institution of higher education'' has the meaning given the
term in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 1001(a)).
(5) Live wildlife market.--The term ``live wildlife
market'' means a commercial market that sells, processes, or
slaughters live or fresh wildlife for human consumption in
markets or restaurants, irrespective of whether such wildlife
originated in the wild or in a captive situation.
(6) One health.--The term ``One Health'' means a
collaborative, multi-sectoral, and trans-disciplinary approach
to achieving optimal health outcomes that recognizes the
interconnection between--
(A) people, wildlife, and plants; and
(B) the environment shared by such people,
wildlife, and plants.
(7) Outbreak.--The occurrence of disease cases in excess of
normal expectancy.
(8) Public health emergency.--The term ``public health
emergency'' means the public health emergency declared by the
Secretary of Health and Human Services pursuant to section 319
of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) on January
31, 2020, with respect to COVID-19.
(9) Spillover events.--The term ``spillover events'' means
the transmission of a pathogen from one species to another.
(10) Task force.--The term ``Task Force'' means the Global
Zoonotic Disease Task Force established under section 6(a).
(11) USAID.--The term ``USAID'' means the United States
Agency for International Development.
(12) Wildlife.--The term ``wildlife'' means mammals, birds,
reptiles, and amphibians of wild origin, whether removed
directly from the wild or born or bred in captivity.
(13) Zoonotic disease.--The term ``zoonotic disease'' means
any disease that is naturally transmissible between vertebrate
wildlife and humans.
SEC. 4. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The majority of recent emerging infectious diseases
have originated in wildlife.
(2) There is a rise in zoonotic spillover events and
outbreaks of such diseases.
(3) This rise in such spillover events and outbreaks
relates to the increased interaction between human and
wildlife.
(4) There is a rise in interaction between human and
wildlife related to deforestation, habitat degradation, and
expansion into the habitat of such wildlife.
(5) A serious risk factor for spillover events relates to
the collection, production, commercial trade, and sale of
wildlife for human consumption.
(6) Such a risk factor is increased if it involves wildlife
that--
(A) does not ordinarily interact with humans; or
(B) lives under a stressful condition as such
condition exacerbates the shedding of zoonotic
pathogens.
(7) Markets for such wildlife to be sold for human
consumption are found in many countries.
(8) In some local, rural communities, such wildlife is the
only accessible source of high quality nutrition.
(9) The public health emergency is an example of the human,
economic, and security costs of global pandemics and regional
epidemics of zoonotic diseases and emerging infectious
diseases.
(10) The public health emergency may result in--
(A) trillions of dollars in damage to the economy
of the United States; and
(B) hundreds of thousands of deaths of citizens.
(11) PREDICT and PREDICT-2, previous zoonotic disease
prevention programs, resulted in cooperation over 10 years with
more than 60 countries to strengthen zoonotic pathogen
surveillance and identified at least 931 novel virus species
from 145,000 samples of wildlife, livestock, and humans.
SEC. 5. UNITED STATES POLICY TOWARD LIVE AND FRESH WILDLIFE MARKETS FOR
HUMAN CONSUMPTION.
The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Administrator and
the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, shall work
with governments, multilateral entities, intergovernmental
organizations, international partners, and non-governmental
organizations--
(1) to work through existing treaties, conventions, and
agreements to develop a new protocol to close live wildlife
markets and end commercial wildlife trade for human
consumption;
(2) expand combating wildlife trafficking programs to
support enforcement of the closure of such markets and the end
of such trade by--
(A) providing assistance to improve law
enforcement;
(B) detecting and deterring the illegal import,
transit, and export of wildlife;
(C) strengthening such programs to assist countries
through legal reform; and
(D) improving information sharing and enhancing
capabilities of participating foreign governments;
(3) reduce the demand for the human consumption of wildlife
by--
(A) supporting targeted social marketing campaigns
to change the behavior of wildlife consumers; and
(B) increasing consumer access to affordable,
culturally appropriate, and sustainable produced
alternative animal source foods, in areas where
wildlife is a dietary necessity;
(4) to minimize the interaction between humans and wildlife
in order to prevent the degradation of intact ecosystems with
the goal of protecting and restoring the integrity of such
ecosystems by--
(A) supporting Indigenous People and local
communities to continue their effective stewardship of
their intact traditional territories;
(B) supporting establishment and effective
management of protected areas, prioritizing highly
intact areas;
(C) halting industrial scale degradation,
deforestation, and fragmentation of intact ecosystems,
including by private sector entities and multilateral
development financial institutions; and
(D) halting extractive industries practices that
encroach into nature strongholds and increase human-
wildlife interfaces where spillover events occur and
can result in zoonotic disease outbreaks;
(5) offering alternative livelihood and worker training
programs and enterprise development for local communities
previously engaged in the commercial wildlife trade for human
consumption; and
(6) ensuring that the rights of Indigenous Peoples and
local communities, are respected and their authority to
exercise these rights is protected.
SEC. 6. GLOBAL ZOONOTIC DISEASE TASK FORCE.
(a) Establishment.--There is established a task force to be known
as the ``Global Zoonotic Disease Task Force''.
(b) Duties of Task Force.--The duties of the Task Force shall be
to--
(1) ensure an integrated response to the early detection,
prevention, preparedness, and response across the Federal
Government and globally to a global zoonotic disease spillover
or outbreak;
(2) develop and publish, on a publicly accessible website,
a global biosecurity zoonotic disease plan not later than one
year after the date of the enactment of this Act that leverages
public health, wildlife health, and livestock veterinary
expertise to coordinate zoonotic disease surveillance
internationally, including support for One Health institutions
around the world that can prevent and provide early detection
of zoonotic outbreaks; and
(3) expanding the scope of the implementation of the White
House's Global Health Security Strategy to more robustly
respond to zoonotic disease investigations and outbreaks by
establishing a ten-year strategy with specific Federal
Government international goals, priorities, and timelines for
action, including to--
(A) recommend policy actions and mechanisms in
developing countries to reduce the risk of zoonotic
disease emergence and transmission, including
coordinating a whole of government response to live and
fresh wildlife market closures and ending the global
trade in live and fresh wildlife for human consumption;
(B) identify new mandates, authorities, and
incentives needed to strengthen the global zoonotic
disease plan under paragraph (1); and
(C) prioritize engagement in programs that target
countries with threat of spillover derived from high
levels of human expansion into wild places for land
conversion and extractive industries, and where remote
wildlife protected areas and corridors must be
protected.
(c) Membership.--
(1) In general.--The members of the task force established
pursuant to subsection (a) shall be composed of representatives
from each of the following agencies:
(A) One permanent Chairperson at the level of
Deputy Assistant Secretary or above from the following
agencies, to rotate every two years in an order to be
determined by the Administrator:
(i) The Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service of the Department of Agriculture.
(ii) The Department of Health and Human
Services or the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
(iii) The Department of the Interior or the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
(iv) The Department of State or the United
States Agency for International Development.
(v) The National Security Council.
(B) At least 13 additional members, with at least
one from each of the following agencies:
(i) The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
(ii) The Department of Agriculture.
(iii) The Department of Defense.
(iv) The Department of State.
(v) The Environmental Protection Agency.
(vi) The National Science Foundation.
(vii) The National Institutes of Health.
(viii) The National Institute of Standards
and Technology.
(ix) The Office of Science and Technology
Policy.
(x) The United States Agency for
International Development.
(xi) The United States Fish and Wildlife
Service.
(xii) U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
(xiii) U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement.
(2) Timing of appointments.--Appointments to the Task Force
shall be made not later than 30 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act.
(3) Terms.--
(A) In general.--Each member shall be appointed for
a term of 2 years.
(B) Vacancies.--Any member appointed to fill a
vacancy occurring before the expiration of the term for
which the member's predecessor was appointed shall be
appointed only for the remainder of that term. A member
may serve after the expiration of that term until a
successor has been appointed.
(d) Meeting.--
(1) Initial meeting.--The Task Force shall hold its initial
meeting not later than 45 days after the final appointment of
all members under subsection (b)(2).
(2) Meetings.--
(A) In general.--The Task Force shall meet at the
call of the Chairperson.
(B) Quorum.--Eight members of the Task Force shall
constitute a quorum, but a lesser number may hold
hearings.
(e) Compensation.--
(1) Prohibition of compensation.--Except as provided in
paragraph (2), members of the Task Force may not receive
additional pay, allowances, or benefits by reason of their
service on the Task Force.
(2) Travel expenses.--Each member shall receive travel
expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in
accordance with applicable provisions under subchapter I of
chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code.
(f) Reports.--
(1) Report to task force.--Not later than 6 months after
the enactment of this act and annually thereafter, the Federal
agencies listed in section 6(b), shall submit a report to the
Task Force containing a detailed statement with respect to the
results of any programming within their agencies that addresses
the goals of zoonotic disease prevention.
(2) Report to congress.--Not later than 12 months after the
date of the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the
Task Force shall submit to the appropriate congressional
committees and the National Security Advisor a report
containing a detailed statement of the recommendations of the
Council pursuant to subsection (b).
(g) FACA.--Section 14(a)(2)(B) of the Federal Advisory Committee
Act shall not apply to the Task Force. This task force shall be
authorized for seven years after the enactment of this Act, and up to
an additional two years at the discretion of the Task Force Chair.
SEC. 7. PREVENTING OUTBREAKS OF ZOONOTIC DISEASES.
(a) Integrated Zoonotic Diseases Program.--There is authorized an
integrated zoonotic diseases program within the United States Agency
for International Development's global health security programs, led by
the Administrator, in consultation with the Director for the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention and other relevant Federal agencies,
to prevent spillover events, epidemics, and pandemics through the
following activities:
(1) Partnering with a consortium that possesses the
following technical capabilities:
(A) Multidisciplinary zoological institution with
experience in global health surveillance, combating
wildlife trafficking, and global conservation protected
area management.
(B) Institutions of higher education with
veterinary and public health expertise.
(C) Institutions with public health expertise.
(2) Implementing programs that expand on the results of
USAID emerging pandemic threat outcomes from PREDICT and
PREDICT-2 to prioritize the following activities:
(A) Utilizing coordinated information and data
sharing platforms, including information related to
biosecurity threats, in ongoing and future research.
(B) Conducting One Health zoonotic research at
human-wildlife interfaces.
(C) Conducting One Health research into known and
novel zoonotic pathogen detection.
(D) Conducting surveillance, including biosecurity
surveillance, of priority and unknown zoonotic diseases
and the transmission of such diseases.
(E) Preventing spillover events of zoonotic
diseases.
(F) Investing in frontline diagnostic capability at
points of contact.
(G) Understanding global legal and illegal wildlife
trade routes, value chains, and the impacts of
biodiversity loss and land-use change on human-wildlife
interfaces.
(H) Utilizing existing One Health trained workforce
in developing countries to identify high risk or
reoccurring spillover event locations and concentrate
capacity and functionality at such locations.
(I) Continuing to train a One Health workforce in
developing countries to prevent and respond to disease
outbreaks in animals and humans, including training
protected area managers in disease collection
technology linked to existing data sharing platforms.
(b) Termination.--The integrated zoonotic diseases program
authorized under this section shall terminate on the date that is ten
years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 8. USAID MULTISECTORAL STRATEGY FOR FOOD SECURITY, GLOBAL HEALTH,
BIODIVERSITY, AND REDUCING DEMAND FOR WILDLIFE FOR HUMAN
CONSUMPTION.
(a) In General.--The Administrator shall develop, and publish on a
publicly accessible website, a multisectoral strategy for food
security, global health, and biodiversity protection and shall include
information about zoonotic disease surveillance in the reports required
by section 406(b) of the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response
Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020.
(b) Multisectoral Strategy.--The Administrator of the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID), through sectoral and
regional bureaus, shall develop a multisectoral strategy to integrate
and mitigate risks of zoonotic disease emergence and spread, food
insecurity, biodiversity conservation, and wildlife and habitat
destruction. The strategy shall include participation of the following:
(1) Bureau for Africa.
(2) Bureau for Asia.
(3) Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and Environment.
(4) Bureau for Global Health.
(5) Bureau for Latin America and the Carribean.
(6) Bureau for Resiliency, and Food Security.
(7) Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance
Bureau.
(c) Contents.--The USAID multisectoral strategy developed pursuant
to subsection (a) shall include--
(1) a statement of the United States intention to
facilitate international cooperation to close live wildlife
markets and end commercial wildlife trade for human
consumption, while ensuring full consideration to the needs and
rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities that are
truly dependent on wildlife for their food security;
(2) programs and objectives to change wildlife consumers'
behavior, attitudes and consumption decisions;
(3) programs to increase supplies of sustainably and
locally produced alternative animal and plant sourced foods;
(4) programs to protect, maintain and restore ecosystem
integrity;
(5) programs to ensure that countries are sufficiently
prepared to detect, report, and respond to zoonotic disease
spillover events;
(6) programs to prevent, prepare for, detect, report, and
respond to zoonotic disease spillover events; and
(7) the identification of Landscape Leaders residing in-
country who will coordinate strategic implementation, the
overseeing of Conservation Corps volunteers, and coordination
with donors and award recipients throughout the term of the
project.
SEC. 9. IMPLEMENTATION OF MULTISECTORAL STRATEGY.
(a) Implementation.--The USAID Multi-sectoral Strategy shall be
implemented--
(1) through USAID bilateral programs through missions and
embassies and will account for half of the portfolio; and
(2) through demonstration projects that meet the
requirements of section 9(b) and account for half of the
portfolio.
(b) Demonstration Projects.--
(1) Purpose.--The purpose of demonstration projects is--
(A) to pilot the implementation of USAID's multi-
sectoral strategy by leveraging the international
commitments of the donor community;
(B) to stop pandemics and reduce availability of
and demand for fresh and live wildlife source foods;
(C) to establish and increase access to sustainably
and locally produced animal and plant source foods and
grain distribution to provide an alternative to the
growing wild meat demand in urban, suburban, and
exurban communities in particular; and
(D) to realize the greatest impact in low capacity
forested countries with susceptibility to zoonotic
spillover and spread that can lead to a pandemic.
(2) Demonstration project country plans.--
(A) In general.--USAID shall lead a collaborative
effort in coordination with the Department of State,
embassies of the United States, and the International
Development Finance Corporation to consult with in-
country stakeholder and participants in key forested
countries to develop a plan that reflects the local
needs and identifies measures of nutrition, yield gap
analysis, global health safeguards, biodiversity
protection, bushmeat demand reduction and consumer
behavior change, and market development progress,
within 90 days of completion of the multi-sectoral
strategy.
(B) Eligible projects.--Eligible local projects
include small holder backyard production of animal
source foods including poultry, fish, guinea pigs, and
insects.
(C) Stakeholders and participants.--Stakeholder and
participants in the development of the Multi-sectoral
country plans shall include but are not limited to--
(i) recipient countries;
(ii) donors governments;
(iii) multilaterals institutions;
(iv) conservation organizations;
(v) One Health Institutions;
(vi) agricultural extension services;
(vii) domestic and international
institutions of higher education;
(viii) food security experts;
(ix) United States grain and animal protein
production experts;
(x) social marketing and behavioral change
experts; and
(xi) financial institutions and micro-
enterprise experts.
(3) Change in livelihoods.--As wildlife hunting for markets
ends, multi-sectoral country plans shall include programs to
re-train individuals in fundamental components of commercial
animal source food production, including agriculture extension,
veterinary care, sales and marketing, supply chains,
transportation, livestock feed production, micro-enterprise,
and market analysis.
(4) Location of demonstration projects.--Collaboration
between United States Government assistance and other donor
investments shall occur in five demonstration projects, at
least three of which shall be in Africa.
(5) Timing.--Five demonstration projects shall be selected
and each shall be tested over four years from the date of the
enactment of this Act.
(c) Reporting.--
(1) Agency report.--The Administrator shall annually submit
to the global zoonotic disease task force established pursuant
to section 6, the President, and the appropriate congressional
committees a report regarding the progress achieved and
challenges concerning the development of a multisectoral
strategy for food security, global health, biodiversity, and
reducing demand for wildlife for human consumption required
under this section. Data included in each such report shall be
disaggregated by country, and shall include recommendations to
resolve, mitigate, or otherwise address such challenges. Each
such report shall, to the extent possible, be made publicly
available.
(2) Report to congress.--The Administrator must submit a
strategy within one year of enactment of this Act outlining the
implementation of the country plans and identifying
demonstration sites and criteria for pilot programs. Four years
after enactment USAID will be required to submit a reassessment
of the strategy to Congress, as well as a recommendation as to
whether and how to expand these programs globally.
SEC. 10. ESTABLISHMENT OF CONSERVATION CORPS.
(a) In General.--The Administrator shall establish a Conservation
Corps to provide Americans eligible for service abroad, under
conditions of hardship if necessary, to deliver technical and strategic
assistance to in-country leaders of demonstration projects,
stakeholders, and donors implementing and financing the Multi-sectoral
Strategy to reduce demand for Wildlife for Human Consumption through
Food Security, Global Health, and Biodiversity and related
demonstration projects.
(b) Persons Eligible To Serve as Volunteers.--The Administrator may
enroll in the Conservation Corps for service abroad qualified citizens
and nationals for short terms of service at the discretion of the
Administrator.
(c) Responsibilities.--The Conservation Corps volunteers will be
responsible for--
(1) providing training to agricultural producers to
encourage participants to share and pass on to other
agricultural producers in the home communities of the
participants, the information and skills obtained from the
training;
(2) identifying areas for the extension of additional
technical resources through farmer-to-farmer exchanges; and
(3) conducting assessments of individual projects and
bilateral strategies and recommend knowledge management
strategies toward building programs to scale and strengthening
projects.
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