DEER Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1919 To amend the Animal Health Protection Act to provide chronic wasting disease support for States and coordinated response efforts, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 27, 2019 Mr. KELLY of Mississippi (for himself, Mr. GIBBS, Mrs. CRAIG, Mr. THOMP- SON of Mississippi, Mrs. AXNE, Mr. KUSTOFF of Tennessee, Mr. PALAZZO, Mr. GUEST, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. CASTEN of Illinois, and Mr. WOMACK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture A BILL To amend the Animal Health Protection Act to provide chronic wasting disease support for States and coordi- nated response efforts, 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 ‘‘Detection, Enhanced 4 Education, and Response Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘DEER 5 Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 Apr 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1919.IH H1919 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1919 IH SEC. 2. CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE SUPPORT FOR STATES 1 AND COORDINATED RESPONSE EFFORTS. 2 The Animal Health Protection Act is amended by in- 3 serting after section 10409A (7 U.S.C. 8308a) the fol- 4 lowing: 5 ‘‘SEC. 10409B. CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE SUPPORT FOR 6 STATES AND COORDINATED RESPONSE EF- 7 FORTS. 8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE.— 9 In this section, the term ‘chronic wasting disease’ means 10 the animal disease afflicting deer, elk, and moose popu- 11 lations that— 12 ‘‘(1) is a transmissible disease of the nervous 13 system resulting in distinctive lesions in the brain; 14 and 15 ‘‘(2) belongs to the group of diseases known as 16 transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, which in- 17 cludes scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, 18 and Cruetzfeldt-Jakob disease. 19 ‘‘(b) SUPPORT FOR STATE EFFORTS TO MANAGE 20 AND CONTROL CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE.— 21 ‘‘(1) AVAILABILITY OF ASSISTANCE.—The Sec- 22 retary shall allocate funds made available under sub- 23 section (e) directly to State departments of wildlife 24 and State departments of agriculture to further de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 Apr 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1919.IH H1919 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1919 IH velop and implement chronic wasting disease surveil- 1 lance, testing, management, and response activities. 2 ‘‘(2) FUNDING PRIORITIES.—In determining 3 the amounts to be allocated to State departments of 4 wildlife and agriculture, the Secretary shall give pri- 5 ority to States that— 6 ‘‘(A) have experienced a recent incidence of 7 chronic wasting disease; 8 ‘‘(B) have a chronic wasting disease moni- 9 toring and surveillance program; and 10 ‘‘(C) have a diagnostic laboratory system 11 certified for chronic wasting disease testing. 12 ‘‘(c) CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE MULTIAGENCY 13 TASK FORCE.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab- 15 lish a multiagency task force that shall— 16 ‘‘(A) establish a unified response frame- 17 work to better position the Department of Agri- 18 culture to respond to the growing threat of 19 chronic wasting disease; 20 ‘‘(B) provide a single Federal point of con- 21 tact for Federal and State entities that work on 22 chronic wasting disease issues; 23 ‘‘(C) determine funding priorities and allo- 24 cation of resources; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 Apr 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1919.IH H1919 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1919 IH ‘‘(D) disseminate information to the public 1 relating to chronic wasting disease. 2 ‘‘(2) COMPOSITION.—The multiagency task 3 force established under paragraph (1) shall— 4 ‘‘(A) be led by the Administrator of the 5 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; 6 and 7 ‘‘(B) include 1 or more representatives 8 from each of the following: 9 ‘‘(i) The Agricultural Research Serv- 10 ice. 11 ‘‘(ii) The National Institute of Food 12 and Agriculture. 13 ‘‘(iii) The Forest Service. 14 ‘‘(iv) The United States Fish and 15 Wildlife Service. 16 ‘‘(v) State departments of wildlife. 17 ‘‘(vi) State departments of agri- 18 culture. 19 ‘‘(vii) Institutions of higher education. 20 ‘‘(d) MID-SOUTH CENTER OF EXCELLENCE IN 21 WILDLIFE DISEASES.— 22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 23 a grant to a land-grant college or university (as de- 24 fined in section 1404 of the National Agricultural 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 Apr 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1919.IH H1919 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1919 IH Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3103)) eligible to receive funds 2 under the Hatch Act of 1887 (7 U.S.C. 361a et 3 seq.) and the Smith-Lever Act (7 U.S.C. 341 et 4 seq.) to establish a policy research center to be 5 known as the ‘Mid-South Center of Excellence in 6 Wildlife Diseases’. 7 ‘‘(2) CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall award the 8 grant under paragraph (1) to a land-grant college or 9 university that— 10 ‘‘(A) is located in a State— 11 ‘‘(i) in the Southeast area of the Agri- 12 cultural Research Service; and 13 ‘‘(ii) that has confirmed cases of 14 chronic wasting disease in the State; 15 ‘‘(B) has an established whitetail deer re- 16 search program with significant research his- 17 tory in deer ecology, movements, genetics, and 18 management; 19 ‘‘(C) has a college of veterinary medicine; 20 and 21 ‘‘(D) has technical and scientific expertise 22 relevant to chronic wasting disease through the 23 university extension service and college of vet- 24 erinary medicine. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 Apr 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1919.IH H1919 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1919 IH ‘‘(3) ACTIVITIES.—The Mid-South Center of 1 Excellence in Wildlife Diseases established under 2 paragraph (1) shall— 3 ‘‘(A) have a special research focus on 4 chronic wasting disease in whitetail deer; 5 ‘‘(B) serve as the lead institution of higher 6 education in collaborating with the multiagency 7 task force established under subsection (c)(1); 8 ‘‘(C) establish partnerships with other uni- 9 versities with expertise relevant to chronic wast- 10 ing disease research; 11 ‘‘(D) develop an epidemiological research 12 program focused on chronic wasting disease; 13 ‘‘(E) expand chronic wasting disease sur- 14 veillance and testing capacity; and 15 ‘‘(F) improve current chronic wasting dis- 16 ease ecology, movements, transmission, and 17 management research. 18 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 19 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec- 20 essary to carry out this section.’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 Apr 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1919.IH H1919 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS