I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2091
To provide for the conservation of the Chesapeake Bay, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH11, 2025
Mr. W
ITTMAN(for himself, Mr. SCOTTof Virginia, Mrs. KIGGANSof Virginia,
and Ms. E
LFRETH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To provide for the conservation of the Chesapeake Bay,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Chesapeake Bay Con-4
servation Acceleration Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. CHESAPEAKE BAY STATES PARTNERSHIP INITIA-6
TIVE. 7
Chapter 5 of subtitle D of title XII of the Food Secu-8
rity Act of 1985 is amended by inserting after section 9
1240M (16 U.S.C. 3839bb) the following: 10
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‘‘SEC. 1240N. CHESAPEAKE BAY STATES PARTNERSHIP INI-1
TIATIVE. 2
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
‘‘(1) C
HESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHED .—The 4
term ‘Chesapeake Bay watershed’ means— 5
‘‘(A) the Chesapeake Bay; 6
‘‘(B) the portions of the States of Dela-7
ware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Vir-8
ginia, and West Virginia that contain the tribu-9
taries, backwaters, and side channels (including 10
their watersheds) that drain into the Chesa-11
peake Bay; and 12
‘‘(C) the District of Columbia. 13
‘‘(2) I
NITIATIVE.—The term ‘Initiative’ means 14
the Chesapeake Bay States Partnership Initiative es-15
tablished under subsection (b). 16
‘‘(b) E
STABLISHMENT AND PURPOSE.—The Sec-17
retary shall establish and carry out an initiative, to be 18
known as the ‘Chesapeake Bay States Partnership Initia-19
tive’, to assist producers in implementing conservation ac-20
tivities on agricultural land in the Chesapeake Bay water-21
shed for the purposes of— 22
‘‘(1) improving water quality and quantity; 23
‘‘(2) restoring, enhancing, and preserving soil, 24
air, and related resources; and 25
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‘‘(3) increasing the resilience of agricultural 1
production to withstand the impacts of climate 2
change. 3
‘‘(c) C
ONSERVATION ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary 4
shall provide funds made available to carry out the Initia-5
tive through applicable programs under this subtitle, in-6
cluding by providing enrollment opportunities that are tar-7
geted to the Chesapeake Bay watershed, to assist pro-8
ducers in the Chesapeake Bay watershed in enhancing 9
land and water resources by— 10
‘‘(1) controlling erosion and reducing sediment 11
and nutrient levels in groundwater and surface 12
water; and 13
‘‘(2) planning, designing, implementing, and 14
evaluating habitat conservation, restoration, and en-15
hancement measures in cases in which there is sig-16
nificant ecological value if the applicable land is— 17
‘‘(A) retained in the current use of the 18
land; or 19
‘‘(B) restored to the natural condition of 20
the land. 21
‘‘(d) C
ONSIDERATIONS.—In providing funds under 22
the Initiative, the Secretary shall give special consider-23
ation to applications— 24
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‘‘(1) submitted by producers in the Chesapeake 1
Bay watershed river basins in which nutrient reduc-2
tion efforts would be most effective; or 3
‘‘(2) to carry out conservation activities that re-4
duce nitrogen and sediment, improve management of 5
livestock and waste, or conserve wetlands in the 6
Chesapeake Bay watershed. 7
‘‘(e) D
UTIES OFSECRETARY.—In carrying out the 8
Initiative, the Secretary shall— 9
‘‘(1) as available, use existing plans, models, 10
and assessments to assist producers in implementing 11
conservation activities; and 12
‘‘(2) proceed expeditiously to provide funding to 13
producers to implement conservation activities that 14
are consistent with State strategies for the restora-15
tion of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. 16
‘‘(f) C
ONSULTATION AND COORDINATION.—The Sec-17
retary shall— 18
‘‘(1) in consultation with appropriate Federal 19
agencies, ensure that conservation activities carried 20
out under the Initiative complement Federal, State, 21
and local programs, including programs that address 22
water quality, in the Chesapeake Bay watershed; 23
and 24
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‘‘(2) in carrying out this section, coordinate 1
with the Farm Service Agency to identify needs and 2
opportunities for buffer management on land subject 3
to a contract under the conservation reserve pro-4
gram under subchapter B of chapter 1 that may be 5
expiring soon. 6
‘‘(g) T
ASKFORCE ONCREDITINGCHESAPEAKEBAY 7
C
ONSERVATIONINVESTMENTS.— 8
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary and the Ad-9
ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 10
shall jointly establish a Federal task force, to be 11
known as the ‘Task Force on Crediting Chesapeake 12
Bay Conservation Investments’ (referred to in this 13
subsection as the ‘Task Force’). 14
‘‘(2) A
CTION PLAN.—The Task Force shall de-15
velop an action plan that— 16
‘‘(A) identifies improvements to the proc-17
esses of analyzing, reporting, and quantifying 18
nutrient reductions from conservation activities 19
in the Chesapeake Bay watershed; 20
‘‘(B) is responsive to the needs of States in 21
the Chesapeake Bay watershed (including the 22
District of Columbia) and the agricultural com-23
munity; 24
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‘‘(C) maintains the scientific integrity of 1
the decisionmaking process and accounting 2
tools under the Chesapeake Bay Program (as 3
defined in section 117(a) of the Federal Water 4
Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1267(a))); 5
and 6
‘‘(D) ensures producer privacy is protected. 7
‘‘(3) I
DENTIFICATION OF OPPORTUNITIES .— 8
The Task Force shall leverage findings from suc-9
cessful data-sharing pilot projects to identify oppor-10
tunities to integrate time-saving technologies for the 11
implementation of conservation activities in the 12
Chesapeake Bay watershed.’’. 13
SEC. 3. CONSERVATION RESERVE ENHANCEMENT PRO-14
GRAM PARTICIPATION. 15
(a) C
ONSERVATIONRESERVE.— 16
(1) R
EAUTHORIZATION.—Section 1231(a) of 17
the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831(a)) 18
is amended by striking ‘‘the 2023 fiscal year’’ and 19
inserting ‘‘fiscal year 2028’’. 20
(2) E
LIGIBLE LAND.—Section 1231(b) of the 21
Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831(b)) is 22
amended— 23
(A) in paragraph (6)(B)(ii), by striking 24
‘‘or’’ at the end; 25
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(B) in paragraph (7)(C), by striking the 1
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 2
(C) by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘(8) cropland, marginal pastureland, grass-4
lands, and other rural land that will— 5
‘‘(A) have a positive impact on water qual-6
ity in furtherance of the goals of the conserva-7
tion reserve enhancement program under sec-8
tion 1231A; and 9
‘‘(B) be devoted to a riparian buffer.’’. 10
(3) C
ONSERVATION RESERVE ENHANCEMENT 11
PROGRAM.—Section 1231A(b) of the Food Security 12
Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831a(b)) is amended— 13
(A) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end 14
the following: 15
‘‘(C) U
PDATES.— 16
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary 17
shall provide to each signatory to an agree-18
ment under this subsection an option to 19
update the agreement, without renegoti-20
ating other provisions of the agreement, to 21
include new incentives made available 22
under this subchapter beginning on Janu-23
ary 1, 2018, such as riparian forest buffer 24
management payments. 25
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‘‘(ii) MATCHING FUNDS .—Require-1
ments for matching funds described in 2
paragraph (2)(B) shall not apply to an up-3
date to an agreement under clause (i).’’; 4
and 5
(B) by adding at the end the following: 6
‘‘(4) A
MENDMENTS.— 7
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—In the case of an 8
amendment to an agreement under this sub-9
section, including an addendum to such an 10
agreement, the Secretary shall— 11
‘‘(i) streamline the amendment proc-12
ess relating to time-sensitive national pri-13
orities, including the Chesapeake Bay total 14
maximum daily load; and 15
‘‘(ii) give priority to simple amend-16
ments to update existing agreements in ac-17
cordance with paragraph (3)(C). 18
‘‘(B) S
IMPLE AMENDMENTS .—A simple 19
amendment to an agreement described in sub-20
paragraph (A)(ii) shall not constitute a renego-21
tiation of the agreement.’’. 22
(4) P
AYMENTS.—Section 1234 of the Food Se-23
curity Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3834) is amended— 24
(A) in subsection (b)(4)— 25
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(i) by striking ‘‘In addition’’ and in-1
serting the following: 2
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—In addition’’; and 3
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-4
lowing: 5
‘‘(B) M
INIMUM PAYMENT FOR CERTAIN 6
CONTRACTS.—In the case of a contract updated 7
under section 1231A(b)(3)(C), the incentive 8
payment under subparagraph (A) shall be in an 9
amount that is not less than 40 percent of the 10
actual costs described in that subparagraph.’’; 11
and 12
(B) in subsection (g)(1), by striking 13
‘‘$50,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$100,000’’. 14
(b) E
NVIRONMENTAL QUALITYINCENTIVESPRO-15
GRAM.— 16
(1) C
ONSERVATION INCENTIVE CONTRACTS .— 17
Section 1240B(j)(2)(C) of the Food Security Act of 18
1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa–2(j)(2)(C)) is amended— 19
(A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 20
end; 21
(B) in clause (ii), by striking the period at 22
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 23
(C) by adding at the end the following: 24
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‘‘(iii) consider participation in the 1
conservation reserve program and the con-2
servation reserve enhancement program 3
under subchapter B of chapter 1, and 4
practices under those programs (such as 5
riparian buffers), in prioritizing grazing 6
practices under the program established by 7
this subchapter with respect to the effi-8
cient implementation of grazing systems to 9
holistically address resource concerns.’’. 10
(2) E
VALUATION OF APPLICATIONS .—Section 11
1240C(b) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 12
U.S.C. 3839aa–3(b)) is amended— 13
(A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 14
the end; 15
(B) in paragraph (4), by striking the pe-16
riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 17
(C) by adding at the end the following: 18
‘‘(5) that would include grazing practices under 19
the program established by this subchapter, in con-20
sideration of participation in the conservation re-21
serve program and the conservation reserve enhance-22
ment program under subchapter B of chapter 1, and 23
practices under those programs (such as riparian 24
buffers), with respect to the efficient implementation 25
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of grazing systems to holistically address resource 1
concerns.’’. 2
SEC. 4. CHESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHED TURNKEY PILOT 3
PROGRAM. 4
Section 1231C of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 5
U.S.C. 3831c) is amended by adding at the end the fol-6
lowing: 7
‘‘(c) C
HESAPEAKE BAYWATERSHED TURNKEY 8
P
ILOTPROGRAM.— 9
‘‘(1) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 10
‘‘(A) C
HESAPEAKE BAY WATERSHED .— 11
The term ‘Chesapeake Bay watershed’ has the 12
meaning given the term in section 1240N(a). 13
‘‘(B) CREP
DEFINITIONS.—The terms 14
‘CREP’, ‘eligible land’, and ‘management’ have 15
the meanings given those terms in section 16
1231A(a). 17
‘‘(C) E
LIGIBLE PRACTICE.—The term ‘eli-18
gible practice’ means a forested riparian buffer 19
practice under a CREP and any associated ac-20
tivities, including— 21
‘‘(i) a stream crossing; 22
‘‘(ii) fencing and alternate water sys-23
tems; 24
‘‘(iii) herbicide applications; and 25
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‘‘(iv) any other activity that is appro-1
priate to establish the practice. 2
‘‘(D) P
ILOT PROGRAM.—The term ‘pilot 3
program’ means the pilot program established 4
under paragraph (2). 5
‘‘(E) T
ECHNICAL SERVICE PROVIDER .— 6
The term ‘technical service provider’ means a 7
third-party provider with which the Secretary 8
enters into an agreement under paragraph 9
(5)(A). 10
‘‘(2) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es-11
tablish a pilot program under which the Secretary 12
shall provide, for voluntary owners and operators, 13
establishment and management of eligible practices 14
on eligible land located in the Chesapeake Bay wa-15
tershed that is enrolled through a CREP. 16
‘‘(3) D
UTIES OF SECRETARY .—With respect to 17
eligible land enrolled through the pilot program, the 18
Secretary— 19
‘‘(A) may provide, for the owner or oper-20
ator, establishment and management of an eli-21
gible practice on the eligible land using a tech-22
nical service provider pursuant to an agreement 23
under paragraph (5); and 24
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‘‘(B) shall not require the owner or oper-1
ator— 2
‘‘(i) to pay any costs of the establish-3
ment or management of an eligible prac-4
tice, including any compensation provided 5
under paragraph (5)(C); or 6
‘‘(ii) to submit to the Secretary any 7
additional paperwork with respect to the 8
pilot program. 9
‘‘(4) D
UTIES OF OWNERS AND OPERATORS .— 10
Each owner or operator of eligible land enrolled 11
through the pilot program— 12
‘‘(A) shall provide to the Secretary and 13
any technical service providers, as applicable, 14
access to the eligible land for purposes of the 15
establishment or management of an eligible 16
practice under the pilot program; and 17
‘‘(B) may not receive any cost-share pay-18
ment, practice incentive payment, or manage-19
ment payment under this subchapter with re-20
spect to an eligible practice under the pilot pro-21
gram. 22
‘‘(5) A
GREEMENTS WITH TECHNICAL SERVICE 23
PROVIDERS.— 24
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 1
enter into an agreement under section 1242 2
with 1 or more third-party providers certified 3
under that section, including a third-party pro-4
vider certified through a streamlined certifi-5
cation process under subsection (e)(5) of that 6
section, that provide technical assistance under 7
this title in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to 8
conduct the establishment and management of 9
an eligible practice on eligible land under the 10
pilot program. 11
‘‘(B) A
CTIVITIES.—In addition to any ac-12
tivity that a technical service provider may con-13
duct pursuant to section 1242 relating to the 14
establishment of an eligible practice, a technical 15
service provider may carry out such activities as 16
are necessary to conduct the establishment and 17
management of an eligible practice under the 18
pilot program. 19
‘‘(C) C
OMPENSATION.—Under an agree-20
ment entered into under subparagraph (A), the 21
Secretary shall provide to a technical service 22
provider reasonable compensation for services 23
provided under the agreement, including admin-24
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istrative assistance, technical assistance, design 1
assistance, and installation costs. 2
‘‘(6) R
EPORT TO CONGRESS .—Not later than 1 3
year after the date of enactment of this subsection, 4
the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Ag-5
riculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate and 6
the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep-7
resentatives a report describing the status of, and 8
any activities carried out under, the pilot program.’’. 9
SEC. 5. WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT. 10
(a) G
RANTS ANDFELLOWSHIPS FOR FOOD ANDAG-11
RICULTURALSCIENCESEDUCATION.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 1417 of the Na-13
tional Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teach-14
ing Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3152) is amend-15
ed— 16
(A) in subsection (b)— 17
(i) in the matter preceding paragraph 18
(1), by inserting ‘‘, junior or community 19
colleges, and postsecondary vocational in-20
stitutions’’ after ‘‘other colleges and uni-21
versities’’; and 22
(ii) in paragraph (3), by striking 23
‘‘food and agricultural sciences teaching 24
programs, or teaching programs empha-25
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sizing’’ and inserting ‘‘teaching programs, 1
including paid work-based learning, for 2
food and agricultural sciences or’’; 3
(B) in subsection (c)— 4
(i) in paragraph (1), by striking 5
‘‘and’’ at the end; 6
(ii) in paragraph (2), by striking the 7
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 8
and 9
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-10
lowing: 11
‘‘(3) applications for teaching enhancement 12
projects, including paid work-based learning, that 13
address a need for additional trained professionals in 14
food and agricultural sciences or rural economic de-15
velopment, community development, or business de-16
velopment.’’; 17
(C) in subsection (j)— 18
(i) by striking paragraph (1); and 19
(ii) by redesignating paragraphs (2) 20
and (3) as paragraphs (1) and (2), respec-21
tively; 22
(D) in subsection (l), by striking ‘‘sub-23
section (j)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (k)’’; 24
(E) in subsection (m)— 25
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(i) in paragraph (1), by striking 1
‘‘and’’ at the end; 2
(ii) in paragraph (2), by striking the 3
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 4
and 5
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-6
lowing: 7
‘‘(3) $60,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 8
through 2031.’’; 9
(F) by striking ‘‘subsection (b)’’ each place 10
it appears and inserting ‘‘subsection (c)’’; 11
(G) by redesignating subsections (a) 12
through (m) as subsections (b) through (n), re-13
spectively; and 14
(H) by inserting before subsection (b) (as 15
so redesignated) the following: 16
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 17
‘‘(1) I
NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .— 18
The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 19
meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 20
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 21
‘‘(2) J
UNIOR OR COMMUNITY COLLEGE .—The 22
term ‘junior or community college’ has the meaning 23
given the term in section 312 of the Higher Edu-24
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058). 25
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‘‘(3) POSTSECONDARY VOCATIONAL INSTITU -1
TION.—The term ‘postsecondary vocational institu-2
tion’ has the meaning given the term in section 3
102(c) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 4
U.S.C. 1002(c)). 5
‘‘(4) S
ECONDARY SCHOOL .—The term ‘sec-6
ondary school’ has the meaning given the term in 7
section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu-8
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 9
‘‘(5) W
ORK-BASED LEARNING .—The term 10
‘work-based learning’ has the meaning given the 11
term in section 3 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and 12
Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 13
2302).’’. 14
(2) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .— 15
(A) Section 708 of the Agriculture, Rural 16
Development, Food and Drug Administration, 17
and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1992 18
(7 U.S.C. 2209b), is amended by striking ‘‘sec-19
tion 1417(b)(6) of the National Agricultural 20
Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act 21
of 1977, as amended (7 U.S.C. 3152(b)(6))’’ 22
and inserting ‘‘subsection (c)(6) of section 1417 23
of the National Agricultural Research, Exten-24
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sion, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 1
U.S.C. 3152)’’. 2
(B) Section 251(f)(1) of the Department 3
of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 4
U.S.C. 6971(f)(1)) is amended— 5
(i) in subparagraph (C)(v), by striking 6
‘‘section 1417(b) of the National Agricul-7
tural Research, Extension, and Teaching 8
Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3152(b))’’ 9
and inserting ‘‘subsection (c) of section 10
1417 of the National Agricultural Re-11
search, Extension, and Teaching Policy 12
Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3152)’’; and 13
(ii) in subparagraph (D)(v), by strik-14
ing ‘‘section 1417(j) of the National Agri-15
cultural Research, Extension, and Teach-16
ing Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3152(j))’’ 17
and inserting ‘‘subsection (k) of section 18
1417 of the National Agricultural Re-19
search, Extension, and Teaching Policy 20
Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3152)’’. 21
(b) E
XPERIENCED SERVICESPROGRAM.—Section 22
1252(a)(2) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 23
3851(a)(2)) is amended— 24
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(1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 1
the end; 2
(2) in subparagraph (E), by striking the period 3
at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 4
(3) by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(F) assisting cooperative initiatives under 6
subsection (c)(3) of section 1417 of the Na-7
tional Agricultural Research, Extension, and 8
Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3152) 9
to improve higher education teaching programs, 10
including paid work-based learning, at— 11
‘‘(i) land-grant colleges and univer-12
sities (including the University of the Dis-13
trict of Columbia); 14
‘‘(ii) colleges and universities having 15
significant minority enrollments and a de-16
monstrable capacity to carry out the teach-17
ing of food and agricultural sciences; and 18
‘‘(iii) other colleges and universities, 19
junior or community colleges (as defined in 20
section 312 of the Higher Education Act 21
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1058)), and postsec-22
ondary vocational institutions (as defined 23
in section 102(c) of the Higher Education 24
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002(c))) having a 25
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•HR 2091 IH
demonstrable capacity to carry out the 1
teaching of food and agricultural 2
sciences.’’. 3
(c) C
OMPETITIVE, SPECIAL, ANDFACILITIESRE-4
SEARCHGRANTS.—Subsection (b) of the Competitive, 5
Special, and Facilities Research Grant Act (7 U.S.C. 6
3157(b)) is amended— 7
(1) in paragraph (6)(A), by striking ‘‘teaching’’ 8
and inserting ‘‘teaching, including paid work-based 9
learning (as defined in section 3 of the Carl D. Per-10
kins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 11
(20 U.S.C. 2302))’’; and 12
(2) in paragraph (7)(B), by inserting ‘‘, junior 13
or community colleges (as defined in section 312 of 14
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 15
1058)), and postsecondary vocational institutions (as 16
defined in section 102(c) of the Higher Education 17
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002(c)))’’ after ‘‘colleges 18
and universities’’. 19
SEC. 6. NRCS DIRECT HIRE AUTHORITY. 20
Section 1242 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 21
U.S.C. 3842) is amended by adding at the end the fol-22
lowing: 23
‘‘(j) NRCS D
IRECTHIREAUTHORITY.— 24
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may ap-1
point, without regard to the provisions of subchapter 2
I of chapter 33 of title 5, United States Code (other 3
than sections 3303 and 3328 of that title), qualified 4
candidates, as described in paragraph (2), directly to 5
positions within the Natural Resources Conservation 6
Service that provide technical assistance under con-7
servation programs administered by the Natural Re-8
sources Conservation Service. 9
‘‘(2) Q
UALIFICATIONS.—Paragraph (1) applies 10
to any candidate who— 11
‘‘(A) is qualified to provide the technical 12
assistance described in paragraph (1), as deter-13
mined by the Secretary; and 14
‘‘(B) meets qualification standards estab-15
lished by the Office of Personnel Manage-16
ment.’’. 17
SEC. 7. PRIMARY REGULATORY OVERSIGHT FOR DOMES-18
TIC, WILD-CAUGHT, INVASIVE CATFISH. 19
(a) E
XEMPTIONFROMOVERSIGHT.— 20
(1) F
OOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE .— 21
Section 1(w)(2) of the Federal Meat Inspection Act 22
(21 U.S.C. 601(w)(2)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, 23
except for domestic, wild-caught blue catfish 24
(Ictalurus furcatus) and flathead catfish (Pylodictis 25
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olivaris) invasive to the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem’’ 1
before the semicolon. 2
(2) USDA
GRADING PROGRAM .—Section 3
203(n)(1) of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 4
(7 U.S.C. 1622(n)(1)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, ex-5
cept for domestic, wild-caught blue catfish (Ictalurus 6
furcatus) and flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris) 7
invasive to the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem’’ before 8
the semicolon. 9
(b) I
NTERAGENCY COORDINATION.—Not later than 10
90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-11
retary of Agriculture (referred to in this section as the 12
‘‘Secretary’’) shall execute a memorandum of under-13
standing with the Commissioner of Food and Drugs (re-14
ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Commissioner’’) for the 15
purpose of transferring primary regulatory oversight of 16
the domestic and import inspection of domestic, wild- 17
caught blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) and flathead cat-18
fish (Pylodictis olivaris) invasive to the Chesapeake Bay 19
ecosystem from the Secretary to the Commissioner, pursu-20
ant to the authorities of the Commissioner under the Fed-21
eral Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et 22
seq.), the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (15 U.S.C. 23
1451 et seq.), and the Public Health Service Act (42 24
U.S.C. 201 et seq.). 25
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(c) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 1
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in con-2
sultation with the Commissioner, shall issue final regula-3
tions to carry out this section and the amendments made 4
by this section in a manner that ensures that there is no 5
duplication in inspection activities relating to domestic, 6
wild-caught blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) and flathead 7
catfish (Pylodictis olivaris) invasive to the Chesapeake 8
Bay ecosystem. 9
Æ
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