HR 1818 · 115th Congress 2017–2019, ended

Big Cat Public Safety Act

Introduced Mar 30, 2017 Originated House Sponsor Jeff Denham R-CA

Latest action · Apr 11, 2017 Referred to the Subcommittee on Federal Lands.

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.

IntroducedMar 30, 2017
Passed HouseNot reached
Passed SenateNot reached
To the PresidentNot reached
Became lawNot reached

Summary

Big Cat Public Safety Act

This bill amends the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to prohibit any person from breeding or possessing prohibited wildlife species (i.e., any live species of lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, or cougar or any hybrid of such species). Breeding means facilitating propagation or reproduction (whether intentionally or negligently), or failing to prevent propagation or reproduction.

The bill revises the list of entities that are exempt from Lacey Act prohibitions regarding those wildlife species to include: (1) certain entities that hold Class C licenses in good standing under the Animal Welfare Act, and (2) current owners of animals that were born before this bill's enactment if the animals are registered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Those entities and owners may not allow direct contact between the public and the prohibited wildlife species.

A person who knowingly violates the prohibition must be fined not more than $20,000, or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both. The bill considers each violation to be a separate offense. The offense must be deemed to have been committed not only in the district where the violation first occurred, but also in any district in which the defendant may have taken or been in possession of the prohibited wildlife species.

The bill extends forfeiture provisions to fish, wildlife, or plants that are bred or possessed.

Cosponsors 144

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Mar 30, 2017 to Dec 19, 2018; 7 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.

Seat	Cosponsor		Signed on
R-OH	Bill Johnson	Original	Mar 30, 2017
R-TX	Blake Farenthold	Original	Mar 30, 2017
R-FL	Dennis A. Ross	Original	Mar 30, 2017
R-NJ	Frank A. LoBiondo	Original	Mar 30, 2017
R-FL	Matt Gaetz	Original	Mar 30, 2017
D-MA	Niki Tsongas	Original	Mar 30, 2017
R-NC	Walter B. Jones	Original	Mar 30, 2017
D-CA	Adam B. Schiff		May 16, 2017
D-CA	Barbara Lee		May 16, 2017
D-IL	Bill Foster		May 16, 2017
R-PA	Charles W. Dent		May 16, 2017
D-ME	Chellie Pingree		May 16, 2017
R-NY	Claudia Tenney		May 16, 2017
R-NY	Daniel M. Donovan, Jr.		May 16, 2017
D-RI	David N. Cicilline		May 16, 2017
D-NV	Dina Titus		May 16, 2017
D-OR	Earl Blumenauer		May 16, 2017
D-DC	Eleanor Holmes Norton		May 16, 2017
D-CT	Elizabeth H. Esty		May 16, 2017
D-WI	Gwen Moore		May 16, 2017
D-CA	Jackie Speier		May 16, 2017
D-RI	James R. Langevin		May 16, 2017
D-CA	Jerry McNerney		May 16, 2017
D-KY	John A. Yarmuth		May 16, 2017
D-NY	Jose E. Serrano		May 16, 2017
D-CA	Julia Brownley		May 16, 2017
D-MA	Katherine M. Clark		May 16, 2017
D-FL	Kathy Castor		May 16, 2017
D-NY	Louise McIntosh Slaughter		May 16, 2017
D-IL	Luis V. Gutierrez		May 16, 2017
D-CA	Mark DeSaulnier		May 16, 2017
R-NJ	Rodney P. Frelinghuysen		May 16, 2017
D-CT	Rosa L. DeLauro		May 16, 2017
R-PA	Ryan A. Costello		May 16, 2017
D-CA	Salud O. Carbajal		May 16, 2017
D-MA	Seth Moulton		May 16, 2017
D-TN	Steve Cohen		May 16, 2017
D-OR	Suzanne Bonamici		May 16, 2017
D-AZ	Tom O'Halleran		May 16, 2017
D-CA	Tony Cárdenas		May 16, 2017
D-MA	William R. Keating		May 16, 2017
D-CA	Zoe Lofgren		May 16, 2017
D-NM	Ben Ray Luján		May 25, 2017
D-CT	Joe Courtney		May 25, 2017
R-KS	Kevin Yoder		May 25, 2017
D-CA	Mark Takano		May 25, 2017
R-OH	Michael R. Turner		May 25, 2017
D-OR	Peter A. DeFazio		May 25, 2017
D-NV	Ruben J. Kihuen		May 25, 2017
D-CA	Scott H. Peters		May 25, 2017
D-CA	Susan A. Davis		May 25, 2017
D-FL	Theodore E. Deutch		May 25, 2017
D-CA	Alan S. Lowenthal		Jun 15, 2017
R-VA	Barbara Comstock		Jun 15, 2017
D-NJ	Bonnie Watson Coleman		Jun 15, 2017
R-PA	Brian K. Fitzpatrick		Jun 15, 2017
R-MI	David A. Trott		Jun 15, 2017
D-GA	David Scott		Jun 15, 2017
D-NJ	Donald M. Payne, Jr.		Jun 15, 2017
D-NV	Jacky Rosen		Jun 15, 2017
D-IL	Janice D. Schakowsky		Jun 15, 2017
D-NJ	Josh Gottheimer		Jun 15, 2017
D-CA	Judy Chu		Jun 15, 2017
D-WI	Ron Kind		Jun 15, 2017
D-NY	Thomas R. Suozzi		Jun 15, 2017
D-MN	Betty McCollum		Jul 28, 2017
D-IL	Bradley Scott Schneider		Jul 28, 2017
D-CA	Grace F. Napolitano		Jul 28, 2017
D-NY	Grace Meng		Jul 28, 2017
D-MA	James P. McGovern		Jul 28, 2017
D-CO	Jared Polis		Jul 28, 2017
R-CO	Mike Coffman		Jul 28, 2017
D-WA	Pramila Jayapal		Jul 28, 2017
D-FL	Charlie Crist		Aug 29, 2017
R-NJ	Christopher H. Smith		Aug 29, 2017
D-WA	Derek Kilmer		Aug 29, 2017
D-FL	Frederica S. Wilson		Aug 29, 2017
D-CA	Jared Huffman		Aug 29, 2017
D-NY	Kathleen M. Rice		Aug 29, 2017
D-CA	Lucille Roybal-Allard		Aug 29, 2017
R-AZ	Martha McSally		Aug 29, 2017
D-VA	Gerald E. Connolly		Sep 28, 2017
R-NY	Lee M. Zeldin		Sep 28, 2017
R-PA	Patrick Meehan		Sep 28, 2017
R-NY	Peter T. King		Sep 28, 2017
D-IL	Raja Krishnamoorthi		Sep 28, 2017
R-CO	Scott R. Tipton		Sep 28, 2017
R-CA	David G. Valadao		Oct 19, 2017
D-VA	Donald S. Beyer, Jr.		Oct 19, 2017
R-MN	Erik Paulsen		Oct 19, 2017
D-NJ	Albio Sires		Nov 9, 2017
D-MD	Anthony G. Brown		Nov 9, 2017
R-AZ	David Schweikert		Nov 9, 2017
D-HI	Colleen Hanabusa		Dec 13, 2017
R-FL	Ileana Ros-Lehtinen		Dec 13, 2017
D-CA	Jimmy Gomez		Dec 13, 2017
R-NV	Mark E. Amodei		Dec 13, 2017
D-IL	Mike Quigley		Dec 13, 2017
R-CA	Stephen Knight		Dec 13, 2017
R-AR	Steve Womack		Dec 13, 2017
R-VA	Thomas A. Garrett, Jr.		Dec 13, 2017
R-PA	Tom Marino		Dec 13, 2017
D-FL	Alcee L. Hastings		Jan 9, 2018
R-NE	Don Bacon		Jan 9, 2018
D-NM	Michelle Lujan Grisham		Jan 9, 2018
R-TN	Scott DesJarlais		Jan 9, 2018
D-PA	Brendan F. Boyle		Jan 29, 2018
R-NY	Chris Collins		Jan 29, 2018
R-OH	David P. Joyce		Jan 29, 2018
D-MD	Jamie Raskin		Jan 29, 2018
D-NY	Brian Higgins		Mar 15, 2018
D-NJ	Donald Norcross		Mar 15, 2018
D-OH	Joyce Beatty		Mar 15, 2018
R-PA	Lloyd Smucker		Mar 15, 2018
R-MI	Mike Bishop		Mar 22, 2018
D-NJ	Bill Pascrell, Jr.		Apr 12, 2018
D-MD	C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger		Apr 12, 2018
D-IL	Daniel Lipinski		Apr 12, 2018
D-GU	Madeleine Z. Bordallo		Apr 12, 2018
D-OH	Marcy Kaptur		Apr 12, 2018
D-MA	Stephen F. Lynch		Apr 12, 2018
D-CA	Ted Lieu		Apr 12, 2018
D-OH	Tim Ryan		Apr 12, 2018
D-FL	Debbie Wasserman Schultz		May 22, 2018
R-FL	Francis Rooney		May 22, 2018
D-GA	Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr.		May 22, 2018
D-DE	Lisa Blunt Rochester		May 22, 2018
D-AZ	Raúl M. Grijalva		May 22, 2018
D-MN	Richard M. Nolan		May 22, 2018
D-AZ	Ruben Gallego		May 22, 2018
D-MA	Michael E. Capuano		Jun 1, 2018
R-IA	David Young		Jun 26, 2018
R-PR	Jenniffer González-Colón		Jun 26, 2018
D-CA	Jim Costa		Jun 26, 2018
D-PA	Matt Cartwright		Jun 26, 2018
R-IL	Darin LaHood		Jun 28, 2018
D-CA	Linda T. Sánchez		Jul 10, 2018
D-NY	Sean Patrick Maloney		Jul 10, 2018
R-FL	Gus M. Bilirakis		Aug 17, 2018
D-NY	Nita M. Lowey		Aug 17, 2018
D-CA	Karen Bass		Sep 25, 2018
D-NY	Paul Tonko		Dec 12, 2018
D-CA	Eric Swalwell		Dec 19, 2018
D-GA	John Lewis		Dec 19, 2018

Committees 1

Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.

Chamber	Committee	What it did
House	Natural Resources Committee	Referred Mar 30, 2017
	Federal Lands Subcommittee	Referred Apr 11, 2017

Actions 3

Everything that happened, newest first.

Apr 11, 2017Referred to the Subcommittee on Federal Lands.
Mar 30, 2017Introduced in House
Mar 30, 2017Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.

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.

Constitutional authority

Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following: Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution: ``The Congress shall have the power . . . To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;''

The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 163, no. 56, March 30, 2017, page H2600.

Related bills 1

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

Bill	Title	Relationship	Latest action
S 2990	Big Cat Public Safety Act	Related bill	Jun 5, 2018

Titles 2

Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.

Official Title as Introduced: 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.
Short Titles as Introduced: Big Cat Public Safety Act

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Animals.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

Mar 30, 2017Introduced in House

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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.