Invasive Fish and Wildlife Prevention Act
Latest action · Jul 16, 2014 Committee on Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 113-772.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJun 12, 2013
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
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 statute 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.
Cosponsors 3
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jun 12, 2013 to Jul 21, 2014; 2 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-FL | Bill Nelson | Original | Jun 12, 2013 |
| D-MI | Carl Levin | Original | Jun 12, 2013 |
| D-CT | Richard Blumenthal | Jul 21, 2014 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| Senate | Environment and Public Works Committee | Referred Jun 12, 2013 |
| Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife Subcommittee | Hearings Jul 16, 2014 |
Actions 3
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jul 16, 2014Committee on Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife. Hearings held. With printed Hearing: S.Hrg. 113-772.
- Jun 12, 2013Introduced in Senate
- Jun 12, 2013Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Printed hearings 1
Hearings whose printed record names this bill, newest first: hearings on it, and wider hearings where it came up.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 996 | Invasive Fish and Wildlife Prevention Act | Related bill | Apr 8, 2013 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- A bill 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.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- Invasive Fish and Wildlife Prevention Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Environmental Protection.
- Administrative law and regulatory procedures
- Animal and plant health
- Aquatic ecology
- Birds
- Department of the Interior
- Ecology
- Environmental Protection
- Environmental regulatory procedures
- Fishes
- Government information and archives
- Government trust funds
- Licensing and registrations
- Mammals
- Pest management
- Reptiles
- Trade restrictions
- User charges and fees
- Wildlife conservation and habitat protection
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jun 12, 2013Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.