II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2252 

To amend the Animal Health Protection Act 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 research regarding the causes of chronic wasting disease and 

methods to control the further spread of the disease, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 19, 2017 

Mr. TESTER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Animal Health Protection Act 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 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. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Chronic Wasting Dis3 ease Support for States Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE SUPPORT FOR STATES 

5 AND TRIBES. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Animal Health Protection 

7 Act is amended by inserting after section 10409A (7 

8 U.S.C. 8308a) the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 10409B. CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE SUPPORT FOR 

10 STATES AND TRIBES. 

11 ‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

12 ‘‘(1) Pursuant to State and Federal law, the 

13 States retain primacy and policymaking authority 

14 with regard to wildlife management. 

15 ‘‘(2) Chronic wasting disease, the fatal neuro16 logical disease found in cervids, is a fundamental 

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

18 moose populations, and the increased occurrence of 

19 chronic wasting disease in regionally diverse loca20 tions necessitates an escalation in research, surveil21 lance, monitoring, and management activities fo22 cused on containing and managing chronic wasting 

23 disease. 

24 ‘‘(3) As the States move to manage existing lev25 els of chronic wasting disease and insulate non26 infected wild and captive cervid populations from 


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1 chronic wasting disease, the Federal Government 

2 should provide integrated and holistic financial and 

3 technical support to States, State departments of 

4 wildlife, State departments of agriculture, institu5 tions of higher education, and related research cen6 ters conducting scientific research regarding chronic 

7 wasting disease. 

8 ‘‘(4) The Secretary should provide consistent, 

9 coherent, and integrated support structures and pro10 grams for the benefit of State wildlife and agricul11 tural administrators, as chronic wasting disease can 

12 move freely between captive and wild cervids across 

13 Federal, State, Tribal, and local land management 

14 jurisdictions. 

15 ‘‘(5) The Secretary can provide consistent, co16 herent, and integrated support systems under exist17 ing legal authorities to States, State departments of 

18 wildlife, State departments of agriculture, institu19 tions of higher education, and related research cen20 ters conducting scientific research regarding chronic 

21 wasting disease. 

22 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

23 ‘‘(1) CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE.—The term 

24 ‘chronic wasting disease’ means the animal disease 

25 afflicting deer, elk, and moose populations that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) is a transmissible disease of the nerv2 ous system resulting in distinctive lesions in the 

3 brain; and 

4 ‘‘(B) belongs to the group of diseases 

5 known as transmissible spongiform 

6 encephalopathies, which includes scrapie, bovine 

7 spongiform encephalopathy, and Cruetzfeldt8 Jakob disease. 

9 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE GRANT RECIPIENT.—The term 

10 ‘eligible grant recipient’ means a State department 

11 of wildlife, a State department of agriculture, an in12 stitution of higher education, or a related research 

13 center conducting scientific research regarding 

14 chronic wasting disease. 

15 ‘‘(c) SUPPORT FOR STATE EFFORTS TO MANAGE

16 AND CONTROL CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE.— 

17 ‘‘(1) AVAILABILITY OF ASSISTANCE.—The Sec18 retary shall allocate funds made available under 

19 clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph (5)(A) directly to 

20 State and Tribal agencies responsible for wildlife 

21 management to support State and Tribal efforts to 

22 develop and implement management strategies to 

23 address chronic wasting disease. 

24 ‘‘(2) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive 

25 funding under paragraph (1), a State or Tribal 


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1 agency shall submit to the Secretary an application 

2 for the funding at such time, in such manner, and 

3 containing such information as the Secretary may 

4 require. 

5 ‘‘(3) FUNDING PRIORITIES.—In determining 

6 the amounts to be allocated to State and Tribal 

7 agencies under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 

8 give priority to States and Indian tribes— 

9 ‘‘(A) with the highest incidence of chronic 

10 wasting disease; 

11 ‘‘(B) that have shown the greatest finan12 cial commitment to managing, monitoring, sur13 veying, and researching chronic wasting disease; 

14 ‘‘(C) that have comprehensive policies and 

15 programs focused on chronic wasting disease 

16 management that are integrated among all in17 volved State or Tribal wildlife and agricultural 

18 agencies; or 

19 ‘‘(D) that have the greatest need for rapid 

20 response to new outbreaks of chronic wasting 

21 disease occurring in areas in which chronic 

22 wasting disease is already found or areas with 

23 first infections, with the intent of containing 

24 chronic wasting disease in any new area of in25 fection. 


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1 ‘‘(4) RAPID RESPONSE.—If a State or Indian 

2 tribe detects chronic wasting disease in a deer, elk, 

3 or moose population that was not previously infected 

4 with chronic wasting disease, the Secretary shall use 

5 funds made available under paragraph (5)(A)(iii) to 

6 support State and Tribal efforts to immediately con7 trol the spread of chronic wasting disease within 

8 that population. 

9 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to 

11 be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out 

12 this subsection $35,000,000 for each fiscal 

13 year, to remain available until expended, of 

14 which— 

15 ‘‘(i) $20,000,000 shall be allocated to 

16 States under paragraph (1); 

17 ‘‘(ii) $5,000,000 shall be allocated to 

18 Tribal agencies under paragraph (1); and 

19 ‘‘(iii) $10,000,000 shall be retained 

20 for rapid response under paragraph (4). 

21 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE

22 COSTS.—Not more than 3 percent of the 

23 amount made available under subparagraph (A) 

24 may be used to cover administrative expenses 


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1 incurred by the Secretary in carrying out this 

2 subsection. 

3 ‘‘(d) SUPPORT FOR APPLIED RESEARCH REGARDING

4 CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE.— 

5 ‘‘(1) EXPANSION OF RESEARCH GRANTS.—The 

6 Secretary shall make grants to eligible grant recipi7 ents to support efforts to expand and accelerate ap8 plied research on chronic wasting disease, including 

9 research relating to— 

10 ‘‘(A) methods and products to effectively 

11 detect infectious prions in, and decontaminate 

12 infectious prions from, natural environments 

13 and inorganic surfaces; 

14 ‘‘(B) sustainable cervid harvest manage15 ment practices to reduce chronic wasting dis16 ease occurrence and to prevent or limit spatial 

17 spread of chronic wasting disease; 

18 ‘‘(C) management experiments and strate19 gies designed for long-term suppression of 

20 chronic wasting disease; 

21 ‘‘(D) harvest management practices and 

22 other practices that exacerbate chronic wasting 

23 disease occurrence, with an emphasis on retro24 spective analyses of available harvest manage25 ment and chronic wasting disease trend data; or 


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1 ‘‘(E) factors contributing to local emer2 gence of chronic wasting disease, increased 

3 prevalence of chronic wasting disease, and dis4 tribution of chronic wasting disease, including 

5 mechanisms of disease transmission and effec6 tive barriers to transmission. 

7 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS ON ADMINISTRATIVE

8 COSTS.— 

9 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE GRANT RECIPIENTS.—Not 

10 more than 15 percent of the amount of a grant 

11 under paragraph (1) may be used by an eligible 

12 grant recipient for administrative costs incurred 

13 by the eligible grant recipient. 

14 ‘‘(B) SECRETARY.—Not more than 3 per15 cent of the amount made available under para16 graph (3) may be used to cover administrative 

17 expenses incurred by the Secretary in carrying 

18 out this subsection. 

19 ‘‘(3) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

20 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec21 retary to make grants under paragraph (1) 

22 $25,000,000 for each fiscal year, to remain available 

23 until expended. 

24 ‘‘(e) MULTIAGENCY COOPERATION WITH STATES TO

25 ADDRESS CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE.—Land manageVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:17 Dec 20, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2252.IS S2252

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1 ment agencies of the Department of Agriculture and the 

2 Department of the Interior shall work cooperatively with 

3 States— 

4 ‘‘(1) in the conduct of chronic wasting disease 

5 research; and 

6 ‘‘(2) in the implementation of State manage7 ment strategies to reduce the spread and prevalence 

8 of chronic wasting disease. 

9 ‘‘(f) EFFECT.—Nothing in this section interferes with 

10 or otherwise affects the primacy of the States in managing 

11 wildlife generally, including managing, surveying, and 

12 monitoring the incidence of chronic wasting disease.’’. 

13 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Section 10403(8) of 

14 the Animal Health Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 8302(8)) is 

15 amended by striking ‘‘(25 U.S.C. 450b)’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘(25 U.S.C. 5304)’’. 

Æ 


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