Captive Primate Safety Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3135 To amend the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to prohibit importation, exportation, transportation, sale, receipt, acquisition, and purchase in interstate or foreign commerce, or in a manner substantially affecting interstate or foreign commerce, or possession, of any live animal of any prohibited primate species. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 12, 2021 Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources A BILL To amend the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to prohibit importation, exportation, transportation, sale, receipt, ac- quisition, and purchase in interstate or foreign com- merce, or in a manner substantially affecting interstate or foreign commerce, or possession, of any live animal of any prohibited primate species. 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 ‘‘Captive Primate Safety 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3135.IH H3135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3135 IH SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF PROHIBITED PRIMATE SPECIES. 1 Section 2 of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 2 U.S.C. 3371) is amended— 3 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (g) through (k) 4 as paragraphs (h) through (l), respectively; and 5 (2) by inserting after paragraph (f) the fol- 6 lowing: 7 ‘‘(g) PROHIBITED PRIMATE SPECIES.—The term 8 ‘prohibited primate species’ means any live species of 9 nonhuman primate, including chimpanzees, galagos, gib- 10 bons, gorillas, lemurs, lorises, monkeys, orangutans, 11 tarsiers, or any hybrid of such a species.’’. 12 SEC. 3. PROHIBITIONS. 13 (a) PROHIBITED ACTS.—Section 3 of the Lacey Act 14 Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3372) is amended— 15 (1) in subsection (a)— 16 (A) in paragraph (3)(B)(iii), by striking ‘‘; 17 or’’ and inserting a semicolon; and 18 (B) by striking paragraph (4) and insert- 19 ing the following: 20 ‘‘(4) subject to subsection (f), to import, export, 21 transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase in inter- 22 state or foreign commerce, or in a manner substan- 23 tially affecting interstate or foreign commerce, or to 24 possess, any prohibited primate species; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3135.IH H3135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3135 IH ‘‘(5) to attempt to commit any act described in 1 paragraphs (1) through (4).’’; 2 (2) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub- 3 section (g); and 4 (3) by inserting before subsection (g) (as so re- 5 designated) the following: 6 ‘‘(f) NONAPPLICABILITY OF PROHIBITED PRIMATE 7 SPECIES OFFENSE.—Subsection (a)(4) does not apply 8 to— 9 ‘‘(1) a person exhibiting animals to the public 10 under a Class C license issued by the Department of 11 Agriculture, or a Federal facility registered with the 12 Department of Agriculture that exhibits animals, if 13 such person or facility holds such license or registra- 14 tion in good standing and— 15 ‘‘(A) does not allow any individual to come 16 into direct physical contact with a prohibited 17 primate species, unless that individual is— 18 ‘‘(i) a trained professional employee or 19 contractor of the person or facility, or an 20 accompanying employee receiving profes- 21 sional training; 22 ‘‘(ii) a licensed veterinarian, or a vet- 23 erinary student accompanying such a vet- 24 erinarian; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:58 Jun 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3135.IH H3135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3135 IH ‘‘(iii) directly supporting conservation 1 programs of the entity or facility, the con- 2 tact is not in the course of commercial ac- 3 tivity (which may be evidenced by adver- 4 tisement or promotion of such activity or 5 other relevant evidence), and the contact is 6 incidental to humane husbandry conducted 7 pursuant to a species-specific, publicly 8 available, peer-edited population manage- 9 ment and care plan that has been provided 10 to the Secretary with justifications that the 11 plan— 12 ‘‘(I) reflects established conserva- 13 tion science principles; 14 ‘‘(II) incorporates genetic and de- 15 mographic analysis of a multi-institu- 16 tion population of animals covered by 17 the plan; and 18 ‘‘(III) promotes animal welfare 19 by ensuring that the frequency of 20 breeding is appropriate for the spe- 21 cies; and 22 ‘‘(B) ensures that during public exhibition 23 of any prohibited primate species, other than le- 24 murs and galagos, the animal is at least 15 feet 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3135.IH H3135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3135 IH from members of the public unless there is a 1 permanent barrier sufficient to prevent public 2 contact with the animal; 3 ‘‘(2) a person registered as a research facility 4 by the Department of Agriculture; 5 ‘‘(3) a State college, university, or agency, or a 6 State-licensed veterinarian; 7 ‘‘(4) a wildlife sanctuary that cares for prohib- 8 ited primate species, and— 9 ‘‘(A) is a corporation that is exempt from 10 taxation under section 501(a) of the Internal 11 Revenue Code of 1986 and described in sections 12 501(c)(3) and 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) of such Code; 13 ‘‘(B) does not commercially trade in any 14 prohibited primate species, including offspring, 15 parts, and byproducts of such animals; 16 ‘‘(C) does not breed any prohibited primate 17 species; 18 ‘‘(D) does not allow direct contact between 19 the public and any prohibited primate species; 20 and 21 ‘‘(E) does not allow the transportation and 22 display of any prohibited primate species off- 23 site; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3135.IH H3135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3135 IH ‘‘(5) a person that has custody of any prohib- 1 ited primate species solely for the purpose of expedi- 2 tiously transporting the prohibited primate species 3 to a person described in this subsection with respect 4 to the species; or 5 ‘‘(6) a person that is in possession of any pro- 6 hibited primate species that was born before the 7 date of the enactment of the Captive Primate Safety 8 Act, if the person— 9 ‘‘(A) not later than 180 days after the date 10 of the enactment of such Act, registers each in- 11 dividual animal of each prohibited primate spe- 12 cies possessed by the person with the United 13 States Fish and Wildlife Service; 14 ‘‘(B) does not breed, acquire, or sell any 15 prohibited primate species after the date of the 16 enactment of such Act; and 17 ‘‘(C) does not allow direct contact between 18 the public and prohibited primate species.’’. 19 (b) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 4(a)(1) of the Lacey 20 Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3373(a)(1)) is 21 amended— 22 (1) by striking ‘‘and (f)’’ and inserting ‘‘(f), 23 and (g)’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3135.IH H3135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3135 IH (2) by striking ‘‘or (f)’’ and inserting ‘‘(f), or 1 (g)’’. 2 (c) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Section 4(d) of the 3 Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3373(d)) is 4 amended— 5 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and (f)’’ each 6 place it appears and inserting ‘‘(f), and (g)’’; and 7 (2) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘(d) or (f)’’ 8 and inserting ‘‘(d), (f), or (g)’’. 9 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE; REGULATIONS.— 10 (1) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsections (a) 11 through (c), and the amendments made by those 12 subsections, shall take effect on the earlier of— 13 (A) the date of promulgation of regulations 14 under paragraph (2); and 15 (B) the expiration of the period referred to 16 in paragraph (2). 17 (2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than the end of 18 the 180-day period beginning on the date of the en- 19 actment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior 20 shall promulgate regulations implementing the 21 amendments made by this section. 22 SEC. 4. REGULATIONS. 23 Section 7(a) of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 24 (16 U.S.C. 3376(a)) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3135.IH H3135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3135 IH (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘3(f)’’ and in- 1 serting ‘‘3(g)’’; and 2 (2) by adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(3) The Secretary shall, in consultation with 4 other relevant Federal and State agencies, promul- 5 gate any regulations necessary to implement section 6 3(f).’’. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Jun 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3135.IH H3135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS