Eliminate, Neutralize, and Disrupt Wildlife Trafficking Reauthorization and Improvements Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4848 To continue the whole-of-government approach to ending global wildlife poach- ing and trafficking by permanently reauthorizing the activities of the Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OCTOBER 22 (legislative day, OCTOBER 19), 2020 Mr. COONS (for himself and Mr. PORTMAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations A BILL To continue the whole-of-government approach to ending global wildlife poaching and trafficking by permanently reauthorizing the activities of the Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking, 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 ‘‘Eliminate, Neutralize, 4 and Disrupt Wildlife Trafficking Reauthorization and Im- 5 provements Act of 2020’’. 6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 7 It is the sense of Congress that— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4848.IS S4848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4848 IS (1) the United States Government should con- 1 tinue to work with international partners, including 2 nations, nongovernmental organizations, and the pri- 3 vate sector, to identify long-standing and emerging 4 areas of concern in wildlife poaching and trafficking 5 all along the supply chain; and 6 (2) the activities and required reporting of the 7 Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking, es- 8 tablished by Executive Order 13648 (78 Fed. Reg. 9 40621), should be reauthorized to minimize the dis- 10 ruption of the work of such Task Force. 11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 12 Section 2 of the Eliminate, Neutralize, and Disrupt 13 Wildlife Trafficking Act of 2016 (16 U.S.C. 7601) is 14 amended— 15 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (8) through 16 (12) as paragraphs (9) through (13), respectively; 17 (2) by inserting after paragraph (7) the fol- 18 lowing: 19 ‘‘(8) INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.—The term 20 ‘intelligence community’ has the meaning given such 21 term in section 3 of the National Security Act of 22 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003).’’; and 23 (3) in paragraph (12), as redesignated, by 24 striking ‘‘section 201’’ and inserting ‘‘section 301’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4848.IS S4848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4848 IS SEC. 4. FRAMEWORK FOR INTERAGENCY RESPONSE AND 1 REPORTING. 2 (a) REAUTHORIZATION OF REPORT ON MAJOR WILD- 3 LIFE TRAFFICKING COUNTRIES.—Section 201 of the 4 Eliminate, Neutralize, and Disrupt Wildlife Trafficking 5 Act of 2016 (16 U.S.C. 7621) is amended— 6 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘annually’’ 7 and inserting ‘‘biennially’’; and 8 (2) by striking subsection (c). 9 (b) REAUTHORIZATION OF THE PRESIDENTIAL TASK 10 FORCE ON WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING RESPONSIBIL- 11 ITIES.—Section 301(a) of the Eliminate, Neutralize, and 12 Disrupt Wildlife Trafficking Act of 2016 (16 U.S.C. 13 7631(a)) is amended— 14 (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 15 end; 16 (2) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para- 17 graph (8); and 18 (3) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol- 19 lowing: 20 ‘‘(5) pursue programs to expand the role of 21 technology for anti-poaching and anti-trafficking ef- 22 forts, in partnership with the private sector, aca- 23 demia, and nongovernmental organizations (includ- 24 ing technology companies and the transportation 25 and logistics sectors), including programs that— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4848.IS S4848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4848 IS ‘‘(A) assess the technology needs in focus 1 countries and promote the use of technology to 2 improve wildlife protection and investigation 3 and prosecution of wildlife crimes, while taking 4 into account the technological limitations within 5 each focus country; 6 ‘‘(B) address wildlife crime and the wildlife 7 trafficking supply chain; 8 ‘‘(C) promote the shared costs of tech- 9 nology or resources over cross-cutting sectors 10 for multi-group and multi-purpose use; and 11 ‘‘(D) support existing and new innovative 12 finance mechanisms for community and region- 13 ally based needs; 14 ‘‘(6) consider programs and initiatives that ad- 15 dress the expansion of the illegal wildlife trade to 16 digital platforms, including the use of digital cur- 17 rency and payment platforms for transactions by 18 collaborating with the private sector, academia, and 19 nongovernmental organizations, including social 20 media, e-commerce, and search engine companies, as 21 appropriate— 22 ‘‘(A) to assess how online platforms are 23 used in wildlife trafficking; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4848.IS S4848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4848 IS ‘‘(B) to identify strategies, including tech- 1 nology and policy solutions, to combat wildlife 2 trafficking online; 3 ‘‘(C) to initiate online public awareness 4 and behavioral change campaigns to educate 5 users of online programs regarding spotting and 6 reporting illegal wildlife sale or trade activities; 7 and 8 ‘‘(D) to engage with existing national and 9 international initiatives to combat wildlife traf- 10 ficking online by sharing the expertise of the 11 Task Force members and the intelligence com- 12 munity; 13 ‘‘(7) establish a procedure for removing from 14 the list in the biennial report any focus country or 15 country of concern that no longer meets the defini- 16 tion of a country of concern or a focus country 17 under paragraphs (4) and (5) of section 2, which re- 18 quire the Secretary of State, in consultation with 19 other members of the Task Force, to consider— 20 ‘‘(A) the establishment of appropriate do- 21 mestic laws to combat wildlife trafficking and 22 poaching, including demonstrated progress in 23 implementing such laws; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4848.IS S4848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4848 IS ‘‘(B) an increase in the number of convic- 1 tions for crimes relating to wildlife trafficking; 2 ‘‘(C) the implementation of specialist law 3 enforcement units or tactics, or demonstrable 4 cooperative efforts; 5 ‘‘(D) demonstrated compliance with inter- 6 national treaties or conventions, including the 7 Convention on International Trade in Endan- 8 gered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, done at 9 Washington March 3, 1973 (27 UST 1087; 10 TIAS 8249) to which the country is a party; 11 and 12 ‘‘(E) other factors used to define focus 13 countries and countries of concern; and’’. 14 (c) REAUTHORIZATION OF THE PRESIDENTIAL TASK 15 FORCE ON WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING STRATEGIC RE- 16 VIEW.—Section 301 of the Eliminate, Neutralize, and Dis- 17 rupt Wildlife Trafficking Act of 2016 (16 U.S.C. 7631) 18 is amended— 19 (1) in subsection (d)— 20 (A) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 21 the end; 22 (B) in paragraph (5), by striking the pe- 23 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 24 (C) by adding at the end the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4848.IS S4848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4848 IS ‘‘(6) an analysis of the indicators developed by 1 the Task Force, and recommended by the Govern- 2 ment Accountability Office, to track and measure in- 3 puts, outputs, law enforcement outcomes, and public 4 perceptions of wildlife trafficking for each focus 5 country listed in the report, including baseline meas- 6 ures for each indicator in each focus country to doc- 7 ument progress.’’; and 8 (2) by striking subsection (e). 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:37 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4848.IS S4848 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS