[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10037 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 10037
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Invasive
Species Rapid Response Program.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 25, 2024
Mr. Case (for himself and Mr. Moylan) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Invasive
Species Rapid Response Program.
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 ``Invasive Species Response Act''.
SEC. 2. INVASIVE SPECIES STRIKE TEAM PROGRAM.
(a) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to legislatively authorize
programs within the Department of the Interior to control and eradicate
invasive species impacting Federal lands through prevention, early
detection, and rapid response.
(b) Invasive Species Strike Team Program.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish a program to
identify and respond to priority invasive species threats
within the National Wildlife Refuge System in collaboration
with Federal, State, local, and Tribal governments,
nongovernmental institutions, nonprofit organizations, and
private individuals and entities with expertise in invasive
species management, to be known as the ``Invasive Species
Strike Team Program''.
(2) Requirements.--In carrying out the Program, the
Secretary shall--
(A) establish species response teams trained in
rapid response and invasive species management for
multiple taxa, including Incident Command System
trainings and table-top exercises, to assist with
priority invasive species response;
(B) establish at least 1 species response team
within each region of the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service;
(C) develop a set of consistent taxonomy standards
and implement such standards among all Department of
Interior databases; and
(D) develop and utilize unified reporting
platforms, including--
(i) the National Agricultural Pest
Information System;
(ii) the National Data Repository of the
National Plant Diagnostic Network;
(iii) the Early Detection and Distribution
Mapping System (EDDMapS);
(iv) the Nonindigenous Aquatic Species
Database of the United States Geological
Survey;
(v) iMapInvasives; and
(vi) State databases.
(3) Provision of assistance.--In carrying out the Program,
the Secretary is authorized to--
(A) conduct outreach to Federal, State, local, and
Tribal governments, nongovernmental institutions,
nonprofit organizations, and private individuals and
entities to address the management of property in the
vicinity of, or ecologically related to, a unit of the
National Wildlife Refuge System, including providing or
entering into, upon request--
(i) financial assistance, including direct
expenditures and grants;
(ii) technical assistance;
(iii) contracts; and
(iv) cooperative agreements; and
(B) upon the request of another Federal department
or agency, enter into an agreement with such department
or agency to provide to such department or agency the
expertise and use of species response teams established
under paragraph (2) to respond to invasive species
under the jurisdiction of such department or agency.
(4) Coordination of management actions.--The Secretary
shall encourage each unit of the National Wildlife Refuge
System to coordinate the management actions of each such unit
with each State within which each such unit is located.
(5) Annual report.--
(A) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the
date of the enactment of this section, and annually
thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the
Committees on Appropriations and Natural Resources of
the House of Representatives and the Committees on
Appropriations and Energy and Natural Resources of the
Senate, and make available to the public on the website
of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, a
report regarding the Program.
(B) Contents of report.--Each report submitted
under subparagraph (A) shall include--
(i) an assessment of each priority invasive
species within the National Wildlife Refuge
System; and
(ii) progress made by the Program toward
the eradication of each priority invasive
species.
(c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section $15,000,000 for
each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029.
(d) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Invasive species.--The term ``invasive species'' means
a non-native species to the ecosystem whose introduction causes
or is likely to cause economic harm, environmental harm or harm
to human health.
(2) Priority invasive species.--The term ``priority
invasive species'' means an invasive species that is a major
concern and necessary to map, monitor and manage based on the
following factors: potential impact on other native species,
ability to alter habitats, ability to harm human health and
severity of economic impact.
(3) Program.--The term ``Program'' means the Invasive
Species Strike Team Program established under subsection
(b)(1).
(4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of the Interior, acting through the Director of the United
States Fish and Wildlife Service.
(5) State.--The term ``State'' means each of the several
States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,
American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and any other
territory or possession of the United States.
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