I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5519 

To amend the Plant Protection Act for purposes of mitigating the threat 

of invasive species, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 13, 2018 

Mr. WELCH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Plant Protection Act for purposes of mitigating the threat of invasive species, 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 ‘‘Invasive Species Pre5 vention and Forest Restoration Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EXPANDING EMERGENCY AUTHORITY WITH RE7 SPECT TO INVASIVE SPECIES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 442 of 

9 the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7772) is amended by 


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1 striking ‘‘noxious weed threatens’’ and inserting ‘‘noxious 

2 weed directly or indirectly threatens’’. 

3 (b) EMERGENCY DEFINED.—Section 442 of the 

4 Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7772) is amended by add5 ing at the end the following new subsection: 

6 ‘‘(d) EMERGENCY DEFINED.—In this section, the 

7 term ‘emergency’ means an outbreak of a plant pest or 

8 noxious weed that the Secretary determines is occurring 

9 at a time during which insufficient Federal funds are 

10 available to timely achieve the arrest, control, eradication, 

11 or prevention of the spread of such plant pest or noxious 

12 weed.’’. 

13 (c) DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.—Subsection (b) of 

14 section 442 of the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7772) 

15 is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Any funds 

16 so transferred with respect to a designation of an emer17 gency under subsection (a) shall be transferred not later 

18 than 60 days after the date on which such designation 

19 is made.’’. 

20 SEC. 3. FOREST RECLAMATION GRANTS. 

21 Subtitle K of the National Agricultural Research, Ex22 tension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3310 

23 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following 

24 new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 1473H. FOREST RECLAMATION GRANTS. 

2 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The Sec3 retary, for purposes of addressing the critical threat to 

4 numerous tree species posed by non-native plant pests and 

5 noxious weeds, shall award competitive grants for studies 

6 of a two- to five-year duration to eligible institutions under 

7 which such eligible institutions— 

8 ‘‘(1) conduct research to promote the restora9 tion of affected tree species, including research on— 

10 ‘‘(A) biological control of plant pests or 

11 noxious weeds threatening native tree species 

12 heavily damaged by non-native pests; 

13 ‘‘(B) exploration of genetic manipulation of 

14 plant pests or noxious weeds; 

15 ‘‘(C) enhancement of host-resistance mech16 anisms; and 

17 ‘‘(D) development of other strategies for 

18 restoring individual tree species; and 

19 ‘‘(2) develop and disseminate to the public tools 

20 and information based on the research conducted 

21 under this section. 

22 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTIONS.—An entity eligible to 

23 receive a grant under this section is any of the following: 

24 ‘‘(1) An agency of the Federal Government. 

25 ‘‘(2) A State cooperative institution. 


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1 ‘‘(3) A college or university offering a bacca2 laureate or higher degree in the study of food, for3 estry, and agricultural sciences. 

4 ‘‘(4) A nonprofit entity described in section 

5 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (and exempt 

6 from tax under section 501(a) of such Code). 

7 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—Each eligible institution seeking 

8 to receive a grant under this section shall submit a com9 prehensive forest restoration research program to the Sec10 retary at such time, in such manner, and containing such 

11 information as the Secretary may require. 

12 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible institution re14 ceiving a grant under this section may use funds re15 ceived through such grant only to conduct research 

16 intended to address specific questions related to the 

17 recovery of tree species native to the United States 

18 suffering severe levels of mortality caused by non-na19 tive plant pests or noxious weeds. 

20 ‘‘(2) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—Notwith21 standing section 1492, an eligible institution receiv22 ing a grant under this section shall provide matching 

23 funds from non-Federal sources in an amount equal 

24 to not less than 20 percent of the grant. Indirect 

25 costs charged against a grant awarded under this 


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1 section shall not exceed 30 percent of the total Fed2 eral funds provided under the grant award. 

3 ‘‘(3) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—The 

4 total amount of grant funding a grant recipient is 

5 eligible to receive under this section shall not exceed 

6 $100,000 per year. 

7 ‘‘(e) COOPERATION AMONG ELIGIBLE INSTITU8 TIONS.—The Secretary, to the maximum extent prac9 ticable, shall encourage eligible institutions to cooperate 

10 in setting research priorities under this section. 

11 ‘‘(f) ADMINISTRATION.—In carrying out this sub12 section, the Secretary shall— 

13 ‘‘(1) establish a committee of experts composed 

14 of representatives of the United States Forest Serv15 ice, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, 

16 Agricultural Research Service, and State forestry 

17 agencies to advise the Secretary on criteria appro18 priate for— 

19 ‘‘(A) defining research topics eligible for 

20 funding under this section; 

21 ‘‘(B) reviewing grant proposals’ adherence 

22 to the purposes specified in subsection (a)(1); 

23 and 

24 ‘‘(C) membership in scientific peer review 

25 panels to review grant applications; 


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1 ‘‘(2) establish an advisory committee composed 

2 of representatives of land-grant colleges and univer3 sities and affiliated State agricultural experiment 

4 stations, the forest products industry, recreationists, 

5 and conservation organizations to assist the com6 mittee of experts established under paragraph (1) 

7 with respect to the responsibilities of such committee 

8 specified in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of such 

9 paragraph; and 

10 ‘‘(3) submit, beginning one year after the date 

11 on which the first grant is awarded under this sec12 tion, and annually thereafter to the Committee on 

13 Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the 

14 Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

15 of the Senate a report on the use of funds under 

16 this section in the previous year. 

17 ‘‘(g) FUNDING.—Of the funds available to the Com18 modity Credit Corporation, the Secretary shall make avail19 able to carry out this section— 

20 ‘‘(1) $3,000,000 for fiscal year 2019; 

21 ‘‘(2) $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2020; 

22 ‘‘(3) $8,000,000 for fiscal year 2021; and 

23 ‘‘(4) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2022. 

24 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘plant 

25 pest’ and ‘noxious weed’ have the meanings given such 


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1 terms in section 403 of the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 

2 7702).’’. 

Æ 


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