Title: Orca Responsibility and Care Advancement Act of 2017
Policy area: Animals

Summary:
Orca Responsibility and Care Advancement Act of 2017
This bill amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to prohibit taking, importing, or exporting the killer whale (orcinus orca) species, or any product that contains that species, for public display purposes. However, the killer whale may be exported if it is being transported to a marine mammal sanctuary.
The bill amends the Animal Welfare Act to prohibit any person from artificially inseminating or breeding that species in order to use their progeny for public display purposes.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1584 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1584

   To amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to prohibit the 
  taking, importation, and exportation of Orcas and Orca products for 
                public display, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 16, 2017

    Mr. Schiff (for himself, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Cicilline, Ms. Clark of 
 Massachusetts, Mr. Connolly, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Heck, Mr. 
Huffman, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Larsen of Washington, Ms. Lee, Ms. Moore, Mr. 
    Polis, Mr. Smith of Washington, and Ms. Speier) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
   Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, 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 the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to prohibit the 
  taking, importation, and exportation of Orcas and Orca products for 
                public display, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Orca Responsibility and Care 
Advancement Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON TAKING, IMPORTATION, AND EXPORTATION OF ORCAS 
              AND ORCA PRODUCTS FOR PUBLIC DISPLAY.

    (a) Prohibition on Permits for Taking or Importation.--Section 
104(a) of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1374(a)) 
is amended to read as follows:
    ``(a)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the Secretary may 
issue permits which authorize the taking or importation of any marine 
mammal.
    ``(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no permit may be 
issued by the Secretary that authorizes the taking or importation of 
any marine mammal of the species Orcinus orca, or any marine mammal 
product that consists, or is composed in whole or in part, of such 
species, for the purpose of public display.
    ``(3) Permits for the incidental taking of marine mammals in the 
course of commercial fishing operations may only be issued as 
specifically provided for in section 101(a)(5) or 306, or subsection 
(h) of this section.''.
    (b) Prohibition on Exportation for Public Display.--Section 102 of 
the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1372(a)) is amended 
by adding at the end the following new subsections:
    ``(g) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, it is unlawful to 
export any marine mammal product that consists, or is composed in whole 
or in part, of the species Orcinus orca.
    ``(h)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, it is unlawful 
to export any marine mammal of the species Orcinus orca--
            ``(A) for a purpose other than to transport such marine 
        mammal to a marine mammal sanctuary; and
            ``(B) without a determination by the Secretary that the 
        transportation to such sanctuary is in the best interest of the 
        individual marine mammal.
    ``(2) In this subsection, the term `sanctuary' means a place of 
refuge where marine mammals--
            ``(A) live in a setting as close as possible to their 
        natural environment;
            ``(B) are prioritized individually with respect to well-
        being and autonomy; and
            ``(C) are not used for profit or bred.''.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON BREEDING OF ORCAS.

    The Animal Welfare Act is amended by inserting after section 26 (7 
U.S.C. 2156) the following new section:

``SEC. 26A. BREEDING OF ORCAS.

    ``It shall be unlawful for any person to artificially inseminate or 
breed a marine mammal of the species Orcinus orca for purposes of using 
the progeny of such species for public display.''.
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