To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to enhance agricultural biosecurity in the United States through increased prevention, preparation, and response planning.

February 24, 2003

Mr. AKAKA introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to enhance agricultural biosecurity in the United States through increased prevention, preparation, and response planning.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

(a) SHORT TITLE- This Act may be cited as the `Agriculture Security Preparedness Act'.

(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS- The table of contents of this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

Sec. 2. Findings.

Sec. 3. Agricultural biosecurity.

`Subtitle J--Agricultural Biosecurity

`Chapter 1--Interagency Coordination

`Chapter 2--International Activities

`Chapter 3--Response Activities

Sec. 4. Inclusion of agroterrorism in terrorist acts involving weapons of mass destruction.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds that--

(1) the intentional use of agricultural disease agents to attack United States agriculture threatens an industry that accounts for approximately 13 percent of the gross domestic product of the United States;

(2) the economic impact of a worst-case agricultural disease affecting multiple farms in multiple States could be measured in billions of dollars, including the costs of eradication, production losses, and other market repercussions;

(3) agricultural diseases can be naturally occurring (such as the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Great Britain during 2001) or intentionally created by malicious actors;

(4) risk factors affecting the spread of a plant or animal disease include--

(A) animal density;

(B) animal and plant concentration points (such as auction markets, sale barns, and grain lots);

(C) plant and animal movement;

(D) individuals moving on and off farms;

(E) wildlife; and

(F) weather conditions;

(5) the rapid and widespread movement of animals and crops is an integral part of United States agriculture and the principle means by which an agricultural disease will spread if an agricultural disease occurs;

(6) response planning and mitigation requires the coordination between the animal health and agricultural community, transportation officials, and representatives of the shipping and trucking industry;

(7) the United States Department of Agriculture and State departments of agriculture have responsibility for the protection of the agricultural resources of the United States;

(8) in the event of an agricultural disease, the Department of Agriculture and State departments of agriculture will need the support and resources of other Federal, State, and local agencies that carry out traditional emergency management and response functions;

(9) while the introduction of an infectious foreign animal disease (such as foot-and-mouth disease) will be the primary threat addressed by an agricultural security plan, the principles used to prevent, detect, control, or eradicate such a disease will apply to large-scale outbreaks of other diseases and other agricultural diseases that affect agriculture;

(10) numerous Federal agencies have authorities and responsibilities relating to public, animal, and wildlife health, safety, and management;

(11) the highest priority of the United States, in connection with agricultural diseases, is to prevent the introduction of, detect, control, and eradicate an agricultural disease as quickly as practicable and return the United States to a disease-free status;

(12)(A) the Incident Command System was adopted by the National Fire Academy as the model system of the Academy in 1987 and was later endorsed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the American Public Works Association;

(B) the Incident Command System is used by many Federal agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Fire Administration, while responding to emergencies; and

(C) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, should incorporate the Incident Command System in all agricultural disaster emergency response plans; and

(13) since agricultural diseases will continue to be rare occurrences in the United States, the Department of Agriculture and Federal, State, and local partners will need to reinforce preparedness, training, and response mechanisms--

(A) through an all-hazard approach to all agricultural disaster emergencies; and

(B) by gaining field experience in foreign countries where high-risk agricultural diseases are endemic.

SEC. 3. AGRICULTURAL BIOSECURITY.

(a) IN GENERAL- Title VIII of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296; 116 Stat. 2220) is amended by adding at the end the following:

`Subtitle J--Agricultural Biosecurity

`SEC. 899A. DEFINITIONS.

`In this subtitle:

`(1) AGRICULTURAL DISEASE- The term `agricultural disease' means an outbreak of a plant or animal disease, or a pest infestation, that requires prompt action in order to prevent injury or damage to people, plants, livestock, property, the economy, or the environment.

`(2) AGRICULTURE- The term `agriculture' includes--

`(A) the science and practice of activities relating to food, feed, and fiber production, processing, marketing, distribution, use, and trade;

`(B) family and consumer science, nutrition, food science and engineering, agricultural economics, and other social sciences; and

`(C) forestry, wildlife science, fishery science, aquaculture, floraculture, veterinary medicine, and other environmental and natural resource sciences.

`(3) AGROTERRORISM- The term `agroterrorism' means the commission of an agroterrorist act.

`(4) AGROTERRORIST ACT- The term `agroterrorist act' means a criminal act consisting of causing or attempting to cause damage or harm to, or destruction or contamination of, a crop, livestock, farm or ranch equipment, a material, any other property associated with agriculture, or a person engaged in agricultural activity, that is committed with the intent--

`(A) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; or

`(B) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion.

`(5) BIOSECURITY-

`(A) IN GENERAL- The term `biosecurity' means protection from the risks posed by biological, chemical, or radiological agents to--

`(i) plant or animal health;

`(ii) the agricultural economy;

`(iii) the environment; and

`(iv) human health.

`(B) INCLUSIONS- The term `biosecurity' includes the exclusion, eradication, and control of biological agents that cause plant or animal diseases.

`(6) ECOTERRORISM- The term `ecoterrorism' means the use of force or violence against a person or property to intimidate or coerce all or part of a government or the civilian population, in furtherance of a social goal in the name of an environmental cause.

`CHAPTER 1--INTERAGENCY COORDINATION

`SEC. 899D. AGRICULTURAL DISEASE LIAISONS.

`(a) AGRICULTURAL DISEASE MANAGEMENT LIAISON- The Secretary shall establish a senior level position within the Federal Emergency Management Agency to serve, as a primary responsibility, as a liaison for agricultural disease management between--

`(1) the Department; and

`(2)(A) the Federal Emergency Management Agency;

`(B) the Department of Agriculture;

`(C) other Federal agencies responsible for agriculture disease emergency response;

`(D) the emergency management community;

`(E) State emergency officials and agricultural officials; and

`(F) affected industries.

`(b) ANIMAL HEALTH CARE LIAISON- The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall establish within the Department of Health and Human Services a senior level position to serve, as a primary responsibility, as a liaison between--

`(1) the Department of Health and Human Services; and

`(2)(A) the Department of Agriculture;

`(B) the animal health community;

`(C) the emergency management community; and

`(D) affected industries.

`SEC. 899E. TRANSPORTATION.

`The Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary, shall--

`(1) publish in the Federal Register proposed guidelines for restrictions on interstate transportation of an agricultural commodity or product in response to an agricultural disease;

`(2) provide for a comment period for the proposed guidelines of not less than 90 days;

`(3) establish the final guidelines, taking into consideration any comments received under paragraph (2); and

`(4) provide the guidelines to officers and employees of --

`(A) the Department of Agriculture;

`(B) the Department of Transportation; and

`(C) the Department.

`SEC. 899F. REGIONAL, STATE, AND LOCAL PREPARATION.

`(a) ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY- The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, shall cooperate with regional, State, and local disaster preparedness officials to include consideration of potential environmental impacts of response activities in planning responses to agricultural diseases.

`(b) DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE- The Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the Secretary, shall--

`(1) develop and implement information-sharing procedures to provide information to and share information among Federal, regional, State, and local officials regarding agricultural threats, risks, and vulnerabilities; and

`(2) cooperate with State agricultural officials, State and local emergency managers, representatives from State land grant colleges and research universities, agricultural producers, and agricultural trade associations to establish local response plans for agricultural diseases.

`(c) FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY- The Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, shall--

`(1) establish a task force, consisting of agricultural producers and State and local emergency response officials, to identify best practices for regional and State agricultural disease programs;

`(2) distribute to States and localities a report that describes the best practices; and

`(3) design and distribute packages containing exercises for training, based on the identified best practices, in the form of printed materials and electronic media, for distribution to State and local emergency managers and State agricultural officials.

`SEC. 899G. STUDY ON FEASIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A NATIONAL PLANT DISEASE LABORATORY.

`Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this subtitle, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report on the feasibility of establishing a national plant disease laboratory, based on the model of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with the primary task of--

`(1) integrating and coordinating a nationwide system of independent plant disease diagnostic laboratories, including plant clinics maintained by land grant colleges and universities; and

`(2) increasing the capacity, technical infrastructure, and information-sharing capabilities of laboratories described in paragraph (1).

`CHAPTER 2--INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

`SEC. 899J. INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL DISEASE SURVEILLANCE.

`Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this subtitle, the Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report on measures taken by the Secretary of Agriculture--

`(1) to streamline the process of notification by the Secretary of Agriculture to Federal agencies in the event of agricultural diseases in foreign countries; and

`(2) to cooperate with representatives of foreign countries, international organizations, and industry to devise and implement methods of sharing information on international agricultural diseases and unusual agricultural activities.

`SEC. 899K. INSPECTIONS OF IMPORTED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.

`The Secretary shall--

`(1) cooperate with the Secretary of Agriculture and appropriate Federal intelligence officials to improve the ability of the Department of Agriculture to identify agricultural commodities and products, livestock, and other goods imported from suspect locations recognized by the intelligence community as having--

`(A) experienced agricultural terrorist activities or unusual agricultural diseases; or

`(B) harbored agroterrorists; and

`(2) use the information collected under paragraph (1) to establish inspection priorities.

`SEC. 899L. BILATERAL MUTUAL ASSISTANCE AGREEMENTS.

`The Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary, shall--

`(1) enter into mutual assistance agreements with other countries for assistance in the event of an agricultural disease--

`(A) to provide training to veterinarians and agriculture specialists of the United States in the identification, diagnosis, and control of foreign agricultural diseases;

`(B) to provide resources and personnel to foreign governments with limited resources to respond to agricultural diseases; and

`(C) to participate in bilateral training programs and exercises; and

`(2) provide funding for personnel to participate in related exchange and training programs.

`CHAPTER 3--RESPONSE ACTIVITIES

`SEC. 899O. STUDY ON FEASIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A NATIONAL AGROTERRORISM AND ECOTERRORISM INCIDENT CLEARINGHOUSE.

`Not later than 240 days after the date of enactment of this subtitle, the Attorney General, in conjunction with the Secretary of Agriculture, shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report on the feasibility and estimated cost of establishing and maintaining a national agroterrorism incident clearinghouse to gather information for use in coordinating and assisting investigations on incidents of--

`(1) agroterrorism committed against or directed at--

`(A) any plant or animal enterprise; or

`(B) any person, because of any actual or perceived connection of the person with, or support by the person of, agriculture; and

`(2) ecoterrorism.

`SEC. 899P. REVIEW OF LEGAL AUTHORITY.

`(a) IN GENERAL- The Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, shall conduct a review of State and local laws relating to agroterrorism and biosecurity to determine--

`(1) the extent to which those laws facilitate or impede the implementation of current or proposed response plans with respect to agricultural diseases;

`(2) whether an injunction issued by a State court could--

`(A) delay the implementation of a Federal response plan; or

`(B) affect the extent to which an agricultural disease spreads; and

`(3) the types and extent of legal evidence that may be required by State courts before a response plan may be implemented.

`(b) REPORT- Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this subtitle, the Attorney General shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report that describes the results of the review conducted under subsection (a) (including any recommendations of the Attorney General).

`SEC. 899Q. INFORMATION SHARING.

`The Secretary of Agriculture, in cooperation with the Attorney General, shall develop and implement a system to share information during all stages of an agroterrorist act.'.

(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT- The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-296; 116 Stat. 2135) is amended by adding at the end of the items relating to title VIII the following:

`Subtitle J--Agricultural Biosecurity

`Chapter 1--Interagency Coordination

`Chapter 2--International Activities

`Chapter 3--Legal Definitions and Response Activities

SEC. 4. INCLUSION OF AGROTERRORISM IN TERRORIST ACTS INVOLVING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.

Section 2332a(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended--

(1) in paragraph (2), by striking `or' at the end;

(2) in paragraph (3), by striking the comma at the end and inserting `; or'; and

(3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:

`(4) against private property, including property used for agricultural or livestock operations;'.

END