Short title

This Act may be cited as the

Mink: Vectors for Infection Risk in the United States Act

or the

Mink VIRUS Act

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).