Big Cat Public Safety Act

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 1380 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 7, 2020 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works AN ACT 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Dec 08, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1380.RFS H1380 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 1380 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Big Cat Public Safety 2 Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2 of the Lacey Act 5 Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3371) is amended— 6 (1) by redesignating subsections (a) through (k) 7 as subsections (b) through (l), respectively; and 8 (2) by inserting before subsection (b) (as so re- 9 designated) the following: 10 ‘‘(a) BREED.—The term ‘breed’ means to facilitate 11 propagation or reproduction (whether intentionally or neg- 12 ligently), or to fail to prevent propagation or reproduc- 13 tion.’’. 14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 15 (1) CONSOLIDATED FARM AND RURAL DEVEL- 16 OPMENT ACT.—Section 349(a)(3) of the Consoli- 17 dated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 18 1997(a)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 2(a)’’ 19 and inserting ‘‘section 2(b)’’. 20 (2) LACEY ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1981.—Section 21 7(c) of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 22 U.S.C. 3376(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 23 2(f)(2)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 2(g)(2)(A)’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Dec 08, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1380.RFS H1380 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 1380 RFS SEC. 3. PROHIBITIONS. 1 Section 3 of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 2 U.S.C. 3372) is amended— 3 (1) in subsection (a)— 4 (A) in paragraph (2)— 5 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 6 the semicolon at the end and inserting ‘‘; 7 or’’; 8 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(iii), by strik- 9 ing ‘‘; or’’ and inserting a semicolon; and 10 (iii) by striking subparagraph (C); 11 and 12 (B) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘(1) 13 through (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘(1) through (3) or 14 subsection (e)’’; and 15 (2) by amending subsection (e) to read as fol- 16 lows: 17 ‘‘(e) CAPTIVE WILDLIFE OFFENSE.— 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It is unlawful for any per- 19 son to import, export, transport, sell, receive, ac- 20 quire, or purchase in interstate or foreign commerce, 21 or in a manner substantially affecting interstate or 22 foreign commerce, or to breed or possess, any pro- 23 hibited wildlife species. 24 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON APPLICATION.—Paragraph 25 (1) does not apply to— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Dec 08, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1380.RFS H1380 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 1380 RFS ‘‘(A) an entity exhibiting animals to the 1 public under a Class C license from the Depart- 2 ment of Agriculture, or a Federal facility reg- 3 istered with the Department of Agriculture that 4 exhibits animals, if such entity or facility holds 5 such license or registration in good standing 6 and if the entity or facility— 7 ‘‘(i) does not allow any individual to 8 come into direct physical contact with a 9 prohibited wildlife species, unless that indi- 10 vidual is— 11 ‘‘(I) a trained professional em- 12 ployee or contractor of the entity or 13 facility (or an accompanying employee 14 receiving professional training); 15 ‘‘(II) a licensed veterinarian (or a 16 veterinary student accompanying such 17 a veterinarian); or 18 ‘‘(III) directly supporting con- 19 servation programs of the entity or fa- 20 cility, the contact is not in the course 21 of commercial activity (which may be 22 evidenced by advertisement or pro- 23 motion of such activity or other rel- 24 evant evidence), and the contact is in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Dec 08, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1380.RFS H1380 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 HR 1380 RFS cidental to humane husbandry con- 1 ducted pursuant to a species-specific, 2 publicly available, peer-edited popu- 3 lation management and care plan that 4 has been provided to the Secretary 5 with justifications that the plan— 6 ‘‘(aa) reflects established 7 conservation science principles; 8 ‘‘(bb) incorporates genetic 9 and demographic analysis of a 10 multi-institution population of 11 animals covered by the plan; and 12 ‘‘(cc) promotes animal wel- 13 fare by ensuring that the fre- 14 quency of breeding is appropriate 15 for the species; 16 ‘‘(ii) ensures that during public exhi- 17 bition of a lion (Panthera leo), tiger 18 (Panthera tigris), leopard (Panthera 19 pardus), snow leopard (Uncia uncia), jag- 20 uar (Panthera onca), cougar (Puma 21 concolor), or any hybrid thereof, the ani- 22 mal is at least 15 feet from members of 23 the public unless there is a permanent bar- 24 rier sufficient to prevent public contact; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Dec 08, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1380.RFS H1380 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 HR 1380 RFS ‘‘(B) a State college, university, or agency, 1 or a State-licensed veterinarian; 2 ‘‘(C) a wildlife sanctuary that cares for 3 prohibited wildlife species, and— 4 ‘‘(i) is a corporation that is exempt 5 from taxation under section 501(a) of the 6 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and de- 7 scribed in sections 501(c)(3) and 8 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) of such Code; 9 ‘‘(ii) does not commercially trade in 10 any prohibited wildlife species, including 11 offspring, parts, and byproducts of such 12 animals; 13 ‘‘(iii) does not breed any prohibited 14 wildlife species; 15 ‘‘(iv) does not allow direct contact be- 16 tween the public and any prohibited wild- 17 life species; and 18 ‘‘(v) does not allow the transportation 19 and display of any prohibited wildlife spe- 20 cies off-site; 21 ‘‘(D) has custody of any prohibited wildlife 22 species solely for the purpose of expeditiously 23 transporting the prohibited wildlife species to a 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Dec 08, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1380.RFS H1380 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 HR 1380 RFS person described in this paragraph with respect 1 to the species; or 2 ‘‘(E) an entity or individual that is in pos- 3 session of any prohibited wildlife species that 4 was born before the date of the enactment of 5 the Big Cat Public Safety Act, and— 6 ‘‘(i) not later than 180 days after the 7 date of the enactment of the such Act, the 8 entity or individual registers each indi- 9 vidual animal of each prohibited wildlife 10 species possessed by the entity or indi- 11 vidual with the United States Fish and 12 Wildlife Service; 13 ‘‘(ii) does not breed, acquire, or sell 14 any prohibited wildlife species after the 15 date of the enactment of such Act; and 16 ‘‘(iii) does not allow direct contact be- 17 tween the public and prohibited wildlife 18 species.’’. 19 SEC. 4. PENALTIES. 20 (a) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 4(a)(1) of the Lacey 21 Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3373(a)(1)) is 22 amended— 23 (1) by inserting ‘‘(e),’’ after ‘‘(d),’’; and 24 (2) by inserting ‘‘, (e),’’ after ‘‘subsection (d)’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Dec 08, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1380.RFS H1380 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 HR 1380 RFS (b) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Section 4(d) of the 1 Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3373(d)) is 2 amended— 3 (1) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ‘‘(e),’’ 4 after ‘‘(d),’’; 5 (2) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting ‘‘(e),’’ 6 after ‘‘(d),’’; 7 (3) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘(e),’’ after 8 ‘‘(d),’’; and 9 (4) by adding at the end the following: 10 ‘‘(4) Any person who knowingly violates sub- 11 section (e) of section 3 shall be fined not more than 12 $20,000, or imprisoned for not more than five years, 13 or both. Each violation shall be a separate offense 14 and the offense is deemed to have been committed 15 in the district where the violation first occurred, and 16 in any district in which the defendant may have 17 taken or been in possession of the prohibited wildlife 18 species.’’. 19 SEC. 5. FORFEITURE OF PROHIBITED WILDLIFE SPECIES. 20 Section 5(a)(1) of the Lacey Act Amendments of 21 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3374(a)(1)) is amended by inserting 22 ‘‘bred, possessed,’’ before ‘‘imported, exported,’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Dec 08, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1380.RFS H1380 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 HR 1380 RFS SEC. 6. ADMINISTRATION. 1 Section 7(a) of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 2 (16 U.S.C. 3376(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 3 following: 4 ‘‘(3) The Secretary shall, in consultation with 5 other relevant Federal and State agencies, promul- 6 gate any regulations necessary to implement section 7 3(e).’’. 8 SEC. 7. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 9 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 10 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 11 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 12 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 13 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 14 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro- 15 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 16 vote on passage. 17 Passed the House of Representatives December 3, 2020. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Dec 08, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1380.RFS H1380 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS