[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3783 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3783

To protect public health and human safety by prohibiting the farming of 
mink for their fur, to compensate farmers as they transition out of the 
                   industry, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 1, 2023

Mr. Espaillat introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
   Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on the 
 Budget, 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 protect public health and human safety by prohibiting the farming of 
mink for their fur, to compensate farmers as they transition out of the 
                   industry, 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 ``Mink: Vectors for Infection Risk in 
the United States Act'' or the ``Mink VIRUS Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The pandemic of the zoonotic coronavirus disease 2019 
        (``COVID-19''), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome 
        coronavirus 2 (``SARS-CoV-2''), is understood to have passed 
        from wild animals to humans and has infected and killed 
        millions of people globally. SARS-CoV-2 continues to pose a 
        severe threat to public health and human safety.
            (2) Mink are highly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, and there is 
        substantial evidence that humans can transmit SARS-CoV-2 to 
        mink farmed for their fur. Outbreaks have been confirmed on at 
        least 18 mink farms in multiple States, with more than 20,000 
        mink reported dead from the disease in the United States.
            (3) Mink can transmit a mutated form of SARS-CoV-2 back to 
        humans. Such cases have been confirmed in Denmark, Poland, and 
        the Netherlands, and according to public communications from 
        the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is also 
        evidence that farmed mink have transmitted the virus to humans 
        and to wild mink in the United States.
            (4) Animal management and slaughter practices on United 
        States mink farms have facilitated the spread of SARS-CoV-2 
        from humans to mink. These farms confine large numbers of 
        animals in close proximity to each other, which promotes 
        disease transmission. The animals also experience extreme 
        stress, which increases the potential to shed and transmit 
        viruses over extended periods. This risk is further exacerbated 
        by on-site slaughter practices that create additional points of 
        exposure.
            (5) Farmed mink have become infected with SARS-CoV-2 in at 
        least 12 countries to date, including the United States. Other 
        countries have taken swift and decisive action to close or 
        quarantine mink farms, cull animals, and pass legislation to 
        address this crisis.
            (6) The World Health Organization has acknowledged human 
        cases of COVID-19 associated with farmed mink and transmission 
        of the virus from farmed mink to humans. It has warned that 
        farmed mink can act as a reservoir of SARS-CoV-2 and pose a 
        risk for virus ``spill-over'' from mink to humans.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON MINK FARMING AND REQUIREMENTS FOR MINK 
              TERMINATION.

    (a) Cessation of Operations.--Beginning on the date that is 1 year 
after the date of enactment of this Act, no fur farm may farm mink.
    (b) Painless Mink Termination Methods.--Beginning on the date that 
is 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, any termination of 
farmed mink, whether performed in order to comply with subsection (a) 
or otherwise, shall be done in a manner that--
            (1) meets the definition of ``euthanasia'' specified in 
        section 1.1 of title 9, Code of Federal Regulations (or 
        successor regulations); and
            (2) is classified as ``acceptable'' by the most recent 
        version of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) 
        Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals made publicly 
        available at the time the termination occurred, without regard 
        to whether the termination is in compliance with other 
        guidelines, including the AVMA Guidelines for the Depopulation 
        of Animals.
    (c) Penalties.--
            (1) Penalty for failure to cease operations.--Any person 
        who violates subsection (a) may be assessed a civil penalty of 
        up to $10,000 for each day that the fur farm is not in 
        compliance with the requirements of that subsection.
            (2) Penalty for noncompliant termination of mink.--Any 
        person who violates subsection (b) may be assessed a civil 
        penalty of up to $10,000 for each mink terminated in a manner 
        that does not comply with the requirements of that subsection.
    (d) Effect on Preemption.--This section shall not be construed to 
preempt or limit any requirement of any law or regulation of a State or 
political subdivision of a State that is more restrictive than the 
requirements of this section.

SEC. 4. PAYMENT PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture (referred to in 
this section as the ``Secretary'') shall establish and carry out a 
program (referred to in this section as the ``Program'') to provide 
payments to owners of fur farms whose operations involve the farming of 
mink.
    (b) Payments.--Under the Program, the Secretary shall provide 
payments to fur farm owners equal to the sum of the Secretary's 
determination of--
            (1) the reasonable cost incurred by the owner in order to 
        comply with sections 3(a) and 3(b); and
            (2) the market value of the portion of the owner's fur 
        farm, exclusive of the land, involving mink farming.
    (c) Market Value Determination.--
            (1) Market value.--The market value referred to in 
        subsection (b)(2) shall be calculated as the amount in cash, or 
        on terms reasonably equivalent to cash, for which in all 
        probability the relevant portion of the fur farm would have 
        sold on the effective date of the valuation, after a reasonable 
        exposure time on the competitive market, from a willing and 
        reasonably knowledgeable seller to a willing and reasonably 
        knowledgeable buyer, with neither acting under any compulsion 
        to buy or sell, giving due consideration to all available 
        economic uses of that portion of the fur farm at the time of 
        the valuation.
            (2) Effective date of valuation.--In determining the market 
        value referred to in subsection (b)(2), the effective date of 
        the valuation shall be the day before the date of enactment of 
        this Act.
    (d) Grant Condition.--As a condition of receiving a payment under 
the Program, the recipient shall--
            (1) not use any payment funds for any materials, supplies, 
        labor costs, or activities associated with operating a fur 
        farm; and
            (2) provide to the Secretary a permanent easement on the 
        property on which the fur farm is located that prohibits the 
        operation of any fur farm on the easement area.
    (e) Funding.--Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, out of any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 
the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer to the Secretary of 
Agriculture $350,000,000 to carry out this section, to remain available 
until expended.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Fur.--The term ``fur'' means any animal skin or part of 
        an animal skin with hair, fleece, or fur fibers attached, 
        either in its raw or processed state. Such term--
                    (A) does not include animal skins that will be 
                converted into leather or which in processing will have 
                their hair, fleece, or fur fiber completely removed; 
                and
                    (B) does not include cowhide with its hair 
                attached, deerskin with its hair attached, and lambskin 
                and sheepskin with their fleece attached.
            (2) Fur-bearing animal.--The term ``fur-bearing animal'' 
        means an animal that bears fur of marketable value.
            (3) Fur farm.--The term ``fur farm'' means an operation 
        that farms fur-bearing animals for the value of their fur, 
        including--
                    (A) the land, buildings, support facilities, and 
                other equipment of the operation in which fur-bearing 
                animals are, for the value of their fur, bred, 
                slaughtered, skinned, or sold; and
                    (B) the fur-bearing animals of the operation farmed 
                for the value of their fur and any fur produced by such 
                fur-bearing animals that is owned by the operation.
            (4) Mink.--The term ``mink'' means an American mink 
        (Neovison vison), a European mink (Mustela lutreola), and any 
        mink hybrid, whether alive or dead, and any parts and products 
        from such mink or mink hybrids.
            (5) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several 
        States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 
        Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
        American Samoa, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, and any 
        other territory or possession of the United States.

SEC. 6. BUDGETARY EFFECTS.

    (a) Statutory PAYGO Scorecards.--The budgetary effects of this Act 
shall not be entered on either PAYGO scorecard maintained pursuant to 
section 4(d) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (Public Law 
111-139; 2 U.S.C. 933(d)).
    (b) Senate PAYGO Scorecards.--The budgetary effects of this Act 
shall not be entered on any PAYGO scorecard maintained for the purposes 
of section 4106 of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress).
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