[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1590 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1590

    To amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to 
    authorize rewards for thwarting wildlife trafficking linked to 
         transnational organized crime, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 22, 2019

  Mr. Merkley (for himself and Ms. Collins) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign 
                               Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to 
    authorize rewards for thwarting wildlife trafficking linked to 
         transnational organized crime, 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 ``Rescuing Animals With Rewards Act of 
2019'' or the ``RAWR Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Wildlife trafficking is a major transnational crime 
        that is estimated to generate over $10,000,000,000 a year in 
        illegal profits and which is increasingly perpetrated by 
        organized, sophisticated criminal enterprises, including known 
        terrorist organizations.
            (2) Wildlife trafficking not only threatens endangered 
        species worldwide, but also jeopardizes local security, spreads 
        disease, undermines rule of law, fuels corruption, and damages 
        economic development.
            (3) Combating wildlife trafficking requires a coordinated 
        and sustained approach at the global, regional, national, and 
        local levels.
            (4) Congress stated in the Eliminate, Neutralize, and 
        Disrupt Wildlife Trafficking Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-231) 
        that it is the policy of the United States to take immediate 
        actions to stop the illegal global trade in wildlife and 
        wildlife products and associated transnational organized crime.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the 
Department of State's rewards program is a powerful tool in combating 
sophisticated international crime and that the Department of State and 
Federal law enforcement should work in concert to offer rewards that 
target wildlife traffickers.

SEC. 3. WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING PREVENTION REWARDS PROGRAM.

    Subparagraph (B) of section 36(k)(5) of the State Department Basic 
Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2708(k)(5)) is amended by inserting 
``wildlife trafficking (as defined by section 2(12) of the Eliminate, 
Neutralize, and Disrupt Wildlife Trafficking Act of 2016 (16 U.S.C. 
7601(12); Public Law 114-231)) and'' after ``includes''.
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