S. 1590 would authorize the Department of State to pay cash for information about wildlife trafficking. The department currently pays cash awards from appropriated funds to deter transnational organized crime. The bill would include wildlife trafficking such as poaching and illegal trade in wildlife as a form of transnational organized crime. However, the department is already using the program to offer rewards for that purpose.
Because the bill would codify current practice, CBO estimates that implementing S. 1590 would not affect the federal budget.
On April 15, 2019, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 97, the Rescuing Animals With Rewards Act of 2019, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on April 9, 2019. The two bills are similar, and CBO’s estimates of their budgetary effects are the same.
