I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4922 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to enhance protections against the 
importation, and transport between States, of injurious species, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 26, 2023 
Mrs. LUNA (for herself, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. DONALDS, Mr. NEHLS, Mr. 
CARL, and Mr. DUNN of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Com-
mittee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined 
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to enhance protec-
tions against the importation, and transport between 
States, of injurious species, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Lacey Act Amend-
ments of 2023’’. 
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SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 42 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)(1)— 
(A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘ship-
ment between the continental United States’’ 
and inserting ‘‘transport between the States’’; 
and 
(B) by inserting after the first sentence 
the following: ‘‘Notwithstanding any other pro-
vision of law, the Secretary of the Interior may 
prescribe by regulation an emergency designa-
tion prohibiting the importation of any species 
of wild mammals, wild birds, fish (including 
mollusks and crustacea), amphibians, or rep-
tiles, or the offspring or eggs of any such spe-
cies, as injurious to human beings, to the inter-
ests of agriculture, horticulture, or forestry, or 
to wildlife or the wildlife resources of the 
United States, for not more than 3 years, under 
this subsection, if the Secretary of the Interior 
determines that such regulation is necessary to 
address an imminent threat to human beings, 
to the interests of agriculture, horticulture, or 
forestry, or to wildlife or the wildlife resources 
of the United States. An emergency designation 
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prescribed under this subsection shall take ef-
fect immediately upon publication in the Fed-
eral Register, unless the Secretary of the Inte-
rior prescribes an effective date that is not later 
than 60 days after the date of publication. Dur-
ing the period during which an emergency des-
ignation prescribed under this subsection for a 
species is in effect, the Secretary of the Interior 
shall evaluate whether the species should be 
designated as an injurious wildlife species under 
the first sentence of this paragraph.’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(d) PRESUMPTIVE
PROHIBITION
ON
IMPORTA-
TION.— 
‘‘(1) 
IN
GENERAL.—Importation 
into 
the 
United States of any species of wild mammals, wild 
birds, fish (including mollusks and crustacea), am-
phibians, or reptiles, or the offspring or eggs of any 
such species, that is not native to the United States 
and, as of the date of enactment of the Lacey Act 
Amendments of 2023, is not prohibited under sub-
section (a)(1), is prohibited, unless— 
‘‘(A) during the 1-year period preceding 
the date of enactment of the Lacey Act Amend-
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