[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4284 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4284
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to encourage greater State
input and authority over species and habitat management by allowing
States to propose and implement State Protective Action before species
are listed under that Act, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 24, 2014
Mr. Neugebauer introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources
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A BILL
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to encourage greater State
input and authority over species and habitat management by allowing
States to propose and implement State Protective Action before species
are listed under that Act, and for other purposes.
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 ``ESA Improvement Act of 2014''.
SEC. 2. ENDANGERED AND THREATENED SPECIES STATE PROTECTIVE ACTIONS.
Section 4(c) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C.
1533(c)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), in the first sentence, by striking
``The Secretary shall'' and inserting ``Except as provided in
paragraph (3), the Secretary shall''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(3) State protective action.--
``(A) Exclusion from lists.--The Secretary shall
not include in a list under this subsection any
population of a species in a State if the Secretary has
approved a State Protective Action for such population
in accordance with this paragraph.
``(B) Publication of notice.--Not later than 90
days before proposing to add a species to a list under
this subsection, the Secretary shall notify each State
in which a population of the species occurs of the
opportunity to submit to the Secretary a proposed State
Protective Action for the species in that State,
including specification of the criteria for approval of
such an action under this paragraph.
``(C) Submission by state.--Each State notified
under subparagraph (B), or group of such States, may
submit to the Secretary a proposed State Protective
Action for the species in such State or States within
the period specified by the Secretary for the
submission of public comment regarding the inclusion of
the species in the list.
``(D) Guidance to states.--During preparation of a
proposed State Protective Action under subparagraph
(A), the Secretary shall provide guidance to the State
regarding such preparation.
``(E) Approval or disapproval; resubmission.--The
Secretary shall--
``(i) approve or disapprove a proposed
State Protective Action by not later than 45
days after the date it is submitted;
``(ii) approve such an action if the
Secretary determines that it meets the criteria
specified for approval in the notification
under subparagraph (B);
``(iii) upon disapproving such an action--
``(I) provide the written comments
explaining specifically why the action
was not approved;
``(II) allow the proposed action to
be resubmitted at any time before the
end of the 45-day period beginning on
the date the Secretary provides such
comments; and
``(III) by not later than 30 days
after the end of such period, issue a
final decision regarding the proposed
action.
``(F) Limitation on final listing.--The Secretary
may not add a population of a species to a list before
the date the Secretary has made a final determination
regarding approval of each State Protective Action for
such population that has been submitted in accordance
with this paragraph.
``(G) Qualification for grants.--For purposes of
subsection (d), a State Protective Action approved by
the Secretary under this paragraph shall be treated as
a cooperative agreement entered into pursuant to this
subsection.
``(H) Review of plans.--Every 5 years after
approving a State Protective Action, the Secretary
shall review the implementation and effectiveness of
the action, and if necessary provide guidance on
improvements or revisions that are required to maintain
the Secretary's approval of the action.
``(I) Revocation of approval.--The Secretary may
revoke approval of a State Protective Action for a
population and propose adding such species to a list
under this subsection if at any time after completion
of the first review under subparagraph (H) the
Secretary determines that--
``(i) the State has failed to implement the
action; or
``(ii) the action has failed to make
measurable progress toward achieving the
recovery criteria for the population.
``(J) Termination.--The Secretary may terminate the
effectiveness of a State Protective Action approved
under this paragraph, including review regarding the
action under subparagraph (H), if the Secretary
determines that recovery criteria for the population
have been achieved.''.
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