Big Cat Public Safety Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1210 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 19, 2021 Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. CARPER, and Mr. BURR) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 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 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2 of the Lacey Act 7 Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3371) is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 May 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1210.IS S1210 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1210 IS (1) by redesignating subsections (a) through (k) 1 as subsections (b) through (l), respectively; and 2 (2) by inserting before subsection (b) (as so re- 3 designated) the following: 4 ‘‘(a) BREED.—The term ‘breed’ means to facilitate 5 propagation or reproduction (whether intentionally or neg- 6 ligently), or to fail to prevent propagation or reproduc- 7 tion.’’. 8 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 9 (1) CONSOLIDATED FARM AND RURAL DEVEL- 10 OPMENT ACT.—Section 349(a)(3) of the Consoli- 11 dated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 12 1997(a)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 2(a)’’ 13 and inserting ‘‘section 2(b)’’. 14 (2) LACEY ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1981.—Section 15 7(c) of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 16 U.S.C. 3376(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 17 2(f)(2)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 2(g)(2)(A)’’. 18 SEC. 3. PROHIBITIONS. 19 Section 3 of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 20 U.S.C. 3372) is amended— 21 (1) in subsection (a)— 22 (A) in paragraph (2)— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 May 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1210.IS S1210 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1210 IS (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 22:41 May 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1210.IS S1210 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1210 IS exhibits animals, if such entity or facility holds 1 such license or registration in good standing 2 and if the entity or facility— 3 ‘‘(i) does not allow any individual to 4 come into direct physical contact with a 5 prohibited wildlife species, unless that indi- 6 vidual is— 7 ‘‘(I) a trained professional em- 8 ployee or contractor of the entity or 9 facility (or an accompanying employee 10 receiving professional training); 11 ‘‘(II) a licensed veterinarian (or a 12 veterinary student accompanying such 13 a veterinarian); or 14 ‘‘(III) directly supporting con- 15 servation programs of the entity or fa- 16 cility, the contact is not in the course 17 of commercial activity (which may be 18 evidenced by advertisement or pro- 19 motion of such activity or other rel- 20 evant evidence), and the contact is in- 21 cidental to humane husbandry con- 22 ducted pursuant to a species-specific, 23 publicly available, peer-edited popu- 24 lation management and care plan that 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 May 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1210.IS S1210 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1210 IS has been provided to the Secretary 1 with justifications that the plan— 2 ‘‘(aa) reflects established 3 conservation science principles; 4 ‘‘(bb) incorporates genetic 5 and demographic analysis of a 6 multi-institution population of 7 animals covered by the plan; and 8 ‘‘(cc) promotes animal wel- 9 fare by ensuring that the fre- 10 quency of breeding is appropriate 11 for the species; and 12 ‘‘(ii) ensures that during public exhi- 13 bition of a lion (Panthera leo), tiger 14 (Panthera tigris), leopard (Panthera 15 pardus), snow leopard (Uncia uncia), jag- 16 uar (Panthera onca), cougar (Puma 17 concolor), or any hybrid thereof, the ani- 18 mal is at least 15 feet from members of 19 the public unless there is a permanent bar- 20 rier sufficient to prevent public contact; 21 ‘‘(B) a State college, university, or agency, 22 or a State-licensed veterinarian; 23 ‘‘(C) a wildlife sanctuary that cares for 24 prohibited wildlife species, and— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 May 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1210.IS S1210 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1210 IS ‘‘(i) is a corporation that is exempt 1 from taxation under section 501(a) of the 2 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and de- 3 scribed in sections 501(c)(3) and 4 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) of such Code; 5 ‘‘(ii) does not commercially trade in 6 any prohibited wildlife species, including 7 offspring, parts, and byproducts of such 8 animals; 9 ‘‘(iii) does not breed any prohibited 10 wildlife species; 11 ‘‘(iv) does not allow direct contact be- 12 tween the public and any prohibited wild- 13 life species; and 14 ‘‘(v) does not allow the transportation 15 and display of any prohibited wildlife spe- 16 cies off-site; 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 22:41 May 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1210.IS S1210 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1210 IS 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; 9 ‘‘(ii) does not breed, acquire, or sell 10 any prohibited wildlife species after the 11 date of the enactment of such Act; and 12 ‘‘(iii) does not allow direct contact be- 13 tween the public and prohibited wildlife 14 species.’’. 15 SEC. 4. PENALTIES. 16 (a) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 4(a)(1) of the Lacey 17 Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3373(a)(1)) is 18 amended— 19 (1) by inserting ‘‘(e),’’ after ‘‘(d),’’; and 20 (2) by inserting ‘‘, (e),’’ after ‘‘subsection (d)’’. 21 (b) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Section 4(d) of the 22 Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3373(d)) is 23 amended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 May 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1210.IS S1210 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1210 IS (1) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ‘‘(e),’’ 1 after ‘‘(d),’’; 2 (2) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting ‘‘(e),’’ 3 after ‘‘(d),’’; 4 (3) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘(e),’’ after 5 ‘‘(d),’’; and 6 (4) by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(4) Any person who knowingly violates sub- 8 section (e) of section 3 shall be fined not more than 9 $20,000, or imprisoned for not more than five years, 10 or both. Each violation shall be a separate offense 11 and the offense is deemed to have been committed 12 in the district where the violation first occurred, and 13 in any district in which the defendant may have 14 taken or been in possession of the prohibited wildlife 15 species.’’. 16 SEC. 5. FORFEITURE OF PROHIBITED WILDLIFE SPECIES. 17 Section 5(a)(1) of the Lacey Act Amendments of 18 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3374(a)(1)) is amended by inserting 19 ‘‘bred, possessed,’’ before ‘‘imported, exported,’’. 20 SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATION. 21 Section 7(a) of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 22 (16 U.S.C. 3376(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 23 following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 May 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1210.IS S1210 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1210 IS ‘‘(3) The Secretary shall, in consultation with 1 other relevant Federal and State agencies, promul- 2 gate any regulations necessary to implement section 3 3(e).’’. 4 SEC. 7. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 5 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 6 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 7 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 8 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 9 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 10 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro- 11 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 12 vote on passage. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:41 May 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1210.IS S1210 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS