Big Cat Public Safety Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 211 To amend the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to clarify provisions enacted by the Captive Wildlife Safety Act, to further the conservation of certain wildlife species, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 5, 2021 Mr. MCCLINTOCK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, 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 juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to clarify provisions enacted by the Captive Wildlife Safety Act, to further the conservation of certain wildlife species, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Big Cat Public Safety 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H211.IH H211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 211 IH SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2 of the Lacey Act 2 Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3371) is amended— 3 (1) by redesignating subsections (a) through (k) 4 as subsections (b) through (l), respectively; and 5 (2) by inserting before subsection (b) (as so re- 6 designated) the following: 7 ‘‘(a) BREED.—The term ‘breed’ means to facilitate 8 propagation or reproduction (whether intentionally or neg- 9 ligently), or to fail to prevent propagation or reproduc- 10 tion.’’. 11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 12 (1) CONSOLIDATED FARM AND RURAL DEVEL- 13 OPMENT ACT.—Section 349(a)(3) of the Consoli- 14 dated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 15 1997(a)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 2(a)’’ 16 and inserting ‘‘section 2(b)’’. 17 (2) LACEY ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1981.—Section 18 7(c) of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 19 U.S.C. 3376(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 20 2(f)(2)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 2(g)(2)(A)’’. 21 SEC. 3. PROHIBITIONS. 22 Section 3 of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 23 U.S.C. 3372) is amended— 24 (1) in subsection (a)— 25 (A) in paragraph (2)— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H211.IH H211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 211 IH (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 1 the semicolon at the end and inserting ‘‘; 2 or’’; 3 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(iii), by strik- 4 ing ‘‘; or’’ and inserting a semicolon; and 5 (iii) by striking subparagraph (C); 6 and 7 (B) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘(1) 8 through (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘(1) through (3) or 9 subsection (e)’’; and 10 (2) by amending subsection (e) to read as fol- 11 lows: 12 ‘‘(e) CAPTIVE WILDLIFE OFFENSE.— 13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It is unlawful for any per- 14 son to import, export, transport, sell, receive, ac- 15 quire, or purchase in interstate or foreign commerce, 16 or in a manner substantially affecting interstate or 17 foreign commerce, or to breed or possess, any pro- 18 hibited wildlife species. 19 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON APPLICATION.—Paragraph 20 (1) does not apply to— 21 ‘‘(A) an entity exhibiting animals to the 22 public under a Class C license from the Depart- 23 ment of Agriculture, or a Federal facility reg- 24 istered with the Department of Agriculture that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H211.IH H211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 211 IH exhibits animals, if such entity or facility holds 1 such license or registration in good standing; 2 ‘‘(B) a State college, university, or agency, 3 or a State-licensed veterinarian; 4 ‘‘(C) a wildlife sanctuary that cares for 5 prohibited wildlife species, and— 6 ‘‘(i) is a corporation that is exempt 7 from taxation under section 501(a) of the 8 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and de- 9 scribed in sections 501(c)(3) and 10 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) of such Code; 11 ‘‘(ii) does not commercially trade in 12 any prohibited wildlife species, including 13 offspring, parts, and byproducts of such 14 animals; and 15 ‘‘(iii) does not breed any prohibited 16 wildlife species; 17 ‘‘(D) has custody of any prohibited wildlife 18 species solely for the purpose of expeditiously 19 transporting the prohibited wildlife species to a 20 person described in this paragraph with respect 21 to the species; or 22 ‘‘(E) an entity or individual that is in pos- 23 session of any prohibited wildlife species that 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H211.IH H211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 211 IH was born before the date of the enactment of 1 the Big Cat Public Safety Act, and— 2 ‘‘(i) not later than 180 days after the 3 date of the enactment of the such Act, the 4 entity or individual registers each indi- 5 vidual animal of each prohibited wildlife 6 species possessed by the entity or indi- 7 vidual with the United States Fish and 8 Wildlife Service; and 9 ‘‘(ii) does not breed, acquire, or sell 10 any prohibited wildlife species after the 11 date of the enactment of such Act.’’. 12 SEC. 4. PENALTIES. 13 (a) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 4(a)(1) of the Lacey 14 Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3373(a)(1)) is 15 amended— 16 (1) by inserting ‘‘(e),’’ after ‘‘(d),’’; and 17 (2) by inserting ‘‘, (e),’’ after ‘‘subsection (d)’’. 18 (b) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Section 4(d) of the 19 Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3373(d)) is 20 amended— 21 (1) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ‘‘(e),’’ 22 after ‘‘(d),’’; 23 (2) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting ‘‘(e),’’ 24 after ‘‘(d),’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H211.IH H211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 211 IH (3) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘(e),’’ after 1 ‘‘(d),’’; and 2 (4) by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(4) Any person who knowingly violates sub- 4 section (e) of section 3 shall be fined not more than 5 $20,000, or imprisoned for not more than five years, 6 or both. Each violation shall be a separate offense 7 and the offense is deemed to have been committed 8 in the district where the violation first occurred, and 9 in any district in which the defendant may have 10 taken or been in possession of the prohibited wildlife 11 species.’’. 12 SEC. 5. FORFEITURE OF PROHIBITED WILDLIFE SPECIES. 13 Section 5(a)(1) of the Lacey Act Amendments of 14 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3374(a)(1)) is amended by inserting 15 ‘‘bred, possessed,’’ before ‘‘imported, exported,’’. 16 SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATION. 17 Section 7(a) of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 18 (16 U.S.C. 3376(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 19 following: 20 ‘‘(3) The Secretary shall, in consultation with 21 other relevant Federal and State agencies, promul- 22 gate any regulations necessary to implement section 23 3(e).’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H211.IH H211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 211 IH SEC. 7. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 1 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 2 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 3 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 4 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 5 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 6 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro- 7 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 8 vote on passage. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 Feb 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H211.IH H211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS