II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1216

To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to establish a Marine

Mammal Rescue Grant Program, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 10, 1999

Mr. TORRICELLI (for himself and Mr. LAUTENBERG) 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

establish a Marine Mammal Rescue Grant Program, and

for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE GRANT PROGRAM.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title IV of the Marine Mammal

5 Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421a et seq.) is

6 amended—

7 (1) by redesignating sections 408 and 409 as

8 sections 409 and 410, respectively; and

9 (2) by inserting after section 407 the following:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 408. MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE GRANT PROGRAM.

2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

3 ‘‘(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Adminis4 trator’ means the Administrator of the National

5 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

6 ‘‘(2) CHIEF.—The term ‘Chief’ means the Chief

7 of the Office.

8 ‘‘(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means

9 the Secretary of Commerce.

10 ‘‘(4) STRANDING CENTER.—The term ‘strand11 ing center’ means a center with respect to which the

12 Secretary has entered into an agreement referred to

13 in section 403 to take marine mammals under sec14 tion 109(h)(1) in response to a stranding.

15 ‘‘(b) GRANTS.—

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability

17 of appropriations, the Secretary, acting through the

18 Chief, shall conduct a grant program to be known as

19 the Marine Mammal Rescue Grant Program, to pro20 vide grants to eligible stranding centers and eligible

21 stranding network participants for the recovery or

22 treatment of marine mammals and the collection of

23 health information relating to marine mammals.

24 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.—In order to receive a grant

25 under this section, a stranding center or stranding

26 network participant shall submit an application in
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1 such form and manner as the Secretary, acting

2 through the Chief, may prescribe.

3 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA.—The Secretary,

4 acting through the Chief and in consultation with

5 stranding network participants, shall establish cri6 teria for eligibility for participation in the grant pro7 gram under this section.

8 ‘‘(4) LIMITATION.—The amount of a grant

9 awarded under this section shall not exceed

10 $100,000.

11 ‘‘(5) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—The non-Fed12 eral share for an activity conducted by a grant re13 cipient under the grant program under this section

14 shall be 25 percent of the cost of that activity.

15 ‘‘(6) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

16 There are authorized to be appropriated to the De17 partment of Commerce to carry out the grant pro18 gram under this section, $5,000,000 for each of fis19 cal years 2000 through 2004.’’.

20 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents

21 in the first section of the Marine Mammal Protection Act

22 of 1972 (86 Stat. 1027) is amended by striking the items

23 relating to sections 408 and 409 and inserting the fol24 lowing:
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‘‘Sec. 408. Marine Mammal Rescue Grant Program.

‘‘Sec. 409. Authorization of appropriations.

‘‘Sec. 410. Definitions.’’.

Æ