HR 4014 — Preventing Lethal Agricultural and National Threats (PLANT) Act

Summary

Establishes a criminal offense for knowingly or recklessly importing biological agents designated as high-risk agricultural pathogens without required permits or authorization from the USDA or other appropriate agency.
Provides a penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment and/or fines for violating the importation restriction.
Increases penalties to up to 20 years imprisonment if the offense involves concealment of origin, involvement of a foreign government, or actual economic damage exceeding $1 million.
Defines "recklessly" to mean consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the pathogen could cause significant harm.
Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to define and publish via regulation which biological agents and organisms constitute "high-risk agricultural pathogens."

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)

Rep. Nunn, Zachary (R-IA) [#3]

3 cosponsors

Money behind the sponsor

Top reported contributors to Zachary Nunn’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.

Employer not reported $397,838
MARQUIS MANAGEMENT INC. $16,550
BRODIE GENERATIONAL CAPITAL PARTNERS $16,500
STARKEY HEARING TECHNOLOGIES $13,200
APOLLO GLOBAL MGMT $13,000

Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Zachary Nunn → · Outside spending →

Actions (2)

Jun 13, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
Jun 13, 2025 Introduced in House

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

Text versions (1)

Introduced in House · Jun 13, 2025

Only one text version is on file, so there’s no earlier version to compare against yet.

Full text

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

June 13, 2025

Mr. Nunn of Iowa (for himself and Mr. Riley of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend title 18, United States Code, to establish criminal penalties for the reckless importation or handling of dangerous agricultural pathogens.

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 “Preventing Lethal Agricultural and National Threats (PLANT) Act”.

SEC. 2. RECKLESS IMPORTATION OF DANGEROUS AGRICULTURAL PATHOGENS.

Title 18 U.S.C. is amended by inserting after section 175b the following: “Sec. 175c. Reckless importation of dangerous agricultural pathogens.

“(a) Offense.—Whoever knowingly or recklessly imports a biological agent, toxin, or organism—

“(1) without the required permit or authorization from the U.S. Department of Agriculture or other appropriate agency; and

“(2) where such agent, toxin, or organism is designated by regulation as a high-risk agricultural pathogen capable of causing significant harm to U.S. crops, livestock, or agricultural ecosystems, Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

“(b) Aggravating Factors.—If the offense:

“(1) involves concealment of origin;

“(2) is committed by a person acting on behalf of, or funded by, a foreign government; or

“(3) results in actual economic damage exceeding $1,000,000; Then the term of imprisonment may be up to 20 years.

“(c) Definitions.—In this section:

“(1) the term ‘recklessly’ means the person consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the pathogen could cause significant harm.

“(2) the term ‘high-risk agricultural pathogen’ shall be defined by the Secretary of Agriculture and published via regulation.”. <all>

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