119-hr2185

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2185 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 2185

To protect public health and human safety by prohibiting the farming of 
mink for their fur, to compensate farmers as they transition out of the 
 industry, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 March 18, 2025

 Mr. Espaillat (for himself, Ms. Barragan, Mr. Frost, and Mr. 
 Fitzpatrick) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on the 
 Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
 each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
 jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To protect public health and human safety by prohibiting the farming of 
mink for their fur, to compensate farmers as they transition out of the 
 industry, 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 ``Mink: Vectors for Infection Risk in 
the United States Act'' or the ``Mink VIRUS Act''.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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).
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