I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2610 

To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 

to reform procedures for the payment of funds from the asset forfeiture 

fund, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 21, 2011 

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts (for himself, Mr. JONES, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. 

GUINTA, Mr. MARKEY, Ms. PINGREE of Maine, Mr. KEATING, Mr. 

LYNCH, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. PALLONE, 

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

the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act to reform procedures for the payment 

of funds from the asset forfeiture fund, 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 ‘‘Asset Forfeiture Fund 

5 Reform and Distribution Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ASSET FORFEITURE FUND REFORM. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 311(e) of the Magnuson3 Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 

4 U.S.C. 1861(e)) is amended— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘(1) Notwithstanding’’ and in6 serting ‘‘(1)(A) Notwithstanding’’; and 

7 (2) in paragraph (1)— 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘may pay from’’ and in9 serting ‘‘shall use each of the’’; and 

10 (B) by striking ‘‘(16 U.S.C. 3371 et 

11 seq.)—’’ and all that follows through the end of 

12 the paragraph and inserting the following: ‘‘(16 

13 U.S.C. 3371 et seq.), to make a payment, in 

14 the amount of the sum received— 

15 ‘‘(i) if the violation occurred in a State, to such 

16 State; 

17 ‘‘(ii) if the violation did not occur in a State, 

18 to the State in which the vessel involved in the viola19 tion is homeported; or 

20 ‘‘(iii) if the violation did not occur in a State 

21 and did not involve a vessel, to the State which is 

22 most directly affected by the violation. 

23 ‘‘(B) Amounts paid to a State under subparagraph 

24 (A) shall be used for research and monitoring activities 

25 as determined appropriate by the head of the agency of 


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1 the State that is responsible for management of marine 

2 fisheries. Such activities may include— 

3 ‘‘(i) fishery research and independent stock as4 sessments, including cooperative research; 

5 ‘‘(ii) socioeconomic assessments, including so6 cioeconomic conditions of fishing communities; 

7 ‘‘(iii) data collection, including creation of an 

8 information system that will enable timely audit and 

9 transmission of data for utilization by researchers 

10 and other collaborating institutions; 

11 ‘‘(iv) compensation for the costs of analyzing 

12 the economic impacts of fishery management deci13 sions and to analyze potential methods to provide 

14 targeted compensation to fisherman that have been 

15 harmed by such management decisions; 

16 ‘‘(v) at-sea and shoreside monitoring of fishing; 

17 ‘‘(vi) preparation of fishery impact statements; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(vii) other activities that a Regional Fishery 

20 Management Council of which the State is a member 

21 considers to be necessary to rebuild or maintain sus22 tainable fisheries, ensure healthy ecosystems, provide 

23 socioeconomic economic assistance, or maintain fish24 ing communities.’’. 


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1 (b) RULE OF APPLICATION.—The amendments made 

2 by subsection (a) shall apply with respect to amounts re3 ceived under section 311(e) of the Magnuson-Stevens 

4 Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 

5 1861(e)) after September 30, 2011. 

6 (c) TRANSITION RULE.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may use any 

8 amount received as a fisheries enforcement penalty 

9 before October 1, 2011, to reimburse appropriate 

10 legal fees and costs to a covered person in an 

11 amount not to exceed $200,000 per covered person. 

12 (2) TIMING.— 

13 (A) SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION.—A cov14 ered person seeking reimbursement of appro15 priate legal fees and costs under paragraph (1) 

16 shall submit to the Secretary an application for 

17 such reimbursement— 

18 (i) in the case of a covered person de19 scribed in paragraph (4)(B)(i), not later 

20 than December 31, 2011; and 

21 (ii) in the case of a covered person de22 scribed in paragraph (4)(B)(ii), not later 

23 than 1 year after the date on which the 

24 Secretary directed that such covered perVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:07 Jul 22, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2610.IH H2610

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1 son shall receive a remittance of a fisheries 

2 enforcement penalty. 

3 (B) DETERMINATION.—Not later than 60 

4 days after receiving an application under para5 graph (1), the Secretary shall make a final de6 termination on whether to provide such reim7 bursement and the amount of any such reim8 bursement. 

9 (3) REMAINING FUNDS.—The Secretary shall 

10 use— 

11 (A) 80 percent of the amounts described in 

12 paragraph (1) remaining after all reimburse13 ments have been made under such paragraph, 

14 for fishery stock assessments in the fishery 

15 management region that the Secretary deter16 mines to be appropriate; and 

17 (B) 20 percent of such amounts to make 

18 payments to States in accordance with section 

19 311(e)(1) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

20 Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 

21 1861(e)(1)). 

22 (4) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

23 (A) The term ‘‘appropriate legal fees and 

24 costs’’ means the legal fees and costs incurred 

25 by a covered person— 


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1 (i) that the Secretary determines were 

2 appropriately incurred by the covered per3 son in successfully challenging a fisheries 

4 enforcement penalty; and 

5 (ii) that were incurred not later than 

6 30 days after the date on which the Sec7 retary directed that such penalty shall be 

8 remitted to the covered person. 

9 (B) The term ‘‘covered person’’ means— 

10 (i) a person that the Secretary di11 rected shall receive a remittance of a fish12 eries enforcement penalty in the Decision 

13 Memorandum; or 

14 (ii) a person that— 

15 (I) received a Notice of Violation 

16 and Assessment issued on or after 

17 March 17, 1994, for a fisheries en18 forcement penalty that was settled or 

19 otherwise resolved prior to February 

20 3, 2010; 

21 (II) paid such fisheries enforce22 ment penalty; 

23 (III) submitted a complaint prior 

24 to May 7, 2011, seeking remittance of 

25 such civil penalty; and 


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1 (IV) the Secretary directed shall 

2 receive a remittance of a fisheries en3 forcement penalty or a portion of such 

4 remittance. 

5 (C) The term ‘‘Decision Memorandum’’ 

6 means the Secretarial Decision Memorandum 

7 issued by the Secretary on May 17, 2011, enti8 tled ‘‘Decisions regarding Certain NOAA Fish9 eries Enforcement Cases Based on Special Mas10 ter Swartwood’s Report and Recommenda11 tions’’. 

12 (D) The term ‘‘fisheries enforcement pen13 alty’’ means any fine, penalty, or forfeiture of 

14 property imposed for a violation of the Magnu15 son-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Manage16 ment Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) or of any 

17 other marine resource law enforced by the Sec18 retary, including the Lacey Act Amendments of 

19 1981 (16 U.S.C. 3371 et seq.). 

20 (E) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec21 retary of Commerce. 


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1 SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES IN 

2 THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC 

3 ADMINISTRATION. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), the Ad5 ministrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad6 ministration (referred to in this section as ‘‘NOAA’’) may 

7 not assign any proceeding required to be conducted in ac8 cordance with sections 556 and 557 of title 5 to an indi9 vidual who has served as an administrative law judge for 

10 NOAA for a period of five or more years if such pro11 ceeding pertains to the same fishery management region 

12 to which the majority of such proceedings that the indi13 vidual presided over within the period pertained. 

14 (b) REASSIGNMENT AFTER FIVE YEARS.—Sub15 section (a) does not apply to an individual who has not 

16 served as an administrative law judge for NOAA within 

17 a five-year period ending on the date of the assignment 

18 described in such subsection. 

19 SEC. 4. DEFINITION OF FISHERY MANAGEMENT REGION. 

20 In this Act, the term ‘‘fishery management region’’ 

21 means a region under the jurisdiction of a Regional Fish22 ery Management Council established under section 302 of 

23 the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Manage24 ment Act (16 U.S.C. 1852). 

Æ 


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