Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2185 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2185
5	5	To protect public health and human safety by prohibiting the farming of
6	6	mink for their fur, to compensate farmers as they transition out of
7	7	the industry, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	MARCH18, 2025
10	10	Mr. E
11	11	SPAILLAT(for himself, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. FROST, and Mr.
12	12	F
13	13	ITZPATRICK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
14	14	Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on the
15	15	Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
16	16	each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
17	17	tion of the committee concerned
18	18	A BILL
19	19	To protect public health and human safety by prohibiting
20	20	the farming of mink for their fur, to compensate farmers
21	21	as they transition out of the industry, and for other
22	22	purposes.
23	23	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
24	24	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
25	25	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
26	26	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mink: Vectors for In-4
27	27	fection Risk in the United States Act’’ or the ‘‘Mink 5
28	28	VIRUS Act’’. 6
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31	31	•HR 2185 IH
32	32	SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON MINK FARMING AND REQUIRE-1
33	33	MENTS FOR MINK TERMINATION. 2
34	34	(a) C
35	35	ESSATION OFOPERATIONS.—Beginning on the 3
36	36	date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of this 4
37	37	Act, no fur farm may farm mink. 5
38	38	(b) P
39	39	AINLESSMINKTERMINATIONMETHODS.—Be-6
40	40	ginning on the date that is 90 days after the date of enact-7
41	41	ment of this Act, any termination of farmed mink, whether 8
42	42	performed in order to comply with subsection (a) or other-9
43	43	wise, shall be done in a manner that— 10
44	44	(1) meets the definition of ‘‘euthanasia’’ speci-11
45	45	fied in section 1.1 of title 9, Code of Federal Regu-12
46	46	lations (or successor regulations); and 13
47	47	(2) is classified as ‘‘acceptable’’ by the most re-14
48	48	cent version of the American Veterinary Medical As-15
49	49	sociation (AVMA) Guidelines for the Euthanasia of 16
50	50	Animals made publicly available at the time the ter-17
51	51	mination occurred, without regard to whether the 18
52	52	termination is in compliance with other guidelines, 19
53	53	including the AVMA Guidelines for the Depopula-20
54	54	tion of Animals. 21
55	55	(c) P
56	56	ENALTIES.— 22
57	57	(1) P
58	58	ENALTY FOR FAILURE TO CEASE OPER -23
59	59	ATIONS.—Any person who violates subsection (a) 24
60	60	may be assessed a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for 25
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63	63	•HR 2185 IH
64	64	each day that the fur farm is not in compliance with 1
65	65	the requirements of that subsection. 2
66	66	(2) P
67	67	ENALTY FOR NONCOMPLIANT TERMI -3
68	68	NATION OF MINK.—Any person who violates sub-4
69	69	section (b) may be assessed a civil penalty of up to 5
70	70	$10,000 for each mink terminated in a manner that 6
71	71	does not comply with the requirements of that sub-7
72	72	section. 8
73	73	(d) E
74	74	FFECT ONPREEMPTION.—This section shall 9
75	75	not be construed to preempt or limit any requirement of 10
76	76	any law or regulation of a State or political subdivision 11
77	77	of a State that is more restrictive than the requirements 12
78	78	of this section. 13
79	79	SEC. 3. PAYMENT PROGRAM. 14
80	80	(a) E
81	81	STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 15
82	82	the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agri-16
83	83	culture (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Secretary’’) 17
84	84	shall establish and carry out a program (referred to in 18
85	85	this section as the ‘‘Program’’) to provide payments to 19
86	86	owners of fur farms whose operations involve the farming 20
87	87	of mink. 21
88	88	(b) P
89	89	AYMENTS.—Under the Program, the Secretary 22
90	90	shall provide payments to fur farm owners equal to the 23
91	91	sum of the Secretary’s determination of— 24
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95	95	(1) the reasonable cost incurred by the owner in 1
96	96	order to comply with sections 2(a) and 2(b); and 2
97	97	(2) the market value of the portion of the own-3
98	98	er’s fur farm, exclusive of the land, involving mink 4
99	99	farming. 5
100	100	(c) M
101	101	ARKETVALUEDETERMINATION.— 6
102	102	(1) M
103	103	ARKET VALUE.—The market value re-7
104	104	ferred to in subsection (b)(2) shall be calculated as 8
105	105	the amount in cash, or on terms reasonably equiva-9
106	106	lent to cash, for which in all probability the relevant 10
107	107	portion of the fur farm would have sold on the effec-11
108	108	tive date of the valuation, after a reasonable expo-12
109	109	sure time on the competitive market, from a willing 13
110	110	and reasonably knowledgeable seller to a willing and 14
111	111	reasonably knowledgeable buyer, with neither acting 15
112	112	under any compulsion to buy or sell, giving due con-16
113	113	sideration to all available economic uses of that por-17
114	114	tion of the fur farm at the time of the valuation. 18
115	115	(2) E
116	116	FFECTIVE DATE OF VALUATION .—In de-19
117	117	termining the market value referred to in subsection 20
118	118	(b)(2), the effective date of the valuation shall be the 21
119	119	day before the date of enactment of this Act. 22
120	120	(d) G
121	121	RANTCONDITION.—As a condition of receiving 23
122	122	a payment under the Program, the recipient shall— 24
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125	125	•HR 2185 IH
126	126	(1) not use any payment funds for any mate-1
127	127	rials, supplies, labor costs, or activities associated 2
128	128	with operating a fur farm; and 3
129	129	(2) provide to the Secretary a permanent ease-4
130	130	ment on the property on which the fur farm is lo-5
131	131	cated that prohibits the operation of any fur farm on 6
132	132	the easement area. 7
133	133	(e) F
134	134	UNDING.—Not later than 60 days after the date 8
135	135	of enactment of this Act, out of any funds in the Treasury 9
136	136	not otherwise appropriated, the Secretary of the Treasury 10
137	137	shall transfer to the Secretary of Agriculture 11
138	138	$100,000,000 to carry out this section, to remain available 12
139	139	until expended. 13
140	140	SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 14
141	141	In this Act: 15
142	142	(1) F
143	143	UR.—The term ‘‘fur’’ means any animal 16
144	144	skin or part of an animal skin with hair, fleece, or 17
145	145	fur fibers attached, either in its raw or processed 18
146	146	state. Such term— 19
147	147	(A) does not include animal skins that will 20
148	148	be converted into leather or which in processing 21
149	149	will have their hair, fleece, or fur fiber com-22
150	150	pletely removed; and 23
151	151	(B) does not include cowhide with its hair 24
152	152	attached, deerskin with its hair attached, and 25
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155	155	•HR 2185 IH
156	156	lambskin and sheepskin with their fleece at-1
157	157	tached. 2
158	158	(2) F
159	159	UR-BEARING ANIMAL.—The term ‘‘fur- 3
160	160	bearing animal’’ means an animal that bears fur of 4
161	161	marketable value. 5
162	162	(3) F
163	163	UR FARM.—The term ‘‘fur farm’’ means 6
164	164	an operation that farms fur-bearing animals for the 7
165	165	value of their fur, including— 8
166	166	(A) the land, buildings, support facilities, 9
167	167	and other equipment of the operation in which 10
168	168	fur-bearing animals are, for the value of their 11
169	169	fur, bred, slaughtered, skinned, or sold; and 12
170	170	(B) the fur-bearing animals of the oper-13
171	171	ation farmed for the value of their fur and any 14
172	172	fur produced by such fur-bearing animals that 15
173	173	is owned by the operation. 16
174	174	(4) M
175	175	INK.—The term ‘‘mink’’ means an Amer-17
176	176	ican mink (Neovison vison), a European mink 18
177	177	(Mustela lutreola), and any mink hybrid, whether 19
178	178	alive or dead, and any parts and products from such 20
179	179	mink or mink hybrids. 21
180	180	(5) S
181	181	TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 22
182	182	the several States, the District of Columbia, the 23
183	183	Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth 24
184	184	of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, 25
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188	188	Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, and any 1
189	189	other territory or possession of the United States. 2
190	190	SEC. 5. BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 3
191	191	(a) S
192	192	TATUTORYPAYGO SCORECARDS.—The budg-4
193	193	etary effects of this Act shall not be entered on either 5
194	194	PAYGO scorecard maintained pursuant to section 4(d) of 6
195	195	the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (Public Law 7
196	196	111–139; 2 U.S.C. 933(d)). 8
197	197	(b) S
198	198	ENATEPAYGO SCORECARDS.—The budgetary 9
199	199	effects of this Act shall not be entered on any PAYGO 10
200	200	scorecard maintained for the purposes of section 4106 of 11
201	201	H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress). 12
202	202	Æ
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