RELIEF Act

Bill: 112-hr-3210
Sponsor: Rep. Cooper, Jim [D-TN-5]
Introduced: 2011-10-14 in the House
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Competitiveness, trade promotion, trade deficits
Department of Agriculture
Department of the Interior
Endangered and threatened species
Government information and archives
Government studies and investigations
Horticulture and plants
Music
Trade restrictions

Summary:
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: 
Retailers and Entertainers Lacey Implementation and Enforcement Fairness Act or the RELIEF Act - Amends the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to: (1) make such Act inapplicable to any plant that was imported into the United States before May 22, 2008, or any finished plant or plant product the assembly and processing of which was completed before such date; (2) limit the application of plant importation declaration requirements to plants that are entered for consumption; (3) exclude from declaration requirements a plant product that is derived from a tree unless the product is solid wood (requires the Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to issue regulations that define the term &quot;solid wood&quot; for such purpose); (4) make the prohibition on asserting an ownership interest in property that it is illegal to possess inapplicable to an imported plant or plant product acquired by an innocent owner; and (5) establish civil penalties for specified first violations involving plant importations.
 
Requires the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Commerce, as program responsibilities are vested pursuant to the provisions of Reorganization Plan Numbered 4 of 1970, to review the implementation of plant declarations with 180 days. Requires the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (currently, the Secretary of Commerce) to report on plant declaration requirements, including an evaluation of the feasibility of creating a publicly available database of laws of foreign countries from which plants are exported.
 
Requires the heads of federal agencies responsible for implementing such Act to allocate sufficient amounts to implement provisions concerning plant declarations from amounts otherwise available.
 
Requires the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and the heads of other federal agencies responsible for implementing such Act to issue regulations to establish a standard certification process for plant and plant products legally harvested, imported, or manufactured after May 22, 2008, that considers individual item certification and individual manufacturer, importer, and retailer certification for purposes of sale and resale. 
 
Requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to review and report on the competitiveness in the domestic market for raw materials for the manufacture of musical instruments and the impact of this Act on such competitiveness.
action_date: 2012-07-17
text: 
Retailers and Entertainers Lacey Implementation and Enforcement Fairness Act or the RELIEF Act - (Sec. 3) Amends the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to: (1) make such Act inapplicable to any plant that was imported into the United States before May 22, 2008, or any finished plant or plant product the assembly and processing of which was completed before such date; (2) limit the application of plant importation declaration requirements to plants that are entered for consumption; and (3) exclude from declaration requirements a plant product that is derived from a tree unless the product is solid wood (requires the Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to issue regulations that define the term &quot;solid wood&quot; for such purpose). 
 
Provides that: (1) civil forfeiture provisions that prohibit any person from asserting an ownership interest in contraband or other property that it is illegal to possess, or that prohibit the federal government from being required to return contraband or other property that the person from whom the property was seized may not legally possess, shall not apply to plants or plant products; and (2) civil forfeiture provisions of such Act are the sole authority for civil seizure or forfeiture actions alleging, or predicated upon, a violation of such Act.
 
(Sec. 4) Prohibits any person from importing, exporting, transporting, selling, receiving, acquiring, or purchasing in interstate or foreign commerce, or any person within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States from possessing, a plant taken, possessed, transported, or sold: (1) without the payment of appropriate royalties, taxes, or stumpage fees required for the plant by any law or regulation of any state or any foreign law that is directed at the protection, conservation, and management of plants; and (2) in violation of any limitation under any law or regulation of any state, or under foreign law, governing the export or transshipment of plants and that is directed at the protection, conservation, and management of plants
 
Limits the application of a civil penalty under such Act for violations of foreign laws to violations of foreign laws that are directed at the protection, conservation, and management of plants.
 
Requires the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Commerce, as program responsibilities are vested pursuant to the provisions of Reorganization Plan Numbered 4 of 1970, to review the implementation of plant declarations with 180 days. Requires the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (currently, the Secretary of Commerce) to report on plant declaration requirements, including an evaluation of the feasibility of creating a publicly available database of laws of foreign countries from which plants are exported. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-07-17
text: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 439.
action_date: 2012-07-17
text: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 112-604.
action_date: 2012-07-17
text: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 112-604.
action_date: 2012-06-07
text: Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 25 - 19.
action_date: 2012-06-07
text: Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
action_date: 2012-06-07
text: Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular Affairs Discharged.
action_date: 2012-05-08
text: Subcommittee Hearings Held.
action_date: 2011-10-18
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans, and Insular Affairs.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-10-14
text: Introduced in House