Marine Mammal Research and Response Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2802 To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to reauthorize and modify the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant Program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES NOVEMBER 6, 2019 Ms. CANTWELL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to reauthorize and modify the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Response Grant Program, 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 ‘‘Marine Mammal Re- 4 search and Response Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. DATA COLLECTION AND DISSEMINATION. 6 Section 402 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act 7 of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421a) is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2802.IS S2802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2802 IS (1) in subsection (b)— 1 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by inserting ‘‘or 2 entangled’’ after ‘‘stranded’’; 3 (B) in paragraph (3)— 4 (i) by striking ‘‘strandings,’’ and in- 5 serting ‘‘strandings and entanglements, in- 6 cluding unusual mortality events,’’; 7 (ii) by inserting ‘‘stranding’’ before 8 ‘‘region’’; and 9 (iii) by striking ‘‘marine mammals; 10 and’’ and inserting ‘‘marine mammals and 11 entangled marine mammals to allow com- 12 parison of the causes of illness and deaths 13 in stranded marine mammals and entan- 14 gled marine mammals with physical, chem- 15 ical, and biological environmental param- 16 eters; and’’; and 17 (C) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘anal- 18 yses, that would allow comparison of the causes 19 of illness and deaths in stranded marine mam- 20 mals with physical, chemical, and biological en- 21 vironmental parameters.’’ and inserting ‘‘anal- 22 yses.’’; and 23 (2) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 24 following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2802.IS S2802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2802 IS ‘‘(c) DATA AVAILABILITY.— 1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall develop 2 a program to make information, including any data 3 and metadata collected under subsection (b), avail- 4 able to researchers, stranding network participants, 5 and the public— 6 ‘‘(A) to improve real-time coordination of 7 response to stranding and entanglement events 8 across geographic areas and between stranding 9 coordinators; 10 ‘‘(B) to identify and quickly disseminate 11 information on potential public health risks; 12 ‘‘(C) to facilitate integrated interdiscipli- 13 nary research; 14 ‘‘(D) to facilitate peer-reviewed publica- 15 tions; 16 ‘‘(E) to archive regional data into 1 na- 17 tional database for future analyses; and 18 ‘‘(F) for education and outreach activities. 19 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC ACCESS.—The Secretary shall en- 20 sure that— 21 ‘‘(A) all information, including data and 22 metadata, collected under subsection (b) is 23 archived in a form that is readily accessible and 24 understandable to, and can be easily shared 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2802.IS S2802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2802 IS with, the public, as appropriate, through the 1 Marine Mammal Health Monitoring and Anal- 2 ysis Platform (Health MAP); and 3 ‘‘(B) not later than 60 days after the date 4 on which any information, including any data 5 and metadata collected under paragraph (1), 6 (2), or (3) of subsection (b), is collected, that 7 information is made readily available to strand- 8 ing network participants, other qualified sci- 9 entists, employees of the Federal Government, 10 and the public through the Health MAP and 11 the Observation System. 12 ‘‘(d) DATA REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec- 13 retary shall require each stranding network participant to 14 submit to the Administrator of the National Oceanic and 15 Atmospheric Administration, for inclusion in the Health 16 MAP— 17 ‘‘(1) NOAA Form 89–864 (OMB #0648–0178) 18 and NOAA Form 89–878 (OMB #0648–0178), or 19 similar successor forms, not later than 30 days after 20 the date of a response to a stranding or entangle- 21 ment event; 22 ‘‘(2) the information, including any data and 23 metadata described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of 24 subsection (b), not later than 30 days after the date 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2802.IS S2802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2802 IS on which the information is available or updated, as 1 applicable; and 2 ‘‘(3) the information, including any data and 3 metadata described in paragraphs (3) and (4) of 4 subsection (b), not later than 30 days after the date 5 on which the stranding network responds to a 6 stranding or entanglement event.’’. 7 SEC. 3. STRANDING OR ENTANGLEMENT RESPONSE AGREE- 8 MENTS. 9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 403 of the Marine Mam- 10 mal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421b) is amend- 11 ed— 12 (1) in the section heading by inserting ‘‘OR EN- 13 TANGLEMENT’’ before ‘‘RESPONSE’’; and 14 (2) in subsection (a), by striking the period at 15 the end and inserting ‘‘or entanglement.’’. 16 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The table 17 of contents in the first section of the Marine Mammal Pro- 18 tection Act of 1972 (Public Law 92–522; 86 Stat. 1027) 19 is amended by striking the item related to section 403 and 20 inserting the following: 21 ‘‘Sec. 403. Stranding or entanglement response agreements.’’. SEC. 4. UNUSUAL MORTALITY EVENT ACTIVITY FUNDING. 22 Section 405 the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 23 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421d) is amended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2802.IS S2802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2802 IS (1) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 1 following: 2 ‘‘(b) USES.—Amounts in the Fund— 3 ‘‘(1) shall be available only for use by the Sec- 4 retary, in consultation with the Secretary of the In- 5 terior, and dispersed among claimants based on 6 budgets approved by the Secretary prior to expendi- 7 ture— 8 ‘‘(A) to make advance, partial, or progress 9 payments under contracts or other funding 10 mechanisms for property, supplies, salaries, 11 services, and travel costs incurred in acting in 12 accordance with the contingency plan issued 13 under section 404(b) or under the direction of 14 an Onsite Coordinator for an unusual mortality 15 event designated under section 16 404(a)(2)(B)(iii); 17 ‘‘(B) for reimbursing any stranding net- 18 work participant for costs incurred in the collec- 19 tion, preparation, analysis, and transportation 20 of marine mammal tissues and samples col- 21 lected with respect to an unusual mortality 22 event for the Tissue Bank; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2802.IS S2802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2802 IS ‘‘(C) for the care and maintenance of a 1 marine mammal seized under section 2 104(c)(2)(D); and 3 ‘‘(2) shall remain available until expended.’’; 4 and 5 (2) in subsection (c)— 6 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 7 the end; 8 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe- 9 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 10 (C) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(4) except as provided by section 1000(a)(3) 12 of division B of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act making 13 consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year end- 14 ing September 30, 2000, and for other purposes’’, 15 approved November 29, 1999 (16 U.S.C. 1375a), 16 sums collected as fines, penalties, or forfeitures of 17 property for violations of any provision of this Act; 18 ‘‘(5) sums received from emergency declaration 19 grants for marine mammal conservation; and 20 ‘‘(6) not more than $750,000 per fiscal year, as 21 determined by the Secretary of Commerce and the 22 Secretary of the Interior, from each of the amounts 23 appropriated to the Secretary or the Secretary of the 24 Interior for carrying out this Act.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2802.IS S2802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 2802 IS SEC. 5. LIABILITY. 1 Section 406(a) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act 2 of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421e(a)) is amended, in the matter 3 preceding paragraph (1)— 4 (1) by inserting ‘‘or entanglement’’ after ‘‘to a 5 stranding’’; and 6 (2) by striking ‘‘government’’ and inserting 7 ‘‘Government’’. 8 SEC. 6. NATIONAL MARINE MAMMAL TISSUE BANK AND TIS- 9 SUE ANALYSIS. 10 Section 407 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act 11 of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421f) is amended— 12 (1) in subsection (c)(2)(A), by striking ‘‘the 13 health of marine mammals and’’ and inserting ‘‘ma- 14 rine mammal health and mortality and the health 15 of’’; and 16 (2) in subsection (d), in the matter preceding 17 paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘public’’ before ‘‘ac- 18 cess’’. 19 SEC. 7. JOHN H. PRESCOTT MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE AND 20 RESPONSE GRANT PROGRAM AND RAPID RE- 21 SPONSE FUND. 22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 408 of the Marine Mam- 23 mal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421f–1) is 24 amended to read as follows: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2802.IS S2802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 2802 IS ‘‘SEC. 408. JOHN H. PRESCOTT MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE 1 AND RESPONSE GRANT PROGRAM AND RAPID 2 RESPONSE FUND. 3 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE.— 4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In this section, the term 5 ‘emergency assistance’ means— 6 ‘‘(A) financial assistance provided to re- 7 spond to, or that results from, a stranding 8 event or entanglement event that— 9 ‘‘(i) causes an immediate increase in 10 the cost of a response, recovery, or reha- 11 bilitation that is greater than the usual 12 cost of a response, recovery, or rehabilita- 13 tion; 14 ‘‘(ii) is cyclical or endemic; and 15 ‘‘(iii) involves a marine mammal that 16 is out of the normal range for that marine 17 mammal; or 18 ‘‘(B) financial assistance provided to re- 19 spond to, or that results from, a stranding 20 event or an entanglement event that the Sec- 21 retary considers to be an emergency. 22 ‘‘(2) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘emergency as- 23 sistance’ does not include financial assistance to re- 24 spond to an unusual mortality event. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2802.IS S2802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 2802 IS ‘‘(b) JOHN H. PRESCOTT MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE 1 AND RESPONSE GRANT PROGRAM.— 2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability 3 of appropriations or other funding, the Secretary 4 shall carry out a grant program, to be known as the 5 ‘John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue and Re- 6 sponse Grant Program’ (referred to in this section 7 as the ‘grant program’), to award grants to eligible 8 stranding network participants or stranding network 9 collaborators, as described in this subsection. 10 ‘‘(2) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the grant 11 program are to provide for— 12 ‘‘(A) the recovery, care, or treatment of 13 sick, injured, or entangled marine mammals; 14 ‘‘(B) responses to marine mammal strand- 15 ing events that require emergency assistance; 16 ‘‘(C) the collection of data and samples 17 from living or dead stranded marine mammals 18 for scientific research or assessments regarding 19 marine mammal health; 20 ‘‘(D) facility operating costs that are di- 21 rectly related to activities described in subpara- 22 graph (A), (B), or (C); and 23 ‘‘(E) development of stranding network ca- 24 pacity, including training for emergency re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2802.IS S2802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 2802 IS sponse, where facilities do not exist or are 1 sparse. 2 ‘‘(3) CONTRACT, GRANT, AND COOPERATIVE 3 AGREEMENT AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may enter 4 into a contract, grant, or cooperative agreement with 5 any eligible stranding network participant or strand- 6 ing network collaborator, as the Secretary deter- 7 mines to be appropriate, for the purposes described 8 in paragraph (2). 9 ‘‘(4) EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.— 10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 11 ensure, to the extent practicable, that funds 12 awarded under the grant program are distrib- 13 uted equitably among the stranding regions. 14 ‘‘(B) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining 15 priorities among the stranding regions under 16 this paragraph, the Secretary may consider— 17 ‘‘(i) any episodic stranding, entangle- 18 ment, or mortality events, except for un- 19 usual mortality events, that occurred in 20 any stranding region in the preceding year; 21 ‘‘(ii) any data with respect to average 22 annual stranding, entanglements, and mor- 23 tality events per stranding region; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2802.IS S2802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 2802 IS ‘‘(iii) the size of the marine mammal 1 populations inhabiting a stranding region; 2 and 3 ‘‘(iv) the conservation of protected, 4 depleted, threatened, or endangered marine 5 mammal species. 6 ‘‘(5) APPLICATION.—To be eligible for a grant 7 under the grant program, a stranding network par- 8 ticipant shall— 9 ‘‘(A) submit an application in such form 10 and manner as the Secretary prescribes; and 11 ‘‘(B) be in compliance with the data re- 12 porting requirements under section 402(d). 13 ‘‘(6) GRANT CRITERIA.—The Secretary and the 14 Secretary of the Interior shall, in consultation with 15 the Marine Mammal Commission, a representative 16 from each of the stranding regions, and other indi- 17 viduals who represent public and private organiza- 18 tions that are actively involved in rescue, rehabilita- 19 tion, release, scientific research, marine conserva- 20 tion, and forensic science with respect to stranded 21 marine mammals, develop criteria for awarding 22 grants under the grant program. 23 ‘‘(7) LIMITATIONS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:31 Nov 14, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2802.IS S2802 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 2802 IS ‘‘(A) MAXIMUM GRANT AMOUNT.—No 1 grant made under the grant program for a sin- 2 gle project may exceed $150,000 in any 12- 3 month period. 4 ‘‘(B) UNEXPENDED FUNDS.—Any funds 5 that have been awarded under the grant pro- 6 gram but that are une [Text truncated for display. 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