{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.countable.us/bill/photo/hr737-116/featured_shark-fin-sales-elimination-act-of-2019-1574380961.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.countable.us/bill/photo/hr737-116/featured_large_shark-fin-sales-elimination-act-of-2019-1574380961.jpg","shareable":"https://n.countable.us/share-images/bills/hr737-116.png"},"introduced_on":"2019-01-23","title_override":"Does the U.S. Need to Stop the Domestic Shark Fin Trade?","summary_override":"

This bill — the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 2019 — would make it illegal to possess, trade, distribute, sell, or purchase shark fins in the U.S. and also prohibit their import or export. It would also establish penalties for shark finning under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

Under current law, shark finning — the practice of cutting off the fins of a shark to sell them as food — is illegal in U.S. waters and has been since 2000, though buying, selling, or possessing shark fins is allowed. After the fins are removed, oftentimes the shark is thrown back into the sea where it will drown, bleed to death, or be eaten by other ocean creatures.

There would be an exemption for people who have a shark fin that was obtained legally under a state, territorial, or federal license as long as the fin is taken from the shark to be:

Destroyed or discarded;
Retained by the license holder and not sold;
Used — but not sold — for subsistence purposes in compliance with state or territorial law;
Used solely for display or research purposes by a museum, college, university, or other person granted a permit to conduct scientific research.

","official_title":"To prohibit the sale of shark fins, and for other purposes.","short_title":"Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 2019","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 2019 This bill makes it illegal to possess, buy, or sell shark fins or any product containing shark fins, except for certain dogfish fins. A person may possess a shark fin that was lawfully taken consistent with a license or permit under certain circumstances. Penalties are imposed for violations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"In the 115th Congress, the CBO estimated that this bill wouldn't have a significant effect on net revenues, as decreased revenues from customs duties collected on imported shark fin products would be offset by increased penalty collections resulting from violations of this bill's provisions.","impact":"Sharks; people who buy or sell shark fins; and the federal government.","argument_for":"Shark finning is a barbaric practice and the U.S. needs to do what it can to stop it by making the sale or purchase of shark fins illegal.","argument_against":"If the U.S. tries to stop the shark fin trade by making it illegal to buy or sell fins, the trade will still persist by moving to the black market.","bill_type":"hr","published":true,"type":"FederalBill","id":"hr737-116","bill_id":"hr737-116","formal_id":"H.R. 737","chamber":"house","congress":116,"last_action_at":"2019-11-20T00:00:00.000Z","active":false,"enacted":false,"enacted_at":null,"vetoed":false,"last_vote_at":"2019-11-20T00:00:00.000Z","debated_on":"2019-11-16T01:46:05.000Z","congress_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/737","plain_text_url":null,"shareable_image_url":"https://n.countable.us/share-images/bills/hr737-116.png","congress_full_text_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/737/text","is_current_congress":true,"last_version_on":null,"related_bill_ids":null,"progress":"Passed House","house_passage_result":true,"senate_passage_result":false,"position_count":467,"committees":[{"name":"Water, Oceans, and Wildlife","chamber":"house","committee_id":"HSII13","subcommittee":true},{"name":"Committee on Natural Resources","chamber":"house","committee_id":"HSII","subcommittee":false}],"links":{"rollCalls":"/api/roll_calls?bill_id=hr737-116","details":"/api/bills/hr737-116/details","sharingMessage":"/api/sharing_messages/hr737-116","positionsFor":"/api/bills/hr737-116/positions/for","positionsAgainst":"/api/bills/hr737-116/positions/against"},"upcoming":false,"cosponsors_count":287,"slug":"hr737-116-shark-fin-sales-elimination-act-of-2019","latest_chamber_votes_id":"hr737-116","official_url":null,"target_video":true,"following":false,"vote_count":2814,"yea_vote_count":2621,"nay_vote_count":191,"passed_house":true,"passed_senate":false,"vote_id":null,"my_position_id":null,"topic_ids":["government","animals","food-and-agriculture"],"issue_ids":["government","animals","food-and-agriculture","oceans","fishing-and-hunting"],"sponsor_id":254}],"votes":[],"issues":[{"id":"government","name":"Government","slug":"government","description":"Federal legislation related to the operations of the US Federal Government. 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Make your voice heard about the issues you care about.\r\n","page_title":"Fishing & Hunting Legislation - Vote on Bills, Stay informed, Hold Your Reps Accountable","icons":{"black":"https://assets.countable.us/issue/icon/fishing-and-hunting/black_fishing-and-hunting-1432148244.svg","grey":"https://assets.countable.us/issue/icon/fishing-and-hunting/grey_fishing-and-hunting-1432148244.svg","white":"https://assets.countable.us/issue/icon/fishing-and-hunting/white_fishing-and-hunting-1432148244.svg"},"cover_image_url":null,"is_following":false}],"users":[{"name":"Mark","vote_count":397,"photos":{"large":"https://graph.facebook.com/10213517516594724/picture?width=150&height=150","small":"https://graph.facebook.com/10213517516594724/picture?width=75&height=75","tiny":"https://graph.facebook.com/10213517516594724/picture?width=20&height=20","facebook":"https://graph.facebook.com/10213517516594724/picture"},"links":{"following":"/api/users/WYrYGKAl/following","followers":"/api/users/WYrYGKAl/followers"},"about_me":null,"twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":null,"youtube_id":null,"google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":null,"issue_count":0,"is_following":null,"influence_score":30,"influence_level":10,"follower_count":1,"following_count":0,"position_count":154,"id":"WYrYGKAl","partner_id":null}],"bill_position":{"flagged":false,"id":"ec953156-b29b-4e7f-b2bc-6cf46203089f","argument_for":null,"argument_against":"Don't we have bigger fish to fry than this? What a waste of time and taxpayer monet this is.","show_argument_for":false,"show_argument_against":true,"upvote_count":0,"upvotes_for_count":null,"upvotes_against_count":0,"has_upvoted":false,"endorsement_count":0,"links":{"self":"https://www.countable.us/positions/ec953156-b29b-4e7f-b2bc-6cf46203089f"},"body":"Don't we have bigger fish to fry than this? What a waste of time and taxpayer monet this is.","stance":"nay","created_at":"2019-11-21T16:42:11.117Z","shareable_image_url":"https://n.countable.us/share-images/positions/ec953156-b29b-4e7f-b2bc-6cf46203089f.png","note_color":null,"note_text":null,"bill_id":"hr737-116","user_id":"WYrYGKAl","endorser_ids":[]}}

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Does the U.S. Need to Stop the Domestic Shark Fin Trade?