89–006

107TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1st Session 107–94

ASIAN ELEPHANT CONSERVATION REAUTHORIZATION ACT

OF 2001

JUNE 12, 2001.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of

the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. HANSEN, from the Committee on Resources,

submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H.R. 700]

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill

(H.R. 700) to reauthorize the Asian Elephant Conservation Act of

1997, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with an

amendment and recommend that the bill as amended do pass.

The amendment is as follows:

Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Asian Elephant Conservation Reauthorization Act

of 2001’’.

SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF ASIAN ELEPHANT CONSERVATION ACT OF 1997.

Section 7 of the Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997 (16 U.S.C. 4266) is

amended by striking ‘‘1998’’ and all that follows through ‘‘2002’’ and inserting ‘‘2001,

2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007’’.

SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.

Section 7 of the Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997 (16 U.S.C. 4266) is further amended—

(1) by striking ‘‘There are authorized’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There

is authorized’’; and

(2) by adding at the end the following:

‘‘(b) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of amounts available each fiscal year to carry

out this Act, the Secretary may expend not more than 3 percent or $80,000, whichever is greater, to pay the administrative expenses necessary to carry out this Act.’’.

SEC. 4. COOPERATION.

The Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997 is further amended by redesignating section 7 (16 U.S.C. 4266) as section 8, and by inserting after section 6 the

following:

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‘‘SEC. 7. ADVISORY GROUP.

‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—To assist in carrying out this Act, the Secretary may convene

an advisory group consisting of individuals representing public and private organizations actively involved in the conservation of Asian elephants.

‘‘(b) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—

‘‘(1) MEETINGS.—The Advisory Group shall—

‘‘(A) ensure that each meeting of the advisory group is open to the public;

and

‘‘(B) provide, at each meeting, an opportunity for interested persons to

present oral or written statements concerning items on the agenda.

‘‘(2) NOTICE.—The Secretary shall provide to the public timely notice of each

meeting of the advisory group.

‘‘(3) MINUTES.—Minutes of each meeting of the advisory group shall be kept

by the Secretary and shall be made available to the public.

‘‘(c) EXEMPTION FROM FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT.—The Federal Advisory

Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the advisory group.’’.

SEC. 5. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

(a) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997 is

amended as follows:

(1) Section 4(3) (16 U.S.C. 4263(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘the Asian Elephant Conservation Fund established under section 6(a)’’ and inserting ‘‘the account established by division A, section 101(e), title I of Public Law 105–277

under the heading ‘MULTINATIONAL SPECIES CONSERVATION FUND’ ’’.

(2) Section 6 (16 U.S.C. 4265) is amended by striking the section heading and

all that follows through ‘‘(d) ACCEPTANCE AND USE OF DONATIONS.—’’ and inserting the following:

‘‘SEC. 6. ACCEPTANCE AND USE OF DONATIONS.’’.

(b) TECHNICAL CORRECTION.—Title I of section 101(e) of division A of Public Law

105–277 (112 Stat. 2681–237) is amended under the heading ‘‘MULTINATIONAL SPECIES CONSERVATION FUND’’ by striking ‘‘Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act, subchapter I’’ and inserting ‘‘Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act of 1994, part I’’.

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of H.R. 700 is to reauthorize the Asian Elephant

Conservation Act of 1997.

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

The population of Asian elephants living in the wild has dramatically fallen to about 40,000 animals. These wild populations are located in 13 countries in South and Southeast Asia. The largest population of 20,000 Asian elephants, or 50 percent of the total, reside

in India; and the smallest population of 40 animals is located in

Nepal. What is equally distressing is that there are only about 14

populations of 1,000 or more individual elephants in a contiguous

area. Seven of these populations are found in Burma and India. In

simple terms, this means that such drastic population fragmentation increases the likelihood of geographic extinctions and greatly

reduces the long-term viability of the species. In addition, it has

been estimated that there are about 16,000 domesticated elephants.

The Asian elephant is protected under our Endangered Species

Act, and is also listed on the Red List of Mammals by the IUCNWorld Conservation Union and on Appendix I of the Convention on

International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and

Flora. Under Appendix I, all commercial trade in Asian elephant

products are prohibited on a worldwide basis.

In response to this crisis, Congress enacted the Asian Elephant

Conservation Act of 1997. Under the terms of this law, as sponsored by Congressman Jim Saxton, an Asian Elephant ConservaVerDate 11-MAY-2000 08:58 Jun 13, 2001 Jkt 089006 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\HR094.XXX pfrm01 PsN: HR094
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tion Fund was created. This mechanism, modeled after the African

Elephant and Rhino and Tiger Conservation Funds, authorized an

appropriation of up to $5 million per year until September 30,

2002.

Congress has appropriated $1.9 million in federal funds to the

Fund since its enactment into law, which was matched by an additional $1.1 million in private donations. This money was spent to

underwrite 27 conservation grants in nine different range countries. The type of projects funded include: construction of antipoaching camps; equipping protected area field staff in India; promotion of elephant conservation in Asia; resettlement of elephants;

school education to support Asian elephant conservation; and a

study of the mobility patterns, population dynamics and feeding

patterns of elephants.

COMMITTEE ACTION

H.R. 700 was introduced on February 14, 2001, by Congressman

Jim Saxton (R–NJ). The bill was referred to the Committee on Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans. On March 15, 2001, the

Subcommittee held a hearing on the bill. On March 29, 2001, the

Subcommittee met to mark up the bill. Congressman Saxton offered an amendment in the nature of a substitute to allow for the

establishment of an Advisory Panel to assist the Secretary of the

Interior in conserving Asian elephants and to clarify the amount of

administrative expenses that may be spent on the program. The

amendment was adopted by voice vote. The bill, as amended, was

then forwarded to the Full Committee by voice vote. On May 16,

2001, the full Resource Committee met to consider the bill. No further amendments were offered and the bill as amended was then

ordered favorably reported to the House of Representatives by

unanimous consent.

COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Regarding Clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII

of the rules of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Resources’ oversight findings and recommendations are reflected in

the body of this report.

CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT

Article I, section 8 of the Constitution of the United States

grants Congress the authority to enact this bill.

COMPLIANCE WITH THE HOUSE RULE XIII

1. Cost of Legislation.—Clause 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of

the House of Representatives requires an estimate and a comparison by the Committee of the Costs which would be incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B) of that rule provides

that this requirement does not apply when the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

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2. Congressional Budget Act.—As required by clause 3(c)(2) of

rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section

308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this bill does not

contain any new budget authority, spending authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in revenues or tax expenditures.

3. General Performance Goals and Objectives.—As required by

clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or objective

of this bill is to reauthorize appropriations for the Asian Elephant

Conservation Act.

4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate.—Under clause

3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and

section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate for this bill from the

Director of the Congressional Budget Office:

U.S. CONGRESS,

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE,

Washington, DC, May 18, 2001.

Hon. JAMES V. HANSEN,

Chairman, Committee on Resources,

House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 700, the Asian Elephant

Conservation Reauthorization Act of 2001.

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Deborah Reis.

Sincerely,

BARRY B. ANDERSON

(For Dan L. Crippen, Director).

Enclosure.

H.R. 700—Asian Elephant Conservation Reauthorization Act of

2001

Summary: H.R. 700 would reauthorize funding for projects carried out under the Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997. Specifically, the bill would authorize appropriations through 2007 for

such projects to the Multinational Species Conservation Fund at

the existing authorization level of up to $5 million annually. The

current authorization expires after fiscal year 2002. The Secretary

of the Interior uses this fund primarily to help finance research

and conservation programs overseas.

Assuming appropriation of the authorized amounts, CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 700 would result in additional discretionary spending of $18 million over the 2003–2006 period. (An additional $7 million would be spent after 2006.) The legislation

would not affect direct spending or receipts; therefore, pay-as-yougo procedures would not apply. H.R. 700 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded

Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would not affect the budgets of

state, local, or tribal governments.

Estimated cost to the Federal Government: The estimated budgetary impact of H.R. 700 is shown in the following table. For this

estimate, CBO assumes that the entire amounts authorized by the

bill would be appropriated for each fiscal year. Outlay estimates

are based on recent spending patterns for this program. The cost

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of this legislation falls within budget function 300 (natural resources and environment).

By fiscal year, in millions of dollars—

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION

Spending under current law:

Authorization level 1 ................................................. 1 5 0 0 0 0

Estimated outlays .................................................... 1 3 2 0 0 0

Proposed changes:

Estimated authorization level ................................. 0 0 5 5 5 5

Estimated outlays .................................................... 0 0 3 5 5 5

Spending under H.R. 700:

Estimated authorization level 1 ............................... 1 5 5 5 5 5

Estimated outlays .................................................... 1 3 5 5 5 5

1 The 2001 level is the amount appropriated for that year for Asian elephant conservation. The 2002 level is the amount authorized under current law.

Pay-as-you-go considerations: None.

Intergovernmental and private-sector impact: H.R. 700 contains

no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in

UMRA and would not affect on the budgets of state, local, or tribal

governments.

Estimate prepared by: Federal costs: Deborah Reis; impact on

state, local, and tribal governments: Marjorie Miller; impact on the

private sector: Lauren Marks.

Estimate approved by: Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104–4

This bill contains no unfunded mandates.

PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW

This bill is not intended to preempt any state, local or tribal law.

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED

In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of the

House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by the bill,

as reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italic,

existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman):

ASIAN ELEPHANT CONSERVATION ACT OF 1997

* * * * * * *

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) * * *

* * * * * * *

(3) The term ‘‘Fund’’ means øthe Asian Elephant Conservation Fund established under section 6(a)¿ the account established by division A, section 101(e), title I of Public Law 105– 277 under the heading ‘‘MULTINATIONAL SPECIES CONSERVATION

FUND’’.

* * * * * * *

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øSEC. 6. ASIAN ELEPHANT CONSERVATION FUND.

ø(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the general fund of

the Treasury a separate account to be known as the ‘‘Asian Elephant Conservation Fund’’, which shall consist of amounts deposited into the Fund by the Secretary of the Treasury under subsection (b).

ø(b) DEPOSITS INTO THE FUND.—The Secretary of the Treasury

shall deposit into the Fund—

ø(1) all amounts received by the Secretary in the form of donations under subsection (d); and

ø(2) other amounts appropriated to the Fund.

ø(c) USE.—

ø(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary

may use amounts in the Fund without further appropriation to

provide assistance under section 5.

ø(2) ADMINISTRATION.—Of amounts in the Fund available for

each fiscal year, the Secretary may use not more than 3 percent to administer the Fund.

ø(d) ACCEPTANCE AND USE OF DONATIONS.—¿

SEC. 6. ACCEPTANCE AND USE OF DONATIONS.

The Secretary may accept and use donations to provide assistance under section 5. Amounts received by the Secretary in the

form of donations shall be transferred to the Secretary of the

Treasury for deposit into the Fund.

SEC. 7. ADVISORY GROUP.

(a) IN GENERAL.—To assist in carrying out this Act, the Secretary

may convene an advisory group consisting of individuals representing public and private organizations actively involved in the

conservation of Asian elephants.

(b) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—

(1) MEETINGS.—The Advisory Group shall—

(A) ensure that each meeting of the advisory group is

open to the public; and

(B) provide, at each meeting, an opportunity for interested persons to present oral or written statements concerning items on the agenda.

(2) NOTICE.—The Secretary shall provide to the public timely

notice of each meeting of the advisory group.

(3) MINUTES.—Minutes of each meeting of the advisory group

shall be kept by the Secretary and shall be made available to

the public.

(c) EXEMPTION FROM FEDERAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACT.—The

Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to

the advisory group.

SEC. ø7.¿ 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

øThere are authorized¿ (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to

be appropriated to the Fund $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years

ø1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002¿ 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,

2006, and 2007 to carry out this Act, which may remain available

until expended.

(b) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of amounts available each fiscal

year to carry out this Act, the Secretary may expend not more than

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3 percent or $80,000, whichever is greater, to pay the administrative

expenses necessary to carry out this Act.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND RELATED

AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1999

DIVISION A—OMNIBUS CONSOLIDATED APPROPRIATIONS

* * * * * * *

SEC. 101. (a)***

* * * * * * *

(e) For programs, projects or activities in the Department of the

Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999, provided

as follows, to be effective as if it had been enacted into law as the

regular appropriations Act:

AN ACT Making appropriations for the Department of the Interior and related

agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1999, and for other purposes.

TITLE I—DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

* * * * * * *

UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

* * * * * * *

MULTINATIONAL SPECIES CONSERVATION FUND

For expenses necessary to carry out the African Elephant Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 4201–4203, 4211–4213, 4221–4225, 4241– 4245, and 1538), the Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997

(Public Law 105–96), and the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation

Act of 1994 (16 U.S.C. 5301–5306), $2,000,000, to remain available

until expended: Provided, That unexpended balances of amounts

previously appropriated to the African Elephant Conservation

Fund, Rewards and Operations account, and Rhinoceros and Tiger

Conservation Fund may be transferred to and merged with this appropriation: Provided further, That in fiscal year 1999 and thereafter, donations to provide assistance under section 5304 of the

øRhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act, subchapter I¿ Rhinoceros

and Tiger Conservation Act of 1994, part I of the African Elephant

Conservation Act, and section 6 of the Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997 shall be deposited to this Fund and shall be available without further appropriation: Provided further, That in fiscal

year 1999 and thereafter, all penalties received by the United

States under 16 U.S.C. 4224 which are not used to pay rewards

under 16 U.S.C. 4225 shall be deposited to this Fund to provide assistance under 16 U.S.C. 4211 and shall be available without further appropriation: Provided further, That in fiscal year 1999 and

thereafter, not more than three percent of amounts appropriated to

this Fund may be used by the Secretary of the Interior to administer the Fund.

* * * * * * *

Æ