Bill Details
HR.487 - 119th Congress
Status
Latest action
2025-01-16 - Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.
Introduced Date
2025-01-16
Policy Area
Agriculture and Food
Committees
View committees (1)
Sponsors
Cosponsors
View cosponsors (1)
6
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AI Summary This summary was generated by AI from the bill text. AI can get information wrong.
This bill would strengthen protections for Hawaii against invasive plants, pests, and other harmful agricultural materials by requiring inspections before people, bags, cargo, and other items travel to or from the state. The inspections would use visual checks, x-rays, and canine teams, and would apply to both domestic and international travel. The goal is to stop high-risk invasive species from entering Hawaii or leaving it and spreading elsewhere. The bill also gives the Agriculture Department authority to create the list of items to be screened, share that list publicly, and collect fees to pay for the inspection work.
- Inspections would be handled by the Agriculture Department, working with other federal agencies and Hawaii officials.
- For travel within the U.S., inspections would happen before direct travel at airports, ports, and certain U.S. Postal Service facilities.
- The Agriculture Department would build a list of high-risk invasive species and agricultural materials that must be checked, and publish that list within 180 days.
- Any banned or high-risk items found during inspection could be seized and disposed of, and user fees could be charged to cover the full cost of the inspections.
Official Summaries
Hawaii Invasive Species Protection Act
This bill directs the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to conduct preclearance quarantine inspections for high-risk invasive species and agricultural materials on persons, baggage, cargo, and any other articles destined for direct movement to or from the state of Hawaii. The visual, x-ray, and canine inspections must be conducted at airports, ports, and postal sorting facilities.
APHIS must also consult with the state of Hawaii to develop and publish a list of items subject to inspection for high-risk invasive species and agricultural materials.
User fees must be prescribed and collected to cover the cost of the inspections.
Current Full Text
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 487 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 487
To amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 by
requiring preclearance quarantine inspections for all movement to or
from the State of Hawaii by either domestic or international travel,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 16, 2025
Mr. Case (for himself and Ms. Tokuda) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 by
requiring preclearance quarantine inspections for all movement to or
from the State of Hawaii by either domestic or international travel,
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 ``Hawaii Invasive Species Protection
Act''.
SEC. 2. REQUIRING PRECLEARANCE QUARANTINE INSPECTIONS FOR ALL MOVEMENT
TO OR FROM THE STATE OF HAWAII.
Section 10811 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002
(7 U.S.C. 8307 note) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 10811. PRECLEARANCE QUARANTINE INSPECTIONS.
``(a) Preclearance Inspections Required.--The Secretary of
Agriculture, acting through the Administrator of the Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service, in cooperation with the Secretary of the
Interior, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of
Commerce, the Secretary of the Treasury, the government of Hawaii, and
each of their respective quarantine, natural resource, conservation,
and law enforcement agencies and officers, as appropriate, shall
conduct visual, x-ray, and canine preclearance quarantine inspections
of persons, baggage, cargo, and any other articles destined for direct
movement to or from the State of Hawaii by either domestic or
international travel for high-risk invasive species and agricultural
materials.
``(b) Inspection Locations.--The domestic preclearance quarantine
inspections required by subsection (a) shall be conducted prior to
direct travel to or from the State of Hawaii at all--
``(1) departure and interline airports;
``(2) ports of departure; and
``(3) destination sectional center facilities of the United
States Postal Service.
``(c) Invasive Species and Agricultural Materials.--The Secretary
of Agriculture, acting through the Administrator of the Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service and in consultation with the government
of Hawaii, shall develop a list of items subject to inspection for
purposes of screening pursuant to subsection (a).
``(d) Publication in Federal Register.--Not later than 180 days
after the date of the enactment of the Hawaii Invasive Species
Protection Act, the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the
Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and in
cooperation with the government of Hawaii, shall publish in the Federal
Register the list developed pursuant to subsection (c).
``(e) Seizure and Disposal.--High-risk invasive species and
agricultural material discovered under subsection (a) may be seized and
disposed of in accordance with section 10407.''.
SEC. 3. PRECLEARANCE QUARANTINE INSPECTIONS FOR PLANTS.
Section 421(b) of the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7731(b)) is
amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by inserting before the semicolon at
the end the following: ``(including high-risk invasive species
and agricultural materials into the State of Hawaii in
accordance with section 10811(c) of the Farm Security and Rural
Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 8307(c) note)'';
(2) in paragraph (2), by inserting before the semicolon at
the end the following: ``(including high-risk invasive species
and agricultural materials into the State of Hawaii in
accordance with section 10811(c) of the Farm Security and Rural
Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 8307(c) note)''; and
(3) in paragraph (3), by inserting before the period at the
end the following: ``(including high-risk invasive species and
agricultural materials into the State of Hawaii in accordance
with section 10811(c) of the Farm Security and Rural Investment
Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 8307(c) note)''.
SEC. 4. COLLECTION OF FEES FOR INSPECTION SERVICES.
Section 2509 of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act
of 1990 (21 U.S.C. 136a) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(1)(A), by inserting ``including the
cost of such services provided in connection with the arrival
in Hawaii, with respect to screening for high-risk invasive
species under section 10811 of the Farm Security and Rural
Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 8307 note),'' after ``port in
the customs territory of the United States,''; and
(2) in subsection (c)(1), by inserting before the period at
the end the following: ``, including with respect to screening
conducted in connection with respect to the import, entry, and
exportation to or from Hawaii of high-risk invasive species
under section 10811 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment
Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 8307 note)''.
SEC. 5. FEES FOR INSPECTION OF PLANTS FOR EXPORTING OR TRANSITING.
Section 102(f) of the Department of Agriculture Organic Act of 1944
(7 U.S.C. 7759(f)) is amended by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
``(3) The Secretary of Agriculture shall prescribe and
collect user fees sufficient to cover the full cost of
preclearance quarantine inspections conducted under section
10811 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (7
U.S.C. 8307 note).''.
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