[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5234 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 5234

   To amend the Act of March 2, 1931, to establish a Human-Wildlife 
          Conflict Reduction Program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 4, 2026

Mr. Schiff (for himself, Mr. Daines, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Padilla, and Mr. 
   Heinrich) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Act of March 2, 1931, to establish a Human-Wildlife 
          Conflict Reduction Program, 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 ``Human-Wildlife Conflict Reduction 
Act of 2026''.

SEC. 2. HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT REDUCTION PROGRAM.

    The Act of March 2, 1931 (46 Stat. 1468, chapter 370), is amended 
by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 4. HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT REDUCTION PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Establishment.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary of Agriculture (referred 
        to in this section as the `Secretary') shall establish a 
        program, to be known as the `Human-Wildlife Conflict Reduction 
        Program' (referred to in this section as the `Program'), to 
        develop, implement, and coordinate nonlethal strategies and 
        projects to reduce conflicts between humans and wildlife and 
        between livestock and wildlife, including depredation of 
        livestock.
            ``(2) Priorities.--In carrying out the Program, the 
        Secretary shall prioritize--
                    ``(A) deploying resources in States in which the 
                Nonlethal Initiative of the Animal and Plant Health 
                Inspection Service operates as of the date of enactment 
                of this section;
                    ``(B) reducing livestock depredation and conflict 
                with predator species; and
                    ``(C) reducing harms caused by wildlife to human 
                infrastructure or agriculture.
            ``(3) Nonlethal initiative.--The operations of the 
        Nonlethal Initiative of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection 
        Service shall be subsumed into the Program.
    ``(b) Research and Development.--In carrying out the activities of 
the Program, the Secretary shall pursue research and development--
            ``(1) to analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of various 
        nonlethal strategies for reducing human-wildlife conflict, 
        livestock depredations, and bolstering livestock safety; and
            ``(2) to develop new and effective nonlethal strategies for 
        reducing human-wildlife conflict and livestock depredations and 
        bolstering livestock safety.
    ``(c) Assistance.--Under the Program, the Secretary may implement 
projects to provide assistance to landowners, agricultural producers, 
Indian Tribes, and nonprofit organizations to deploy nonlethal 
strategies--
            ``(1) to reduce human-wildlife conflict; and
            ``(2) to reduce predator depredation on livestock.
    ``(d) Best Practices; Training; Demonstration Projects.--
            ``(1) In general.--Under the Program, the Secretary--
                    ``(A) shall share best practices with agricultural 
                producers, landowners, Indian Tribes, nonprofit 
                organizations, and relevant Federal or State agency 
                personnel;
                    ``(B) may provide training in nonlethal strategies 
                to those entities;
                    ``(C) may support demonstration projects and pilot 
                projects to evaluate the effectiveness of nonlethal 
                strategies under local conditions; and
                    ``(D) may incorporate monitoring and adaptive 
                management to improve outcomes of nonlethal strategies 
                over time.
            ``(2) Resource.--To the extent practicable, the Secretary 
        shall carry out paragraph (1) with consideration of State-level 
        plans developed under subsection (e).
    ``(e) State-Level Plans.--The Program shall assist States, on 
request, to develop or update a State-level plan to guide the 
implementation of nonlethal strategies.
    ``(f) Annual Report.--The Secretary shall submit to Congress an 
annual report describing--
            ``(1) the use of funds under the Program;
            ``(2) species impacted by the Program; and
            ``(3) the nonlethal strategies used under the Program and 
        the effectiveness of each of those strategies.
    ``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section $20,000,000 for 
each of fiscal years 2027 through 2031, of which not more than 10 
percent per fiscal year shall be used for research activities under the 
Program.''.
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