I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1919 

To amend the Animal Health Protection Act to provide chronic wasting 

disease support for States and coordinated response efforts, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 27, 2019 

Mr. KELLY of Mississippi (for himself, Mr. GIBBS, Mrs. CRAIG, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mrs. AXNE, Mr. KUSTOFF of Tennessee, Mr. 

PALAZZO, Mr. GUEST, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. CASTEN of Illinois, 

and Mr. WOMACK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Animal Health Protection Act to provide 

chronic wasting disease support for States and coordinated response efforts, 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Detection, Enhanced 

5 Education, and Response Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘DEER 

6 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE SUPPORT FOR STATES 

2 AND COORDINATED RESPONSE EFFORTS. 

3 The Animal Health Protection Act is amended by in4 serting after section 10409A (7 U.S.C. 8308a) the fol5 lowing: 

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

7 STATES AND COORDINATED RESPONSE EF8 FORTS. 

9 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE.— 

10 In this section, the term ‘chronic wasting disease’ means 

11 the animal disease afflicting deer, elk, and moose popu12 lations that— 

13 ‘‘(1) is a transmissible disease of the nervous 

14 system resulting in distinctive lesions in the brain; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(2) belongs to the group of diseases known as 

17 transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, which in18 cludes scrapie, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, 

19 and Cruetzfeldt-Jakob disease. 

20 ‘‘(b) SUPPORT FOR STATE EFFORTS TO MANAGE

21 AND CONTROL CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE.— 

22 ‘‘(1) AVAILABILITY OF ASSISTANCE.—The Sec23 retary shall allocate funds made available under sub24 section (e) directly to State departments of wildlife 

25 and State departments of agriculture to further deVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:09 Apr 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1919.IH H1919

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1 velop and implement chronic wasting disease surveil2 lance, testing, management, and response activities. 

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

4 the amounts to be allocated to State departments of 

5 wildlife and agriculture, the Secretary shall give pri6 ority to States that— 

7 ‘‘(A) have experienced a recent incidence of 

8 chronic wasting disease; 

9 ‘‘(B) have a chronic wasting disease moni10 toring and surveillance program; and 

11 ‘‘(C) have a diagnostic laboratory system 

12 certified for chronic wasting disease testing. 

13 ‘‘(c) CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE MULTIAGENCY

14 TASK FORCE.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab16 lish a multiagency task force that shall— 

17 ‘‘(A) establish a unified response frame18 work to better position the Department of Agri19 culture to respond to the growing threat of 

20 chronic wasting disease; 

21 ‘‘(B) provide a single Federal point of con22 tact for Federal and State entities that work on 

23 chronic wasting disease issues; 

24 ‘‘(C) determine funding priorities and allo25 cation of resources; and 


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1 ‘‘(D) disseminate information to the public 

2 relating to chronic wasting disease. 

3 ‘‘(2) COMPOSITION.—The multiagency task 

4 force established under paragraph (1) shall— 

5 ‘‘(A) be led by the Administrator of the 

6 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(B) include 1 or more representatives 

9 from each of the following: 

10 ‘‘(i) The Agricultural Research Serv11 ice. 

12 ‘‘(ii) The National Institute of Food 

13 and Agriculture. 

14 ‘‘(iii) The Forest Service. 

15 ‘‘(iv) The United States Fish and 

16 Wildlife Service. 

17 ‘‘(v) State departments of wildlife. 

18 ‘‘(vi) State departments of agri19 culture. 

20 ‘‘(vii) Institutions of higher education. 

21 ‘‘(d) MID-SOUTH CENTER OF EXCELLENCE IN

22 WILDLIFE DISEASES.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award 

24 a grant to a land-grant college or university (as de25 fined in section 1404 of the National Agricultural 


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1 Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 

2 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3103)) eligible to receive funds 

3 under the Hatch Act of 1887 (7 U.S.C. 361a et 

4 seq.) and the Smith-Lever Act (7 U.S.C. 341 et 

5 seq.) to establish a policy research center to be 

6 known as the ‘Mid-South Center of Excellence in 

7 Wildlife Diseases’. 

8 ‘‘(2) CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall award the 

9 grant under paragraph (1) to a land-grant college or 

10 university that— 

11 ‘‘(A) is located in a State— 

12 ‘‘(i) in the Southeast area of the Agri13 cultural Research Service; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) that has confirmed cases of 

15 chronic wasting disease in the State; 

16 ‘‘(B) has an established whitetail deer re17 search program with significant research his18 tory in deer ecology, movements, genetics, and 

19 management; 

20 ‘‘(C) has a college of veterinary medicine; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(D) has technical and scientific expertise 

23 relevant to chronic wasting disease through the 

24 university extension service and college of vet25 erinary medicine. 


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1 ‘‘(3) ACTIVITIES.—The Mid-South Center of 

2 Excellence in Wildlife Diseases established under 

3 paragraph (1) shall— 

4 ‘‘(A) have a special research focus on 

5 chronic wasting disease in whitetail deer; 

6 ‘‘(B) serve as the lead institution of higher 

7 education in collaborating with the multiagency 

8 task force established under subsection (c)(1); 

9 ‘‘(C) establish partnerships with other uni10 versities with expertise relevant to chronic wast11 ing disease research; 

12 ‘‘(D) develop an epidemiological research 

13 program focused on chronic wasting disease; 

14 ‘‘(E) expand chronic wasting disease sur15 veillance and testing capacity; and 

16 ‘‘(F) improve current chronic wasting dis17 ease ecology, movements, transmission, and 

18 management research. 

19 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

20 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are nec21 essary to carry out this section.’’. 

Æ 


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