Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB843 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 843
5	5	To require the Secretary of Commerce to establish the Sea Turtle Rescue
6	6	Assistance Grant Program.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	MARCH4, 2025
9	9	Mr. M
10	10	ARKEY(for himself, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. VAN
11	11	H
12	12	OLLEN, and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was read
13	13	twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans-
14	14	portation
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To require the Secretary of Commerce to establish the Sea
17	17	Turtle Rescue Assistance Grant Program.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sea Turtle Rescue As-4
22	22	sistance and Rehabilitation Act of 2025’’. 5
23	23	SEC. 2. SEA TURTLE RESCUE, REHABILITATION, AND RE-6
24	24	SPONSE. 7
25	25	Section 408 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act 8
26	26	of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1421f–1) is amended— 9
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29	29	•S 843 IS
30	30	(1) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the 1
31	31	following: 2
32	32	‘‘(10) S
33	33	EA TURTLE RESCUE , REHABILITATION, 3
34	34	AND RESPONSE.— 4
35	35	‘‘(A) I
36	36	N GENERAL.—Subject to the avail-5
37	37	ability of appropriations specific to address sea 6
38	38	turtle rescue, rehabilitation, and response, the 7
39	39	Secretary of Commerce and the Director of the 8
40	40	United States Fish and Wildlife Service shall 9
41	41	include separate eligibility for grants under this 10
42	42	subsection to address the purposes described in 11
43	43	paragraph (2) with respect to sea turtles. 12
44	44	‘‘(B) C
45	45	ONDITIONS OF GRANT .—A grant 13
46	46	awarded under this subsection to address sea 14
47	47	turtle rescue, rehabilitation, and response 15
48	48	shall— 16
49	49	‘‘(i) include the equivalent grant cri-17
50	50	teria and administration authorities and 18
51	51	requirements described under paragraph 19
52	52	(3), subparagraphs (A) and (B) of para-20
53	53	graph (4), and paragraphs (5) through (9), 21
54	54	developed, as appropriate, and awarded 22
55	55	separately for sea turtles and in consulta-23
56	56	tion with the United States Fish and Wild-24
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59	59	•S 843 IS
60	60	life Service in lieu of the Marine Mammal 1
61	61	Commission; and 2
62	62	‘‘(ii) in addition to the considerations 3
63	63	under paragraph (4)(B), also consider re-4
64	64	habilitation of stranded sea turtles. 5
65	65	‘‘(C) E
66	66	LIGIBILITY CRITERIA.—In order to 6
67	67	apply for a grant awarded under this subsection 7
68	68	to address sea turtle rescue, rehabilitation, and 8
69	69	response, an entity shall— 9
70	70	‘‘(i) submit an application described 10
71	71	in paragraph (5) to the Secretary of Com-11
72	72	merce with respect to sea turtles; 12
73	73	‘‘(ii) be authorized by and in compli-13
74	74	ance with— 14
75	75	‘‘(I) an authorization issued 15
76	76	under section 10(a)(1)(A) of the En-16
77	77	dangered Species Act of 1973 (16 17
78	78	U.S.C. 1539(a)(1)(A)) with respect to 18
79	79	sea turtles; or 19
80	80	‘‘(II) a cooperative agreement en-20
81	81	tered into under section 6 of the En-21
82	82	dangered Species Act of 1973 (16 22
83	83	U.S.C. 1535) with respect to sea tur-23
84	84	tles; 24
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87	87	•S 843 IS
88	88	‘‘(iii) comply with the standard condi-1
89	89	tions for care and maintenance of captive 2
90	90	sea turtles prescribed by the Secretary of 3
91	91	the Interior when relevant facilities will be 4
92	92	utilized for such purposes; and 5
93	93	‘‘(iv) comply with all relevant data re-6
94	94	porting, requirements, such as the Sea 7
95	95	Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network 8
96	96	data collection requirements.’’; 9
97	97	(2) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 10
98	98	following: 11
99	99	‘‘(c) R
100	100	ESCUE ANDRAPIDRESPONSEFUNDS.— 12
101	101	‘‘(1) I
102	102	N GENERAL.—There is established in the 13
103	103	Treasury of the United States— 14
104	104	‘‘(A) an interest-bearing fund to known as 15
105	105	the ‘Joseph R. Geraci Marine Mammal Rescue 16
106	106	and Rapid Response Fund’; and 17
107	107	‘‘(B) an interest-bearing fund to be known 18
108	108	as the ‘Sea Turtle Rescue, Rehabilitation, and 19
109	109	Rapid Response Fund’. 20
110	110	‘‘(2) U
111	111	SE OF FUNDS.—Amounts in the funds 21
112	112	established under paragraph (1) shall be available 22
113	113	only for use by the Secretary to provide emergency 23
114	114	assistance.’’; and 24
115	115	(3) in subsection (d)— 25
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118	118	•S 843 IS
119	119	(A) in paragraph (1)— 1
120	120	(i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 2
121	121	‘‘marine mammal rescue and response’’ 3
122	122	after ‘‘to carry out the’’; 4
123	123	(ii) by redesignating subparagraph 5
124	124	(B) as subparagraph (C); 6
125	125	(iii) by inserting after clause (ii) of 7
126	126	subparagraph (A) the following: 8
127	127	‘‘(B) A
128	128	UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS 9
129	129	WITH RESPECT TO SEA TURTLE RESCUE , REHA-10
130	130	BILITATION, AND RESPONSE.—There is author-11
131	131	ized to be appropriated for the Secretary of 12
132	132	Commerce to carry out the sea turtle rescue, re-13
133	133	habilitation, and response grant program under 14
134	134	subsection (b)(10), $5,000,000 for each of fis-15
135	135	cal years 2025 through 2030, to remain avail-16
136	136	able until expended.’’; and 17
137	137	(iv) in subparagraph (C), as redesig-18
138	138	nated by clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘or (B)’’ 19
139	139	after ‘‘subparagraph (A)’’; and 20
140	140	(B) by striking paragraph (2) and insert-21
141	141	ing the following: 22
142	142	‘‘(2) R
143	143	ESCUE AND RAPID RESPONSE FUNDS .— 23
144	144	There is authorized to be appropriated— 24
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148	148	‘‘(A) to the Joseph R. Geraci Marine 1
149	149	Mammal Rescue and Rapid Response Fund 2
150	150	$500,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 3
151	151	2030; and 4
152	152	‘‘(B) to the Sea Turtle Rescue, Rehabilita-5
153	153	tion, and Rapid Response Fund $500,000 for 6
154	154	each of fiscal years 2025 through 2030.’’. 7
155	155	Æ
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