I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1550 

To support State and tribal efforts to develop and implement management 

strategies to address chronic wasting disease among deer, elk, and moose 

populations, to support applied research regarding the causes of chronic 

wasting disease and methods to control the further spread of the disease, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 6, 2019 

Mr. KIND (for himself and Mr. SENSENBRENNER) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition 

to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently 

determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To support State and tribal efforts to develop and implement 

management strategies to address chronic wasting disease among deer, elk, and moose populations, to support 

applied research regarding the causes of chronic wasting 

disease and methods to control the further spread of 

the disease, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

2 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

3 ‘‘Chronic Wasting Disease Management Act’’. 

4 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

5 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 

Sec. 3. Findings. 

Sec. 4. Support for State efforts to manage and control chronic wasting disease. 

Sec. 5. Support for applied research regarding chronic wasting disease. 

Sec. 6. Multi-agency cooperation with States to address chronic wasting disease. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE.—The term 

9 ‘‘chronic wasting disease’’ means the animal disease 

10 afflicting among deer, elk, and moose populations 

11 that— 

12 (A) is a transmissible disease of the nerv13 ous system resulting in distinctive lesions in the 

14 brain; and 

15 (B) belongs to the group of diseases known 

16 as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, 

17 which group includes scrapie, bovine spongiform 

18 encephalopathy, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. 

19 (2) ELIGIBLE GRANT RECIPIENT.—The term 

20 ‘‘eligible grant recipient’’ means a State department 

21 of wildlife, State department of agriculture, college 

22 or university, or related research center conducting 


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1 scientific applied research regarding chronic wasting 

2 disease. 

3 (3) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ 

4 has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 

5 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 

6 Act (25 U.S.C. 450b). 

7 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

8 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Ani9 mal and Plant Health Inspection Service-Wildlife 

10 Services. 

11 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

12 Congress finds the following: 

13 (1) Pursuant to State and Federal law, the 

14 States retain primary and policy-making authority 

15 with regard to wildlife management, and nothing in 

16 this Act interferes with or otherwise affects the pri17 mary authority of the States in managing wildlife 

18 generally, or managing, surveying, and monitoring 

19 the incidence of chronic wasting disease. 

20 (2) Chronic wasting disease, the fatal neuro21 logical disease found in cervids, is a fundamental 

22 threat to the health and vibrancy of deer, elk, and 

23 moose populations, and the increased occurrence of 

24 chronic wasting disease in regionally diverse loca25 tions in recent months necessitates an escalation in 


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1 applied research, surveillance, monitoring, and man2 agement activities focused on containing and man3 aging this lethal disease. 

4 (3) As the States move to manage existing lev5 els of chronic wasting disease and insulate non6 infected wild and captive cervid populations from the 

7 disease, the Federal Government should endeavor to 

8 provide integrated and holistic financial and tech9 nical support to these States and the many State de10 partments of wildlife, State departments of agri11 culture, colleges and universities, and related re12 search centers conducting scientific applied research 

13 regarding chronic wasting disease. 

14 (4) The Secretary should provide consistent, co15 herent, and integrated support structures and pro16 grams for the benefit of State wildlife and agricul17 tural administrators, as chronic wasting disease can 

18 move freely between captive and wild cervids across 

19 the broad array of Federal, State, tribal, and local 

20 land management jurisdictions. 

21 (5) The Secretary can provide consistent, coher22 ent, and integrated support systems under existing 

23 legal authorities to States and the many State de24 partments of wildlife, State departments of agri25 culture, colleges and universities, and related reVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1550.IH H1550

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1 search centers conducting scientific applied research 

2 regarding chronic wasting disease. 

3 SEC. 4. SUPPORT FOR STATE EFFORTS TO MANAGE AND 

4 CONTROL CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE. 

5 (a) AVAILABILITY OF ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary 

6 shall allocate funds made available under subparagraphs 

7 (A) and (B) of subsection (e)(1) directly to State and trib8 al agencies responsible for wildlife management to support 

9 State and tribal efforts to develop and implement manage10 ment strategies to address chronic wasting disease. 

11 (b) PETITION PROCESS.—A State or tribal agency 

12 shall petition the Secretary for a portion of the funds 

13 available under subsection (a). 

14 (c) FUNDING PRIORITIES.—In determining the 

15 amounts to be allocated to State and tribal agencies under 

16 subsection (a), the Secretary shall give priority to States 

17 and tribal agencies based on the following criteria: 

18 (1) Relative scope of incidence of chronic wast19 ing disease on lands of the State or Indian tribe, 

20 with priority given to those States and Indian tribes 

21 with the highest incidence of the disease. 

22 (2) State or tribal expenditures on chronic 

23 wasting disease management, monitoring, surveil24 lance, and applied research, with priority given to 

25 those States and Indian tribes that have shown the 


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1 greatest financial commitment to managing, moni2 toring, surveying, and researching chronic wasting 

3 disease. 

4 (3) Comprehensive and integrated State or trib5 al policies and programs focused on chronic wasting 

6 disease management between involved State or tribal 

7 wildlife and agricultural agencies, with priority given 

8 to those States and Indian tribes that have inte9 grated the programs and policies of all involved 

10 agencies related to chronic wasting disease manage11 ment. 

12 (4) Rapid response to new outbreaks of chronic 

13 wasting disease, whether occurring in areas in which 

14 chronic wasting disease is already found or areas 

15 with first infections, with the intent of containing 

16 the disease in any new area of infection. 

17 (d) RAPID RESPONSE FUND.—The Secretary shall 

18 use funds made available under subsection (e)(1)(C) as 

19 a rapid response fund to support State and tribal efforts 

20 to control the spread of chronic wasting disease upon the 

21 detection of chronic wasting disease among deer, elk, or 

22 moose populations not previously infected. 

23 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

25 appropriated to the Secretary $35,000,000 to supVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1550.IH H1550

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1 port State and tribal efforts to manage and control 

2 chronic wasting disease, of which— 

3 (A) $20,000,000 shall be allocated to 

4 States under subsection (a); 

5 (B) $5,000,000 shall be allocated to tribal 

6 agencies under subsection (a); and 

7 (C) $10,000,000 shall be retained for the 

8 rapid response fund under subsection (d). 

9 (2) AVAILABILITY.—Funds appropriated pursu10 ant to the authorization of appropriations in para11 graph (1) shall remain available until expended. 

12 (3) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.— 

13 Not more than three percent of the amount appro14 priated pursuant to the authorization of appropria15 tions in paragraph (1) may be used to cover admin16 istrative expenses incurred by the Secretary. 

17 SEC. 5. SUPPORT FOR APPLIED RESEARCH REGARDING 

18 CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE. 

19 (a) EXPANSION OF APPLIED RESEARCH GRANTS.— 

20 The Secretary shall make grants to support efforts to ex21 pand and accelerate applied research on chronic wasting 

22 disease, including (but not limited to) research regarding 

23 the following: 

24 (1) Sustainable cervid harvest management 

25 practices to reduce chronic wasting disease occurVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1550.IH H1550

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1 rence and to prevent or limit spatial spread of 

2 chronic wasting disease. 

3 (2) Management experiments and strategies de4 signed for long-term suppression of chronic wasting 

5 disease. 

6 (3) Harvest management practices and other 

7 practices that exacerbate chronic wasting disease oc8 currence, with an emphasis on retrospective analyses 

9 of available harvest management and chronic wast10 ing disease trend data. 

11 (4) Factors contributing to local emergence of 

12 chronic wasting disease, increased prevalence of 

13 chronic wasting disease, and distribution of chronic 

14 wasting disease, including mechanisms of disease 

15 transmission and effective barriers to transmission. 

16 (5) Methods and products to effectively detect 

17 infectious prions in, and decontaminate infectious 

18 prions from natural environments and inorganic sur19 faces. 

20 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

22 appropriated to the Secretary $10,000,000 to make 

23 grants under subsection (a). 


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1 (2) AVAILABILITY.—Funds appropriated pursu2 ant to the authorization of appropriations in para3 graph (1) shall remain available until expended. 

4 (3) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.— 

5 Not more than three percent of the amount appro6 priated pursuant to the authorization of appropria7 tions in paragraph (1) may be used to cover admin8 istrative expenses incurred by the Secretary. 

9 SEC. 6. MULTI-AGENCY COOPERATION WITH STATES TO AD10 DRESS CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE. 

11 Land management agencies of the Department of Ag12 riculture and the Department of the Interior shall work 

13 cooperatively with States— 

14 (1) in the conduct of applied research regarding 

15 chronic wasting disease; and 

16 (2) in the implementation of State chronic 

17 wasting disease response plans to reduce the spread 

18 and prevalence of chronic wasting disease. 

Æ 


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