Mink VIRUS Act in plain language
1: Short title
This section would let the Act be called the "Mink: Vectors for Infection Risk in the United States Act" or the "Mink VIRUS Act."
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1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Mink: Vectors for Infection Risk in the United States Act or the Mink VIRUS Act .
2: Prohibition on mink farming and requirements for mink termination
This section would ban fur farms from farming mink starting 1 year after the Act becomes law. Starting 90 days after enactment, any killing of farmed mink, whether done to comply with that ban or for any other reason, would have to meet the definition of euthanasia in section 1.1 of title 9 of the Code of Federal Regulations (or any regulation that replaces it) and would have to be classified as acceptable under the most current American Veterinary Medical Association Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals available at the time, regardless of whether the method complied with other guidelines such as the AVMA Guidelines for the Depopulation of Animals. A person who violated the 1-year farming ban could be assessed a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each day the fur farm was not in compliance. A person who violated the killing-method requirement could be assessed a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each mink killed in a way that did not meet it. This section would not preempt or limit any state or local law or regulation that set stricter rules than this section.
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2. Prohibition on mink farming and requirements for mink termination (a) Cessation of operations Beginning on the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, no fur farm may farm mink. (b) Painless mink termination methods Beginning on the date that is 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, any termination of farmed mink, whether performed in order to comply with subsection (a) or otherwise, shall be done in a manner that— (1) meets the definition of euthanasia specified in section 1.1 of title 9, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations); and (2) is classified as acceptable by the most recent version of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals made publicly available at the time the termination occurred, without regard to whether the termination is in compliance with other guidelines, including the AVMA Guidelines for the Depopulation of Animals. (c) Penalties (1) Penalty for failure to cease operations Any person who violates subsection (a) may be assessed a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each day that the fur farm is not in compliance with the requirements of that subsection. (2) Penalty for noncompliant termination of mink Any person who violates subsection (b) may be assessed a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each mink terminated in a manner that does not comply with the requirements of that subsection. (d) Effect on preemption This section shall not be construed to preempt or limit any requirement of any law or regulation of a State or political subdivision of a State that is more restrictive than the requirements of this section.
3: Payment program
This section would require the Secretary of Agriculture to set up, within 180 days after enactment, a program to pay owners of fur farms that farm mink. Under the program, the Secretary would pay each owner an amount equal to the reasonable cost the owner incurred to comply with the farming ban and the killing-method requirement in sections 2(a) and 2(b), plus the market value of the part of the owner's fur farm used for mink farming, not counting the land. That market value would be the amount in cash, or on terms equivalent to cash, that the relevant part of the farm would probably have sold for after a reasonable time on the competitive market, between a willing and reasonably knowledgeable seller and a willing and reasonably knowledgeable buyer, neither one forced to buy or sell, taking into account all the ways that part of the farm could be used economically at the time. The valuation date used for this calculation would be the day before the Act's enactment date. To receive a payment, an owner would have to agree not to use the payment for any materials, supplies, labor, or activities involved in running a fur farm, and would have to give the Secretary a permanent easement on the property that bars any fur farm from operating on the easement area. Within 60 days after enactment, the Secretary of the Treasury would have to transfer $100,000,000 from Treasury funds not otherwise appropriated to the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out this program, and that money would stay available until spent.
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3. Payment program (a) Establishment Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture (referred to in this section as the Secretary ) shall establish and carry out a program (referred to in this section as the Program ) to provide payments to owners of fur farms whose operations involve the farming of mink. (b) Payments Under the Program, the Secretary shall provide payments to fur farm owners equal to the sum of the Secretary’s determination of— (1) the reasonable cost incurred by the owner in order to comply with sections 2(a) and 2(b); and (2) the market value of the portion of the owner’s fur farm, exclusive of the land, involving mink farming. (c) Market value determination (1) Market value The market value referred to in subsection (b)(2) shall be calculated as the amount in cash, or on terms reasonably equivalent to cash, for which in all probability the relevant portion of the fur farm would have sold on the effective date of the valuation, after a reasonable exposure time on the competitive market, from a willing and reasonably knowledgeable seller to a willing and reasonably knowledgeable buyer, with neither acting under any compulsion to buy or sell, giving due consideration to all available economic uses of that portion of the fur farm at the time of the valuation. (2) Effective date of valuation In determining the market value referred to in subsection (b)(2), the effective date of the valuation shall be the day before the date of enactment of this Act. (d) Grant condition As a condition of receiving a payment under the Program, the recipient shall— (1) not use any payment funds for any materials, supplies, labor costs, or activities associated with operating a fur farm; and (2) provide to the Secretary a permanent easement on the property on which the fur farm is located that prohibits the operation of any fur farm on the easement area. (e) Funding Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, out of any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer to the Secretary of Agriculture $100,000,000 to carry out this section, to remain available until expended.
4: Definitions
This section would define terms used in the Act. "Fur" would mean any animal skin or part of a skin with hair, fleece, or fur fibers still attached, whether raw or processed, but would not include skins that will be turned into leather or that will have their hair, fleece, or fur fiber completely removed during processing, and would not include cowhide with hair attached, deerskin with hair attached, or lambskin and sheepskin with fleece attached. "Fur-bearing animal" would mean an animal that bears fur of marketable value. "Fur farm" would mean an operation that farms fur-bearing animals for the value of their fur, including the land, buildings, support facilities, and other equipment used to breed, slaughter, skin, or sell the animals for their fur, plus the fur-bearing animals themselves and any fur from them that the operation owns. "Mink" would mean American mink (Neovison vison), European mink (Mustela lutreola), and any mink hybrid, whether alive or dead, along with any parts or products made from such mink or mink hybrids. "State" would mean each of the several states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, and any other territory or possession of the United States.
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4. Definitions In this Act: (1) Fur The term fur means any animal skin or part of an animal skin with hair, fleece, or fur fibers attached, either in its raw or processed state. Such term— (A) does not include animal skins that will be converted into leather or which in processing will have their hair, fleece, or fur fiber completely removed; and (B) does not include cowhide with its hair attached, deerskin with its hair attached, and lambskin and sheepskin with their fleece attached. (2) Fur-bearing animal The term fur-bearing animal means an animal that bears fur of marketable value. (3) Fur farm The term fur farm means an operation that farms fur-bearing animals for the value of their fur, including— (A) the land, buildings, support facilities, and other equipment of the operation in which fur-bearing animals are, for the value of their fur, bred, slaughtered, skinned, or sold; and (B) the fur-bearing animals of the operation farmed for the value of their fur and any fur produced by such fur-bearing animals that is owned by the operation. (4) Mink The term mink means an American mink (Neovison vison), a European mink (Mustela lutreola), and any mink hybrid, whether alive or dead, and any parts and products from such mink or mink hybrids. (5) State The term State means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, and any other territory or possession of the United States.
5: Budgetary effects
This section would keep the budgetary effects of the Act off both PAYGO scorecards maintained under section 4(d) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, and off any PAYGO scorecard the Senate maintains for purposes of section 4106 of H. Con. Res. 71 from the 115th Congress.
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5. Budgetary effects (a) Statutory PAYGO scorecards The budgetary effects of this Act shall not be entered on either PAYGO scorecard maintained pursuant to section 4(d) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 ( Public Law 111–139 ; 2 U.S.C. 933(d) ). (b) Senate PAYGO scorecards The budgetary effects of this Act shall not be entered on any PAYGO scorecard maintained for the purposes of section 4106 of H. Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress).