SWAT Act of 2024

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7798 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7798

To amend the Plant Protection Act to establish a fund for spotted wing 
      drosophila research and mitigation, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 22, 2024

  Mrs. Chavez-DeRemer (for herself, Ms. Slotkin, Mr. Valadao, and Ms. 
   Salinas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Plant Protection Act to establish a fund for spotted wing 
      drosophila research and mitigation, 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 ``Spotted Wing Abatement Trust Act of 
2024'' or the `` SWAT Act of 2024''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the spotted wing drosophila, an invasive species from 
        East Asia, has caused significant damage to many valuable fruit 
        crops in the United States, including raspberries, 
        blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, plums, and 
        cherries; and
            (2) the Department of Agriculture estimates that spotted 
        wing drosophila account for a combined 20 percent revenue loss 
        across strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry, and cherry 
        crops, based on reported yield losses due to that species.

SEC. 3. SPOTTED WING DROSOPHILA RESEARCH AND MITIGATION.

    Subtitle A of the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7711 et seq.) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 420A. SPOTTED WING DROSOPHILA RESEARCH AND MITIGATION.

    ``(a) In General.--The Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health 
Inspection Service (referred to in this section as the `Administrator') 
shall establish a fund within the Department of Agriculture to fund 
research relating to, and activities to mitigate the negative effects 
of spotted wing drosophila.
    ``(b) Administration of Fund.--The Administrator shall--
            ``(1) determine eligible recipients to enter into 
        cooperative agreements with, or award grants to, using amounts 
        in the fund established under subsection (a); and
            ``(2) oversee the activities carried out using amounts in 
        that fund.
    ``(c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated for the fund established under subsection (a) $6,500,000 
for the fiscal year in which the Spotted Wing Abatement Trust Act of 
2024 is enacted and each of the 4 fiscal years thereafter.''.
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