G:\M\15\MAST\MAST_011.XML ..................................................................... (Original Signature of Member) 115TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. ll To establish a program to award prizes for the development of innovative, environmentally safe solutions for reducing, mitigating, and controlling harmful algal blooms, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Mr. MAST introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on llllllllllllll A BILL To establish a program to award prizes for the development of innovative, environmentally safe solutions for reducing, mitigating, and controlling harmful algal blooms, and for other purposes. 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Harmful Algal Blooms 5 Solutions Act of 2017’’ or the ‘‘HABS Act of 2017’’. g:\VHLC\081517\081517.101.xml August 15, 2017 (4:00 p.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:00 Aug 15, 2017 Jkt 000000 (660133 20) PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SBHAGE~1\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\MAST_011.X G:\M\15\MAST\MAST_011.XML 2 1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM. 2 The Secretary of Commerce shall establish a program 3 to award prizes to eligible persons for achievement in de4 veloping innovative, environmentally safe technologies and 5 practices for reducing, mitigating, and controlling harmful 6 algal blooms in one or more of the following categories: 7 (1) Large-scale physical removal of algal bio- 8 mass. 9 (2) Removal of, or rendering harmless, harmful 10 algal bloom toxins in the environment. 11 (3) Reduction of available nutrients that fuel 12 harmful algal blooms. 13 (4) Real-time monitoring of harmful algal 14 15 blooms and early-warning systems. SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF BOARD. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce shall 17 establish a Board to administer the program. 18 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Board shall be composed of 19 30 individuals who have experience in the field of harmful 20 algal blooms as follows: 21 (1) The Secretary of Commerce shall appoint 22 six individuals with experience in the fields of envi- 23 ronmental science, aquatic ecology, or environmental 24 toxicology, of whom— 25 (A) two shall be employees of institutions 26 of higher education; g:\VHLC\081517\081517.101.xml August 15, 2017 (4:00 p.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:00 Aug 15, 2017 Jkt 000000 (660133 20) PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SBHAGE~1\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\MAST_011.X G:\M\15\MAST\MAST_011.XML 3 1 (B) two shall be employees of not-for-profit 2 or non-profit entities; and 3 (C) two shall be employees of private-sec- 4 tor entities. 5 (2) The Under Secretary of Commerce for 6 Oceans and Atmosphere shall appoint two employees 7 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- 8 tration. 9 (3) The Administrator of the Environmental 10 Protection Agency shall appoint two employees of 11 the Environmental Protection Agency. 12 13 (4) The Secretary of the Interior shall appoint two employees of the Department of the Interior. 14 15 (5) The Secretary of Agriculture shall appoint two employees of the Department of Agriculture. 16 (6) The Assistant Secretary of the Army for 17 Civil Works shall appoint two employees of the Army 18 Corps of Engineers. 19 (7) The Director of the National Institute of 20 Environmental Health Sciences shall appoint one 21 employee of the National Institute of Environmental 22 Health Sciences. 23 (8) The Director of the Centers for Disease 24 Control and Prevention shall appoint one employee 25 of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. g:\VHLC\081517\081517.101.xml August 15, 2017 (4:00 p.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:00 Aug 15, 2017 Jkt 000000 (660133 20) PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SBHAGE~1\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\MAST_011.X G:\M\15\MAST\MAST_011.XML 4 1 (9) The Commissioner of Food and Drugs shall 2 appoint one employee of the Food and Drug Admin- 3 istration. 4 (10) The Under Secretary of Commerce for 5 Standards and Technology shall appoint one em- 6 ployee of the National Institute of Standards and 7 Technology. 8 (11) The Director of the National Science 9 Foundation shall appoint one employee of the Na- 10 tional Science Foundation. 11 (12) The Administrator of the National Aero- 12 nautics and Space Administration shall appoint one 13 official of the National Aeronautics and Space Ad- 14 ministration. 15 (13) The Secretary of Commerce, or a designee 16 of the Secretary’s choice, shall appoint eight employ- 17 ees of State agencies pursuant to subsection (c). 18 (c) SELECTION OF STATE EMPLOYEES.— 19 (1) FROM FOUR GROUPS OF 20 STATES.—Except 21 (3), the Secretary of Commerce, or a designee of the 22 Secretary’s choice, shall select one State agency em- 23 ployee who is nominated pursuant to paragraph (3) 24 from two of the States listed in each of the following 25 four groups: g:\VHLC\081517\081517.101.xml August 15, 2017 (4:00 p.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 SELECTION 16:00 Aug 15, 2017 Jkt 000000 as provided in paragraphs (2) and (660133 20) PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SBHAGE~1\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\MAST_011.X G:\M\15\MAST\MAST_011.XML 5 1 (A) Maine, New Hampshire, Massachu- 2 setts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, 3 New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, 4 North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and 5 Florida. 6 (B) Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Lou- 7 isiana, and Texas. 8 (C) New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michi- 9 gan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Min- 10 nesota. 11 (D) California, Oregon, and Washington. 12 (2) SELECTION the 13 Secretary determines that there is only one State 14 listed in any of subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), or (D) 15 of paragraph (1), that has an employee of a State 16 agency with experience in the field of harmful algal 17 blooms, the Secretary, or a designee of the Sec- 18 retary’s choice, shall select two such employees from 19 such State. 20 (3) NOMINATION BY GOVERNOR.—Not later 21 than 60 days after the date on which the first indi- 22 vidual is appointed to the Board pursuant to sub- 23 section (b), the Governor of each State listed in 24 paragraph (1) may nominate up to two employees of 25 a State agency with experience in the field of harm- g:\VHLC\081517\081517.101.xml August 15, 2017 (4:00 p.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 OF DIFFERENT STATES.—If 16:00 Aug 15, 2017 Jkt 000000 (660133 20) PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SBHAGE~1\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\MAST_011.X G:\M\15\MAST\MAST_011.XML 6 1 ful algal blooms for purposes of the selection pursu- 2 ant to paragraph (1). The Secretary, or a designee 3 of the Secretary’s choice, may not select an employee 4 from a State if the Governor of such State has failed 5 to make a nomination pursuant to this paragraph. 6 SEC. 4. ACTIVITIES OF BOARD. 7 (a) COMPETITION ESTABLISHMENT.—In carrying 8 out the program, the Board may hold one or more com9 petitions to award to eligible persons who apply for such 10 competitions— 11 (1) financial prizes, awarded in amounts deter- 12 mined by the Board before commencement of the 13 competition, to winners of a competition based on 14 criteria established by the Board; and 15 (2) recognition prizes for superlative achieve- 16 ment in one or more of the categories in section 2. 17 (b) FUND ESTABLISHMENT.— 18 19 (1) IN is established within the Department of Commerce the ‘‘HABS Fund’’. 20 (2) RESPONSIBILITY OF SECRETARY.—The Sec- 21 retary shall take such action as the Secretary deter- 22 mines to be necessary to assist in implementing the 23 establishment of the HABS Fund in accordance with 24 this Act. g:\VHLC\081517\081517.101.xml August 15, 2017 (4:00 p.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 GENERAL.—There 16:00 Aug 15, 2017 Jkt 000000 (660133 20) PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SBHAGE~1\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\MAST_011.X G:\M\15\MAST\MAST_011.XML 7 1 (3) USE donations received 2 under subsection (c) shall be deposited in the HABS 3 Fund and shall be used only to carry out the com- 4 petitions described in subsection (a). 5 (4) EXCLUSIVE 6 (A) SOURCE OF FUNDS.— FUNDS FOR COMPETITIONS.—All 7 funds used for the competitions described in 8 subsection (a) shall be derived from the HABS 9 Fund. 10 (B) DONATIONS TO HABS FUND.—The 11 HABS Fund shall consist solely of donations 12 received pursuant to subsection (c)(2). 13 (c) ADMINISTRATION.— 14 (1) CONTRACTING.—The Board may contract 15 with a private organization to administer the com- 16 petitions described in subsection (a). 17 (2) SOLICITATION OF FUNDS.—A member of 18 the Board or any administering organization with 19 which the Board has a contract under paragraph (1) 20 may solicit funds from a private individual or entity 21 to be used for a competition under subsection (a). 22 (3) CRITERIA FOR AWARD.—The Board shall 23 approve, by a majority vote, the criteria governing 24 the selection of prize winners. g:\VHLC\081517\081517.101.xml August 15, 2017 (4:00 p.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 OF FUNDS.—All 16:00 Aug 15, 2017 Jkt 000000 (660133 20) PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SBHAGE~1\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\MAST_011.X G:\M\15\MAST\MAST_011.XML 8 1 (4) NO ADVANTAGE FOR DONATION.—A private 2 individual or entity described in paragraph (2) shall 3 not be entitled to any special consideration or advan- 4 tage with respect to the selection of recipients for a 5 prize, or the receipt of a prize, under subsection 6 (a)(1), but such individual or entity may provide ad- 7 vice to the Board regarding the criteria described in 8 paragraph (3). 9 (d) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.—The Federal Gov- 10 ernment may not acquire an intellectual property right in 11 any product or idea by virtue of the submission of such 12 product or idea in a competition under subsection (a). 13 (e) LIABILITY.—The Board may require a competitor 14 in a competition under subsection (a) to waive liability 15 against the Federal Government for injury or damage that 16 results from participation in such competition. 17 (f) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than one year after 18 the termination of a competition under subsection (a)(1), 19 the Board shall submit to Congress a report on the pro20 gram. 21 SEC. 5. NONSUBSTITUTION. 22 The program shall not be considered a substitute for 23 Federal research and development programs to under24 stand, reduce, mitigate, and control harmful algal blooms. g:\VHLC\081517\081517.101.xml August 15, 2017 (4:00 p.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 16:00 Aug 15, 2017 Jkt 000000 (660133 20) PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SBHAGE~1\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\MAST_011.X G:\M\15\MAST\MAST_011.XML 9 1 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 2 In this Act: 3 4 (1) BOARD.—The term ‘‘Board’’ means the board established in section 3. 5 6 (2) ELIGIBLE term ‘‘eligible per- son’’ means— 7 (A) an individual who a citizen or national 8 of the United States; 9 (B) an alien lawfully admitted for perma- 10 nent residence in the United States whose resi- 11 dence is in the United States; or 12 (C) an entity that is incorporated in a 13 State and maintains its primary place of busi- 14 ness in the United States. 15 (3) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 16 the program established in section 2. g:\VHLC\081517\081517.101.xml August 15, 2017 (4:00 p.m.) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 PERSON.—The 16:00 Aug 15, 2017 Jkt 000000 (660133 20) PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\USERS\SBHAGE~1\APPDATA\ROAMING\SOFTQUAD\XMETAL\7.0\GEN\C\MAST_011.X