II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1694 

To authorize resources for sustained research and analysis to address colony 

collapse disorder and the decline of North American pollinators. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 26, 2007 

Mrs. BOXER (for herself, Mr. THUNE, Mr. CASEY, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. NELSON of Florida, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. BROWN, and Mr. 

KERRY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To authorize resources for sustained research and analysis 

to address colony collapse disorder and the decline of 

North American pollinators. 

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 ‘‘Pollinator Protection 

5 Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) many of the crops that humans and live2 stock consume rely on pollinators for healthy 

3 growth; 

4 (2) pollination by honey and native bees adds 

5 more than $18,000,000,000 annually to the value of 

6 United States crops; 

(3) 1 7 ⁄3 of the food supply of the United States 

8 depends on bee pollination, which makes the man9 agement and protection of pollinators an issue of 

10 paramount importance to the security of the United 

11 States food supply system; 

12 (4) colony collapse disorder is the name that 

13 has been given to the latest die-off of honey bee colo14 nies, exacerbating the continual decline of pollinators 

15 in North America; 

16 (5) honey bee colonies in more than 23 states 

17 have been affected by colony collapse disorder; 

18 (6) if the current rate of decline continues, the 

19 United States will be forced to rely more heavily on 

20 imported foods, which will destabilize the food secu21 rity of the United States through adverse affects on 

22 the availability, price, and quality of the many fruits, 

23 vegetables, and other products that depend on ani24 mal pollination; and 


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1 (7) enhanced funding for research on honey 

2 bees, native bees, parasites, pathogens, toxins, and 

3 other environmental factors affecting bees and polli4 nation of cultivated and wild plants will result in 

5 methods of response to colony collapse disorder and 

6 other factors causing the decline of pollinators in 

7 North America. 

8 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

9 (a) AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE.—There is 

10 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Agri11 culture, acting through the Agricultural Research Serv12 ice— 

13 (1) $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 

14 through 2012, to be used for new personnel, facili15 ties improvement, and additional research at Depart16 ment of Agriculture Bee Research Laboratories; 

17 (2) $2,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 

18 and 2009, to be used for research on honey and na19 tive bee physiology, insect pathology, insect chemical 

20 ecology, and honey and native bee toxicology at 

21 other Department of Agriculture facilities in New 

22 York, Florida, California, Utah, and Texas; and 

23 (3) $1,750,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 

24 through 2010, to be used for an area-wide research 


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1 program to identify causes and solutions for colony 

2 collapse disorder in affected States, of which— 

3 (A) $875,000 for each fiscal year shall be 

4 used to carry out the program at the bee lab5 oratory of the Agricultural Research Service lo6 cated in Beltsville, Maryland; and 

7 (B) $875,000 for each fiscal year shall be 

8 used to carry out the program at the bee lab9 oratory of the Agricultural Research Service lo10 cated in Tucson, Arizona. 

11 (b) COOPERATIVE STATE RESEARCH, EDUCATION, 

12 AND EXTENSION SERVICE.—There is authorized to be ap13 propriated to the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through 

14 the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension 

15 Service, $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 

16 2012 to be used to fund Department of Agriculture exten17 sion and research grants to investigate— 

18 (1) honey bee biology, immunology, and ecology; 

19 (2) honey bee genomics; 

20 (3) honey bee bioinformatics; 

21 (4) native bee crop pollination and habitat con22 servation; 

23 (5) native bee taxonomy and ecology; 

24 (6) pollination biology; 


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1 (7) sublethal effects of insecticides, herbicides, 

2 and fungicides on honey bees, native pollinators, and 

3 other beneficial insects; 

4 (8) the effects of genetically-modified crops, in5 cluding the interaction of genetically-modified crops 

6 with honey bees and other native pollinators; and 

7 (9) honey, bumble, and other native bee 

8 parasites and pathogens and effects on other native 

9 pollinators. 

10 (c) ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERV11 ICE.—There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec12 retary of Agriculture, acting through the Animal and 

13 Plant Health Inspection Service, $2,250,000 for each of 

14 fiscal years 2008 through 2012 to conduct a nationwide 

15 honey bee pest and pathogen surveillance program. 

16 SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORTS. 

17 The Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Ag18 ricultural Research Service and the Cooperative State Re19 search, Education, and Extension Service, shall submit to 

20 the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representa21 tives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 

22 Forestry of the Senate a report on the status and progress 

23 of bee research projects that are carried out by the Sec24 retary. 

Æ 


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