Sea Turtle Rescue Assistance and Rehabilitation Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
Creates a separate sea turtle track inside the Marine Mammal Protection Act section 408 rescue and rapid-response framework. The Secretary of Commerce and the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must make sea turtle rescue, rehabilitation, and response separately eligible for grants when specific appropriations are available. Eligible entities must apply to Commerce, hold the required Endangered Species Act authorization or section 6 cooperative agreement, follow Interior's captive sea turtle care standards when facilities are used, and comply with Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network data-reporting requirements. The bill also creates a Sea Turtle Rescue, Rehabilitation, and Rapid Response Fund alongside the existing Joseph R. Geraci Marine Mammal Rescue and Rapid Response Fund.
Who Benefits and How
Sea turtle rehabilitation hospitals, stranding-response networks, aquariums, marine wildlife nonprofits, coastal universities, State wildlife agencies, and permitted Endangered Species Act cooperators benefit from access to a dedicated federal grant and emergency assistance pathway for stranded sea turtles. Sea turtle populations benefit indirectly through better rehabilitation capacity, data reporting, and rapid emergency response.
Who Bears the Burden and How
NOAA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Interior wildlife-care officials must administer separate sea turtle eligibility, consult on grant criteria, review ESA authorizations or cooperative agreements, manage two rescue funds, and enforce facility-care and data-reporting requirements. Grant applicants must document eligibility, comply with care standards, and report stranding data.
Key Provisions
- Adds separate sea turtle eligibility to the existing rescue, rehabilitation, and response grant program.
- Requires grant applicants to hold ESA section 10 authorization or an ESA section 6 cooperative agreement for sea turtles.
- Requires compliance with Interior captive sea turtle care standards and Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network reporting.
- Establishes the Sea Turtle Rescue, Rehabilitation, and Rapid Response Fund in the Treasury.
- Provides emergency assistance from the rescue funds only for authorized rescue and response purposes.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Adds sea turtle rescue, rehabilitation, and rapid-response eligibility to the existing Marine Mammal Protection Act grant and emergency-fund framework, with NOAA and Fish and Wildlife Service coordination and Endangered Species Act compliance conditions.
Key Policy Areas
Environment, Wildlife, Grant Programs
Primary Purpose
Adds sea turtle rescue, rehabilitation, and rapid-response eligibility to the existing Marine Mammal Protection Act grant and emergency-fund framework, with NOAA and Fish and Wildlife Service coordination and Endangered Species Act compliance conditions.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Sea turtle rehabilitation hospitals
- Sea turtle stranding-response networks
- Aquariums with sea turtle permits
- Marine wildlife nonprofit organizations
- State wildlife agencies
- Coastal universities
Identified Costs
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Interior wildlife-care officials
- Sea turtle grant applicants
- Federal taxpayers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
Passed SenateHeld at the desk.
Received in the House.
Message on Senate action sent to the House.
Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR …
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by …
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Cruz …
Reported by Mr. Cruz, with an amendment
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. …
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Sea turtle grant applicants, Sea turtle rehabilitation hospitals, Sea turtle stranding-response networks
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USFWS
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "director"
- → Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- "interior"
- → Secretary of the Interior
- "secretary"
- → Secretary of Commerce
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A new Treasury fund for emergency sea turtle rescue and response assistance.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology