H.R. 996: Invasive Fish and Wildlife Prevention Act

Introduced:
Mar 06, 2013 (113th Congress, 2013–2015)
Sponsor:
Rep. Louise Slaughter [D-NY25]
Status:
Referred to Committee

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

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Status

This bill was assigned to a congressional committee on March 6, 2013, which will consider it before possibly sending it on to the House or Senate as a whole.

Progress
Introduced Mar 06, 2013
Referred to Committee Mar 06, 2013
Reported by Committee ...
Passed House ...
Passed Senate ...
Signed by the President ...
Prognosis

9% chance of getting past committee.
7% chance of being enacted.

Only 11% of House bills made it past committee and only 3% were enacted in 2011–2013. [show factors | methodology]

Cosponsors
29 cosponsors (29D) (show)
Committees

House Natural Resources

↪ Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs

House Budget

House Judiciary

↪ Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations

House Ways and Means

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To establish an improved regulatory process for injurious wildlife to prevent the introduction and establishment in the United States of nonnative wildlife and wild animal pathogens and parasites that are likely to cause harm.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

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Last updated Mar 06, 2013.
39 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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Citation

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

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Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

3/6/2013--Introduced.
Invasive Fish and Wildlife Prevention Act - Authorizes any person, entity, or the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to propose the regulation of nonnative wildlife taxa.
Requires the Director to determine whether the proposal should be approved within 180 days.
Requires the Director to promulgate regulations to:
(1) specify the criteria for regulating a nonnative taxon as an Injurious I taxon or Injurious II taxon that is injurious to humans, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, wildlife, or wildlife resources;
(2) establish a process for assessing and analyzing the risks of taxa that may have been imported into or found in interstate commerce; and
(3) designate a wildlife taxon that was previously designated as injurious by statue or the Secretary of the Interior as an Injurious I or Injurious II taxon.
Requires the Secretary, not later than three years after enactment of this Act, to:
(1) define the phrase "non-native wildlife taxa novel to the United States";
(2) establish a process to ensure that all such taxa are thereafter reviewed by the Director to determine whether they should be regulated as Injurious I or Injurious II taxa prior to allowing their importation; and
(3) seek to avoid, in promulgating such regulation, creating a new incentive for animal importers to import novel taxa prior to the effective date of such regulation.
Requires the Director, prior to designating a taxon as an Injurious I or Injurious II taxon, to prepare a risk determination.
Authorizes the Director to immediately and temporarily designate a nonnative wildlife taxon as Injurious I if an emergency exists because such unregulated taxon poses an imminent threat of harm to individuals in, or wildlife of, the United States or to the U.S. economy or environment.
Requires the Director to:
(1) establish an electronic, publicly available database that describes all quantities of imports of all live wildlife and the regulatory status of such wildlife;
(2) monitor and report on the identities and quantities of nonnative wildlife taxa being imported; and
(3) make more rapid determinations on proposals for regulation of importations or shipments of injurious mammals, birds, fish, amphibia, and reptiles under the Lacey Act by requiring the Secretary to forego time-consuming optional administrative steps that are not essential and by authorizing the Secretary to forego economic impact analyses.
Gives the Secretary the primary authority to prevent the importation of, and interstate commerce in, wildlife pathogens and harmful parasites.
Requires the Secretary to promulgate regulations to impose import restrictions to prevent the importation of, and commerce in, such pathogens and parasites.
Establishes exemptions to such requirement.
Prohibits any person from:
(1) importing or knowingly possessing such an Injurious I or Injurious II taxon, or the descendant of such an animal, that was imported in violation of this Act;
(2) engaging in interstate commerce for or knowingly possessing such an animal that was transported in interstate commerce in violation of this Act; and
(3) releasing any such taxon into the wild.
Sets forth exemptions from such prohibitions.
Authorizes the Director to issue permits to qualified institutions to authorize actions otherwise prohibited for such taxon.
Establishes civil and criminal penalties for violations of this Act. Requires the Secretary to adopt a fee to be charged on imported live wildlife shipments, excluding shipments made by qualified institutions for scientific, veterinary, or medical research, education, conservation outreach, or display purposes.
Establishes the Injurious Wildlife Prevention Fund to carry out this Act.

House Republican Conference Summary

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No summary available.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

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The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

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