I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5493 

To prohibit the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service 

from awarding grants to entities that fund or support gross violations 

of internationally recognized human rights, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 19, 2019 

Mr. BISHOP of Utah introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To prohibit the Director of the United States Fish and 

Wildlife Service from awarding grants to entities that 

fund or support gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, 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. INTERNATIONAL CONSERVATION GRANT RE4 STRICTIONS. 

5 (a) CERTIFICATION.—The Director may not award a 

6 covered grant to a covered recipient unless such recipient 

7 certifies that it will meet the requirements described in 

8 subsection (b). 


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1 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The requirements described in 

2 this subsection are as follows: 

3 (1) CERTIFICATION.—A covered recipient may 

4 only award funds to a subgrantee if such subgrantee 

5 certifies that it will meet the requirements described 

6 in this subsection. 

7 (2) PROHIBITION.—A covered recipient may not 

8 use funds from a covered grant to fund or support 

9 a prohibited entity. 

10 (3) REPORTING.—A covered recipient shall re11 port to the Director any credible allegation of a 

12 gross violation of internationally recognized human 

13 rights by any entity such recipient has funded or 

14 supported within 30 days of the date on which such 

15 recipient knew or should have known of such allega16 tion. 

17 (4) CEASE FUNDING.—A covered recipient that 

18 reports a credible allegation under paragraph (3) to 

19 the Director shall, not more than 30 days after the 

20 date of such reporting, cease funding or supporting 

21 the prohibited entity alleged to have committed such 

22 violation. 

23 (c) PENALTIES.—The Director shall apply the fol24 lowing penalties to a covered recipient or successor to such 

25 recipient that fails to meet the requirements of this Act: 


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1 (1) The Director may not award a single source 

2 award of a covered grant to a covered recipient or 

3 successor to such recipient that has violated a provi4 sion of subsection (b). 

5 (2) The Director may not award a covered 

6 grant to a covered recipient or successor to such re7 cipient that violated subsection (b)(3) for a 3-year 

8 period beginning on the later of— 

9 (A) the date of the violation; or 

10 (B) the date on which the Director became 

11 aware of such violation. 

12 (3) The Director may not award a covered 

13 grant to a covered recipient or successor to such re14 cipient that violated subsection (b)(4) for a 5-year 

15 period beginning on the later of— 

16 (A) the date of the violation; or 

17 (B) the date on which the Director became 

18 aware of such violation. 

19 (4) In addition to any penalties under para20 graphs (1) through (3), the Director may not award 

21 a covered grant to a covered recipient or successor 

22 to such recipient that has violated any provision of 

23 this Act unless such recipient paid back any funds 

24 from the grant under which such recipient received 


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1 funds which were used in a manner that violated 

2 subsection (b). 

3 (5) The Director shall report a covered recipi4 ent that violated a provision of subsection (b) to the 

5 Department of Justice. 

6 (d) HIGH-RISK AREAS.— 

7 (1) WAIVER REQUIRED.—The Director may not 

8 award a covered grant with respect to a high-risk 

9 country unless the recipient of such grant has re10 ceived a waiver under paragraph (2). 

11 (2) WAIVER REQUIREMENTS.—The Director 

12 may issue a waiver to operate in a high-risk country 

13 to an applicant that the Director determines has 

14 taken sufficient measures to prevent the violation of 

15 this Act. In making such a determination, the Direc16 tor shall require the applicant to— 

17 (A) describe the safeguards such applicant 

18 employs to protect human rights; 

19 (B) describe the accountability such appli20 cant employs to ensure proper use of funds; 

21 (C) provide any training materials used by 

22 the organization with respect to protecting 

23 human rights; and 

24 (D) provide such other information as the 

25 Director determines appropriate. 


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1 (3) AUDITS.—The Secretary of the Interior 

2 shall perform, or cause an independent third party 

3 to perform, audits of any recipient that receives 

4 grant funds from the Director issued with respect to 

5 a high-risk country. 

6 (e) RISK ANALYSIS.—In performing a risk assess7 ment analysis for a covered grant, the Director shall in8 clude the occurrence of human rights violations as a factor 

9 in such analysis. 

10 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

11 (1) COVERED GRANT.—The term ‘‘covered 

12 grant’’ means a grant awarded by the Director 

13 under which funds will be expended outside the 

14 United States, including grants issued pursuant to— 

15 (A) section 2101 of the African Elephant 

16 Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 4211); 

17 (B) section 4 of the Great Ape Conserva18 tion Act of 2000 (16 U.S.C. 6303); 

19 (C) section 4 of the Marine Turtle Con20 servation Act of 2004 (16 U.S.C. 6603); and 

21 (D) section 5 of the Rhinoceros and Tiger 

22 Conservation Act of 1994 (16 U.S.C. 5304). 

23 (2) COVERED RECIPIENT.—The term ‘‘covered 

24 recipient’’ means any entity that is a grantee, subVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:47 Dec 29, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5493.IH H5493

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1 grantee, or applicant with respect to a covered 

2 grant. 

3 (3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

4 the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife 

5 Service. 

6 (4) GROSS VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONALLY

7 RECOGNIZED HUMAN RIGHTS.—The term ‘‘gross vio8 lations of internationally recognized human rights’’ 

9 has the meaning given such term in section 

10 502B(d)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 

11 (22 U.S.C. 2304(d)(1)). 

12 (5) HIGH-RISK COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘high-risk 

13 country’’ means a country with respect to which the 

14 most recent report issued pursuant to section 116(d) 

15 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 

16 2151n(d)) includes reports of extrajudicial, arbi17 trary, or unlawful killings by security forces. 

18 (6) PROHIBITED ENTITY.—The term ‘‘prohib19 ited entity’’ means a person or entity that is credibly 

20 alleged to have committed a gross violation of inter21 nationally recognized human rights— 

22 (A) during the 10-year period ending on 

23 the date of issuance of the relevant covered 

24 grant; or 


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1 (B) after the date of issuance of the rel2 evant covered grant. 

3 (7) SUCCESSOR.—The term ‘‘successor’’ means 

4 an entity that the Director determines is substan5 tially owned by persons who owned a prohibited enti6 ty at the time such entity became a prohibited enti7 ty. 

Æ 


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