Big Cat Public Safety Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2561 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 SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. REED, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. BOOKER, and Ms. HARRIS) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Envi- ronment 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Oct 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2561.IS S2561 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2561 IS 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— 8 ‘‘(1) to negligently or intentionally facilitate 9 propagation or reproduction; and 10 ‘‘(2) to fail to prevent propagation or reproduc- 11 tion.’’. 12 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 13 (1) CONSOLIDATED FARM AND RURAL DEVEL- 14 OPMENT ACT.—Section 349(a)(3) of the Consoli- 15 dated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 16 1997(a)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 2(a)’’ 17 and inserting ‘‘section 2(b)’’. 18 (2) LACEY ACT AMENDMENTS OF 1981.— 19 (A) Section 3(e)(2)(C) of the Lacey Act 20 Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 21 3372(e)(2)(C)) is amended— 22 (i) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘section 23 2(g)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 2(h)’’; and 24 (ii) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘section 25 2(g)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 2(h)’’. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Oct 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2561.IS S2561 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2561 IS (B) Section 7(c) of the Lacey Act Amend- 1 ments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3376(c)) is amended 2 by striking ‘‘section 2(f)(2)(A)’’ and inserting 3 ‘‘section 2(g)(2)(A)’’. 4 SEC. 3. PROHIBITIONS. 5 Section 3 of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 6 U.S.C. 3372) is amended— 7 (1) in subsection (a)— 8 (A) in paragraph (2)— 9 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 10 the semicolon at the end and inserting ‘‘; 11 or’’; 12 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(iii), by strik- 13 ing ‘‘; or’’ and inserting a semicolon; and 14 (iii) by striking subparagraph (C); 15 and 16 (B) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘(1) 17 through (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘(1) through (3) or 18 subsection (e)’’; and 19 (2) by striking subsection (e) and inserting the 20 following: 21 ‘‘(e) CAPTIVE WILDLIFE OFFENSE.— 22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It is unlawful for any per- 23 son— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Oct 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2561.IS S2561 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2561 IS ‘‘(A) to import, export, transport, sell, re- 1 ceive, acquire, or purchase any prohibited wild- 2 life species— 3 ‘‘(i) in interstate or foreign commerce; 4 or 5 ‘‘(ii) in a manner substantially affect- 6 ing interstate or foreign commerce; or 7 ‘‘(B) to breed or possess any prohibited 8 wildlife species. 9 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON APPLICATION.—Paragraph 10 (1) does not apply to— 11 ‘‘(A) an entity exhibiting animals to the 12 public under a Class C license from the Depart- 13 ment of Agriculture, or a Federal facility reg- 14 istered with the Department of Agriculture that 15 exhibits animals, if that entity or facility— 16 ‘‘(i) holds that license or registration 17 in good standing; 18 ‘‘(ii) does not allow any individual to 19 come into direct physical contact with a 20 prohibited wildlife species, unless— 21 ‘‘(I) that individual is— 22 ‘‘(aa) a trained professional 23 employee or contractor of the en- 24 tity or facility (or an accom- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Oct 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2561.IS S2561 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2561 IS panying employee receiving pro- 1 fessional training); or 2 ‘‘(bb) a licensed veterinarian 3 (or a veterinary student accom- 4 panying that veterinarian); or 5 ‘‘(II)(aa) that individual is di- 6 rectly supporting conservation pro- 7 grams of the entity or facility; and 8 ‘‘(bb) the contact is— 9 ‘‘(AA) not in the course of 10 commercial activity (which may 11 be evidenced by advertisement or 12 promotion of that activity or 13 other relevant evidence); and 14 ‘‘(BB) incidental to humane 15 husbandry conducted pursuant to 16 a species-specific, publicly avail- 17 able, peer-edited population man- 18 agement and care plan that has 19 been provided to the Secretary 20 with justifications that the plan 21 reflects established conservation 22 science principles, incorporates 23 genetic and demographic analysis 24 of a multi-institution population 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Oct 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2561.IS S2561 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2561 IS of animals covered by the plan, 1 and promotes animal welfare by 2 ensuring that the frequency of 3 breeding is appropriate for the 4 species; and 5 ‘‘(iii) ensures that, during public exhi- 6 bition of a lion (Panthera leo), tiger 7 (Panthera tigris), leopard (Panthera 8 pardus), snow leopard (Uncia uncia), jag- 9 uar (Panthera onca), cougar (Puma 10 concolor), or any hybrid of any of those 11 animals, the animal is not less than 15 feet 12 from members of the public unless there is 13 a permanent barrier sufficient to prevent 14 public contact; 15 ‘‘(B) a State college, university, or agency; 16 ‘‘(C) a State-licensed veterinarian; 17 ‘‘(D) a wildlife sanctuary that— 18 ‘‘(i) cares for prohibited wildlife spe- 19 cies; 20 ‘‘(ii) is a corporation that is— 21 ‘‘(I) exempt from taxation under 22 section 501(a) of the Internal Rev- 23 enue Code of 1986; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Oct 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2561.IS S2561 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2561 IS ‘‘(II) described in sections 1 501(c)(3) and 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) of 2 that Code; 3 ‘‘(iii) does not commercially trade in 4 any prohibited wildlife species, including 5 offspring, parts, and byproducts of prohib- 6 ited wildlife species; 7 ‘‘(iv) does not breed any prohibited 8 wildlife species; 9 ‘‘(v) does not allow direct contact be- 10 tween the public and any prohibited wild- 11 life species; and 12 ‘‘(vi) does not allow the transportation 13 and display of any prohibited wildlife spe- 14 cies off-site; 15 ‘‘(E) an entity that has custody of any 16 prohibited wildlife species solely for the purpose 17 of expeditiously transporting the prohibited 18 wildlife species to a person described in this 19 paragraph with respect to the prohibited wild- 20 life species; or 21 ‘‘(F) an entity or individual that— 22 ‘‘(i) is in possession of any prohibited 23 wildlife species that was born before the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Oct 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2561.IS S2561 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2561 IS date of enactment of the Big Cat Public 1 Safety Act; 2 ‘‘(ii) not later than 180 days after the 3 date of enactment of that Act, registers 4 each individual animal of each prohibited 5 wildlife species possessed by the entity or 6 individual with the United States Fish and 7 Wildlife Service; 8 ‘‘(iii) does not breed, acquire, or sell 9 any prohibited wildlife species after the 10 date of enactment of that Act; and 11 ‘‘(iv) does not allow direct contact be- 12 tween the public and any prohibited wild- 13 life species.’’. 14 SEC. 4. PENALTIES. 15 (a) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 4(a)(1) of the Lacey 16 Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3373(a)(1)) is 17 amended— 18 (1) by inserting ‘‘(e),’’ after ‘‘(d),’’; and 19 (2) by inserting ‘‘, (e),’’ after ‘‘subsection (d)’’. 20 (b) CRIMINAL PENALTIES.—Section 4(d) of the 21 Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3373(d)) is 22 amended— 23 (1) in paragraph (1)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Oct 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2561.IS S2561 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 2561 IS (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 1 ‘‘(e),’’ after ‘‘(d),’’; and 2 (B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 3 ‘‘(e),’’ after ‘‘(d),’’; 4 (2) in paragraph (2), in the first sentence, by 5 inserting ‘‘(e),’’ after ‘‘(d),’’; and 6 (3) by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(4) CAPTIVE WILDLIFE.— 8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any person who 9 knowingly violates section 3(e) shall be fined 10 not more than $20,000, imprisoned for not 11 more than 5 years, or both. 12 ‘‘(B) SEPARATE OFFENSES.—Each viola- 13 tion under subparagraph (A) shall be— 14 ‘‘(i) a separate offense; and 15 ‘‘(ii) deemed to have been committed 16 in both the district in which the violation 17 first occurred and in any district in which 18 the defendant may have taken or been in 19 possession of the prohibited wildlife spe- 20 cies.’’. 21 SEC. 5. FORFEITURE OF PROHIBITED WILDLIFE SPECIES. 22 Section 5(a)(1) of the Lacey Act Amendments of 23 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3374(a)(1)) is amended by inserting 24 ‘‘bred, possessed,’’ before ‘‘imported, exported,’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Oct 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2561.IS S2561 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 2561 IS 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, in consultation with other 5 relevant Federal and State agencies, shall promul- 6 gate any regulations necessary to implement section 7 3(e).’’. 8 SEC. 7. TECHNICAL CORRECTION. 9 Section 4(e), and subsections (a) and (b)(2) of section 10 8, of the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (16 U.S.C. 11 3373(e), 3377) are amended by striking ‘‘Fishery Con- 12 servation and Management Act of 1976’’ each place it ap- 13 pears and inserting ‘‘Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Con- 14 servation and Management Act’’. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Oct 04, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2561.IS S2561 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS