II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 572 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to give additional biosecurity 

responsibilities to the Department of Homeland Security. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 9, 2005 

Mr. AKAKA (for himself and Mr. DURBIN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to give additional biosecurity responsibilities to the Department of 

Homeland Security. 

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 ‘‘Homeland Security 

5 Food and Agriculture Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AGRICULTURAL BIOSECURITY. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VIII of the Homeland Secu8 rity Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 361 et seq.) is amended by 

9 adding at the end the following: 
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1 ‘‘Subtitle J—Agricultural 

2 Biosecurity 

3 ‘‘SEC. 899A. DEFINITIONS. 

4 ‘‘In this subtitle: 

5 ‘‘(1) AGRICULTURAL DISEASE.—The term ‘agri6 cultural disease’ means an outbreak of a plant or 

7 animal disease, or a pest infestation, that requires 

8 prompt action in order to prevent injury or damage 

9 to people, plants, livestock, property, the economy, 

10 or the environment. 

11 ‘‘(2) AGRICULTURE.—The term ‘agriculture’ in12 cludes— 

13 ‘‘(A) the science and practice of an activity 

14 relating to— 

15 ‘‘(i) food, feed, and fiber production; 

16 or 

17 ‘‘(ii) the processing, marketing, dis18 tribution, use, or trade of food, feed, or 

19 fiber; 

20 ‘‘(B) a social science, such as— 

21 ‘‘(i) family and consumer science; 

22 ‘‘(ii) nutritional science; 

23 ‘‘(iii) food science and engineering; or 

24 ‘‘(iv) agricultural economics; and 
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1 ‘‘(C) an environmental or natural resource 

2 science, such as— 

3 ‘‘(i) forestry; 

4 ‘‘(ii) wildlife science; 

5 ‘‘(iii) fishery science; 

6 ‘‘(iv) aquaculture; 

7 ‘‘(v) floraculture; or 

8 ‘‘(vi) veterinary medicine. 

9 ‘‘(3) AGROTERRORIST ACT.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term 

11 ‘agroterrorist act’ means the criminal act, com12 mitted with the intent described in subpara13 graph (B), of causing or attempting to cause 

14 damage or harm (including destruction or con15 tamination) to— 

16 ‘‘(i) a crop; 

17 ‘‘(ii) livestock; 

18 ‘‘(iii) farm or ranch equipment; 

19 ‘‘(iv) material or property associated 

20 with agriculture; or 

21 ‘‘(v) a person engaged in an agricul22 tural activity. 

23 ‘‘(B) INTENT.—The term ‘agroterrorist 

24 act’ means an act described in subparagraph 

25 (A) that is committed with the intent to— 
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1 ‘‘(i) intimidate or coerce a civilian 

2 population; or 

3 ‘‘(ii) influence the policy of a govern4 ment by intimidation or coercion. 

5 ‘‘(4) BIOSECURITY.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘biosecurity’ 

7 means protection from the risk posed by a bio8 logical, chemical, or radiological agent to— 

9 ‘‘(i) the agricultural economy; 

10 ‘‘(ii) the environment; 

11 ‘‘(iii) human health; or 

12 ‘‘(iv) plant or animal health. 

13 ‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘biosecurity’ 

14 includes the exclusion, eradication, and control 

15 of a biological agent that causes an agricultural 

16 disease. 

17 ‘‘(5) EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROVIDER.—The 

18 term ‘emergency response provider’ includes any 

19 Federal, State, or local— 

20 ‘‘(A) emergency public safety professional; 

21 ‘‘(B) law enforcement officer; 

22 ‘‘(C) emergency medical professional (in23 cluding an employee of a hospital emergency fa24 cility); 
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1 ‘‘(D) veterinarian or other animal health 

2 professional; and 

3 ‘‘(E) related personnel, agency, or author4 ity. 

5 ‘‘(6) SUSPECT LOCATION.—The term ‘suspect 

6 location’ means a location that, as recognized by an 

7 element of the intelligence community— 

8 ‘‘(A) has experienced, or may experience, 

9 an agroterrorist act or an unusual disease; or 

10 ‘‘(B) has harbored, or may harbor, a per11 son that committed an agroterrorist act. 

12 ‘‘SEC. 899B. AGRICULTURAL SECURITY RESPONSIBILITIES 

13 OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECU14 RITY. 

15 ‘‘(a) COORDINATION OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL

16 SECURITY.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab18 lish and carry out a program to protect the agri19 culture and food supply of the United States from 

20 agroterrorist acts. 

21 ‘‘(2) PROGRAM INCLUSIONS.—The program es22 tablished pursuant to paragraph (1) shall include 

23 provisions for— 
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1 ‘‘(A) advising and coordinating with Fed2 eral, State, local, regional, and tribal homeland 

3 security officials regarding— 

4 ‘‘(i) preparedness for and the response 

5 to an agroterrorist act; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) the detection, prevention, and 

7 mitigation of an agroterrorist act; and 

8 ‘‘(B) executing the agriculture security re9 sponsibilities of the Secretary described in 

10 Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7 

11 (December 17, 2003) and Homeland Security 

12 Presidential Directive 9 (February 3, 2004). 

13 ‘‘(b) RESPONSIBILITIES.— 

14 ‘‘(1) SECRETARY.—The Secretary shall have re15 sponsibility for— 

16 ‘‘(A) increasing communication and coordi17 nation among all Federal, State, local, regional, 

18 and tribal emergency response providers regard19 ing biosecurity; 

20 ‘‘(B) ensuring that each Federal, State, 

21 local, regional, and tribal emergency response 

22 provider understands and executes the role of 

23 that emergency response provider in response to 

24 an agroterrorist attack; 
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1 ‘‘(C)(i) ensuring that State, local, and trib2 al officials have adequate access to information 

3 and resources at the Federal level; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) developing and implementing informa5 tion-sharing procedures by which a Federal, 

6 State, local, regional, or tribal emergency re7 sponse provider can share information regard8 ing a biological threat, risk, or vulnerability; 

9 ‘‘(D) coordinating with the Secretary of 

10 Transportation to develop guidelines for restric11 tions on the interstate transportation of an ag12 ricultural commodity or product in response to 

13 an agricultural disease; 

14 ‘‘(E) coordinating with the Administrator 

15 of the Environmental Protection Agency in con16 sidering the potential environmental impact of a 

17 response by Federal, regional, State, local, and 

18 tribal emergency response providers to an agri19 cultural disease; 

20 ‘‘(F) working with Federal agencies (in21 cluding the Department of Agriculture and 

22 other elements of the intelligence community) to 

23 improve the ability of employees of the Depart24 ment of Homeland Security to identify a bio25 logical commodity or product, livestock, and any 
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1 other good that is imported from a suspect lo2 cation; 

3 ‘‘(G) coordinating with the Department of 

4 State to provide the President and Federal 

5 agencies guidelines for establishing a mutual 

6 assistance agreement with another country, in7 cluding an agreement— 

8 ‘‘(i) to provide training to veterinar9 ians, public health workers, and agri10 culture specialists of the United States in 

11 the identification, diagnosis, and control of 

12 foreign diseases; 

13 ‘‘(ii) to provide resources and tech14 nical assistance personnel to a foreign gov15 ernment with limited resources; and 

16 ‘‘(iii) to participate in a bilateral or 

17 multilateral training program or exercise 

18 relating to biosecurity. 

19 ‘‘(2) UNDERSECRETARY FOR EMERGENCY RE20 SPONSE AND PREPAREDNESS.—The Undersecretary 

21 for Emergency Response and Preparedness shall 

22 have responsibility for— 

23 ‘‘(A) not later than 180 days after the date 

24 of enactment of this subtitle, cooperating with 

25 State, local, and tribal homeland security offi-
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1 cials to establish State, local, and regional re2 sponse plans for an agricultural disease or 

3 agroterrorist act that include— 

4 ‘‘(i) a comprehensive needs analyses 

5 to determine the appropriate investment 

6 requirements for responding to an agricul7 tural disease or agroterrorist act; 

8 ‘‘(ii) a potential emergency manage9 ment assistance compact and any other 

10 mutual assistance agreement between 

11 neighboring States; and 

12 ‘‘(iii) an identification of State and 

13 local laws (including regulations) and pro14 cedures that may affect the implementa15 tion of a State response plan; and 

16 ‘‘(B) not later than 90 days after the date 

17 of enactment of this subtitle, establishing a task 

18 force consisting of State and local homeland se19 curity officials that shall— 

20 ‘‘(i) identify the best practices for car21 rying out a regional or State biosecurity 

22 program; 

23 ‘‘(ii) make available to State, local, 

24 and tribal governments a report that de-
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1 scribes the best practices identified under 

2 clause (i); and 

3 ‘‘(iii) design and make available infor4 mation (based on the best practices identi5 fied under clause (i)) concerning training 

6 exercises for emergency response providers 

7 in the form of printed materials and elec8 tronic media to— 

9 ‘‘(I) managers of State, local, 

10 and tribal emergency response pro11 vider organizations; and 

12 ‘‘(II) State health and agricul13 tural officials. 

14 ‘‘(c) GRANTS TO FACILITATE PARTICIPATION OF

15 STATE AND LOCAL ANIMAL HEALTH CARE OFFICIALS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office of State and 

17 Local Coordination and Preparedness, in consulta18 tion with the Undersecretary for Emergency Re19 sponse and Preparedness and the Secretary, shall es20 tablish a program under which the Secretary shall 

21 provide grants to communities to facilitate the par22 ticipation of State and local animal health care offi23 cials in community emergency planning efforts. 
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1 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

2 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

3 this subsection $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.’’. 

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