WOLF Act

WOlf and Livestock Fairness Act or the WOLF Act

This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide emergency relief to producers of livestock with herds adversely affected by Mexican gray wolves.

Additionally, the bill modifies USDA's Livestock Indemnity Program to increase the payment rate from 75% to 100% of the market value of the affected livestock.

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2695 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2695

 To amend the Agricultural Act of 2014 to provide emergency relief to 
 producers of livestock with herds adversely affected by Mexican gray 
                    wolves, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 18, 2023

Mr. Stanton (for himself, Mr. Schweikert, Mr. Vasquez, and Mr. Pfluger) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                              Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Agricultural Act of 2014 to provide emergency relief to 
 producers of livestock with herds adversely affected by Mexican gray 
                    wolves, 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 ``WOlf and Livestock Fairness Act'' or 
the ``WOLF Act''.

SEC. 2. LIVESTOCK INDEMNITY PAYMENT RATES.

    Section 1501(b)(2) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 
9081(b)(2)) is amended by striking ``75'' and inserting ``100''.

SEC. 3. EMERGENCY RELIEF TO MITIGATE EFFECT OF MEXICAN GRAY WOLVES.

    Section 1501(d) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9081(d)) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) Emergency relief to mitigate effect of mexican gray 
        wolves.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Each fiscal year, the Secretary 
                shall use funds made available under paragraph (1) to 
                provide emergency relief to producers of livestock with 
                herds adversely affected by Mexican gray wolves, as 
                determined by the Secretary.
                    ``(B) Formula.--Not later than 180 days after the 
                date of enactment of this paragraph, the Secretary 
                shall develop a formula to determine the amount of 
                emergency relief to provide to a producer of livestock 
                under subparagraph (A), which shall take into 
                consideration the following factors:
                            ``(i) The herd size of the producer.
                            ``(ii) The average annual number of 
                        confirmed depredations by Mexican gray wolves 
                        per producer in the State in which the producer 
                        is located.
                            ``(iii) The average annual increase in 
                        management costs for producers due to Mexican 
                        gray wolves during the preceding 5 years in the 
                        State in which the producer is located.
                            ``(iv) The average annual decrease in birth 
                        rates of herds of producers due to Mexican gray 
                        wolves during the preceding 5 years in the 
                        State in which the producer is located.
                            ``(v) The depredation prevention practices 
                        carried out by the producer, if any, as 
                        reported through the wolf compensation and 
                        prevention program established by section 6202 
                        of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 
                        2009 (7 U.S.C. 8351 note).
                    ``(C) Consultation.--In carrying out this 
                paragraph, the Secretary shall consult with, and 
                request information from, as necessary, the 
                Administrator of the Farm Service Agency of the 
                Department of Agriculture, the Administrator of the 
                Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the 
                Department of Agriculture, and the Director of the 
                United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
                    ``(D) Annual report.--Not later than 1 year after 
                the date on which emergency relief is first provided 
                under this paragraph, and annually thereafter, the 
                Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture 
                of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
                Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a 
                report on activities carried out under this paragraph, 
                which shall include an identification of the following:
                            ``(i) The amount of emergency relief 
                        distributed to producers under this paragraph.
                            ``(ii) The number of producers receiving 
                        emergency relief under this paragraph.''.
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