Title 16ConservationRelease 119-73not60

§1421d Unusual Mortality Event Activity Funding

Title 16 › Chapter 31— MARINE MAMMAL PROTECTION › Subchapter V— MARINE MAMMAL HEALTH AND STRANDING RESPONSE › § 1421d

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Creates an interest-bearing Treasury account called the Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Event Fund. Money put into the fund comes from the sources listed in subsection (c). The Secretary, working with the Secretary of the Interior, is the only one who can use the money. Payments must follow budgets the Secretary approves before spending. The fund can pay advance or partial contract payments for supplies, pay, services, and travel tied to the contingency plan in section 1421c(b) or to work directed by an Onsite Coordinator designated under section 1421c(a)(2)(B)(iii). It can reimburse stranding network members for collecting and handling tissues for the Tissue Bank. It can also pay for care of a seized marine mammal under section 1374(c)(2)(D). The fund gets money from Congressional appropriations, other appropriations for unusual mortality events, and gifts, devises, or bequests. The Secretary may accept volunteers and those gifts to carry out these duties.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §1421d

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)There is established in the Treasury an interest bearing fund to be known as the “Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Event Fund”, which shall consist of amounts deposited into the Fund under subsection (c).
(b)Amounts in the Fund shall be available only for use by the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, and dispersed among claimants based on budgets approved by the Secretary prior to expenditure—
(1)to make advance, partial, or progress payments under contracts or other funding mechanisms for property, supplies, salaries, services, and travel costs incurred in acting in accordance with the contingency plan issued under section 1421c(b) of this title or under the direction of an Onsite Coordinator for an unusual mortality event designated under section 1421c(a)(2)(B)(iii) of this title;
(2)for reimbursing any stranding network participant for costs incurred in the collection, preparation, analysis, and transportation of marine mammal tissues and samples collected with respect to an unusual mortality event for the Tissue Bank; and
(3)for the care and maintenance of a marine mammal seized under section 1374(c)(2)(D) of this title; and 11 So in original. The “; and” probably should be a period.
(c)There shall be deposited into the Fund—
(1)amounts appropriated to the Fund;
(2)other amounts appropriated to the Secretary for use with respect to unusual mortality events; and
(3)amounts received by the United States in the form of gifts, devises, and bequests under subsection (d).
(d)For purposes of carrying out this subchapter and section 1374(c)(2)(D) of this title, the Secretary may accept, solicit, and use the services of volunteers, and may accept, solicit, receive, hold, administer, and use gifts, devises, and bequests.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2022—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 117–263 amended subsec. (b) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (b) related to uses of amounts in the Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Event Fund and payment of pending claims. 1994—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103–238, § 16(b), substituted “an interest bearing fund” for “a fund”. Subsec. (b)(1)(A)(i). Pub. L. 103–238, § 24(c)(2), made technical amendment to reference to section 1421c(b) of this title to reflect renumbering of corresponding section of original act. Subsec. (b)(1)(A)(iii). Pub. L. 103–238, § 6(1), added cl. (iii). Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 103–238, § 6(2), inserted “and section 1374(c)(2)(D) of this title”.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 1421d

Title 16Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60