I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7849 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit against 
tax for the purchase of certain adaptive gear required to prevent the 
entanglement of right whales. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 19, 2022 
Mr. MOULTON (for himself and Mr. KEATING) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a 
credit against tax for the purchase of certain adaptive 
gear required to prevent the entanglement of right 
whales. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Conserving Lobstering 
And Whales Act of 2022’’ or the ‘‘CLAW Act of 2022’’. 
SEC. 2. ADAPTIVE GEAR REQUIRED TO PREVENT RIGHT 
WHALE ENTANGLEMENT. 
(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of 
subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 
following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 45U. ADAPTIVE GEAR REQUIRED TO PREVENT RIGHT 
WHALE ENTANGLEMENT. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38, in 
the case of an eligible lobstering business, the right whale 
entanglement prevention credit determined under this sec-
tion for any taxable year is an amount equal to 30 percent 
of the amounts paid or incurred by the taxpayer for the 
taxable year for the purchase of any adaptive gear re-
quired by State or Federal law or regulation to prevent 
the entanglement of right whales in the course of the trade 
or business of lobstering. 
‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE LOBSTERING BUSINESS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec-
tion, the term ‘eligible lobstering business’ means 
any person— 
‘‘(A) engaged in the trade or business of 
lobstering, and 
‘‘(B) that submits a return of tax with re-
spect to such taxable year that includes each of 
the following, as applicable, but in any case not 
less than 1 of— 
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‘‘(i) a State commercial lobster license 
for such person, and 
‘‘(ii) a Federal vessel identification 
number for each vessel used by such per-
son in the course of the trade or business 
of lobstering. 
‘‘(2) CONTROLLED GROUPS.—All persons which 
are treated as a single employer under subsections 
(a) and (b) of section 52 shall be treated as a single 
taxpayer for purposes of this subsection. 
‘‘(c) ADAPTIVE GEAR.—For purposes of this section, 
the term ‘adaptive gear’ means— 
‘‘(1) gear required by the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration as part of the Atlantic 
Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, and 
‘‘(2) equipment used for electronic vessel track-
ing required by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries 
Commission for North Atlantic right whale risk re-
duction.’’. 
(2) CREDIT MADE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS 
CREDIT.—Section 38(b) of such Code is amended by 
striking ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (32), by 
striking the period at the end of paragraph (33) and 
inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new paragraph: 
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