IIB

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1934

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 28, 1999

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science,

and Transportation

AN ACT

To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to

establish the John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue

Assistance Grant Program.

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 ‘‘Marine Mammal Res3 cue Assistance Act of 1999’’.

4 SEC. 2. JOHN H. PRESCOTT MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE AS5 SISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title IV of the Marine Mammal

7 Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1371 et seq.) is

8 amended—

9 (1) by redesignating sections 408 and 409 as

10 sections 409 and 410, respectively; and

11 (2) by inserting after section 407 the following:

12 ‘‘SEC. 408. JOHN H. PRESCOTT MARINE MAMMAL RESCUE

13 ASSISTANCE GRANT PROGRAM.

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—(1) Subject to the availability of

15 appropriations, the Secretary shall conduct a grant pro16 gram to be known as the John H. Prescott Marine Mam17 mal Rescue Assistance Grant Program, to provide grants

18 to eligible stranding network participants for the recovery

19 or treatment of marine mammals, the collection of data

20 from living or dead marine mammals for scientific re21 search regarding marine mammal health, and facility op22 eration costs that are directly related to those purposes.

23 ‘‘(2)(A) The Secretary shall ensure that, to the great24 est extent practicable, funds provided as grants under this

25 subsection are distributed equitably among the designated

26 stranding regions.
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1 ‘‘(B) In determining priorities among such regions,

2 the Secretary may consider—

3 ‘‘(i) any episodic stranding or any mortality

4 event other than an event described in section

5 410(6), that occurred in any region in the preceding

6 year; and

7 ‘‘(ii) data regarding average annual strandings

8 and mortality events per region.

9 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—To receive a grant under this

10 section, a stranding network participant shall submit an

11 application in such form and manner as the Secretary may

12 prescribe.

13 ‘‘(c) ADVISORY GROUP.—

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta15 tion with the Marine Mammal Commission, shall es16 tablish an advisory group in accordance with this

17 subsection to advise the Secretary regarding the im18 plementation of this section, including the award of

19 grants under this section.

20 ‘‘(2) MEMBERSHIP.—The advisory group shall

21 consist of a representative from each of the des22 ignated stranding regions and other individuals who

23 represent public and private organizations that are

24 actively involved in rescue, rehabilitation, release,
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1 scientific research, marine conservation, and forensic

2 science regarding stranded marine mammals.

3 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—

4 ‘‘(A) MEETINGS.—The advisory group

5 shall—

6 ‘‘(i) ensure that each meeting of the

7 advisory group is open to the public; and

8 ‘‘(ii) provide, at each meeting of the

9 advisory group, an opportunity for inter10 ested persons to present oral or written

11 statements concerning items on the agenda

12 for the meeting.

13 ‘‘(B) NOTICE.—The Secretary shall pro14 vide to the public timely notice of each meeting

15 of the advisory group.

16 ‘‘(C) MINUTES.—The Secretary shall keep

17 and make available to the public minutes of

18 each meeting of the advisory group.

19 ‘‘(4) EXEMPTION.—The Federal Advisory Com20 mittee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the es21 tablishment and activities of an advisory group in

22 accordance with this subsection.

23 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION.—The amount of a grant under this

24 section shall not exceed $100,000.

25 ‘‘(e) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The non-Federal share of

2 the costs of an activity conducted with a grant under

3 this section shall be 25 percent of such costs.

4 ‘‘(2) IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS.—The Secretary

5 may apply to the non-Federal share of an activity

6 conducted with a grant under this section the

7 amount of funds, and the fair market value of prop8 erty and services, provided by non-Federal sources

9 and used for the activity.

10 ‘‘(f) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of amounts

11 available each fiscal year to carry out this section, the Sec12 retary may expend not more than 6 percent to pay the

13 administrative expenses necessary to carry out this sec14 tion.

15 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

16 ‘‘(1) DESIGNATED STRANDING REGION.—The

17 term ‘designated stranding region’ means a geo18 graphic region designated by the Secretary for pur19 poses of administration of this title.

20 ‘‘(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ has

21 the meaning given that term in section 3(12)(A).

22 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

23 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry

24 out this section $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2001

25 through 2003, to remain available until expended.’’.
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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 3(12)(B)

2 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C.

3 1362(12)(B)) is amended by inserting ‘‘(other than sec4 tion 408)’’ after ‘‘title IV’’.

5 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents

6 in the first section of the Marine Mammal Protection Act

7 of 1972 (86 Stat. 1027) is amended by striking the items

8 relating to sections 408 and 409 and inserting the fol9 lowing:

‘‘Sec. 408. John H. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Grant Program.

‘‘Sec. 409. Authorization of appropriations.

‘‘Sec. 410. Definitions.’’.

Passed the House of Representatives September 27,

1999.

Attest: JEFF TRANDAHL,

Clerk.