[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4316 Reported in House (RH)]
Union Calendar No. 404
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4316
[Report No. 113-538]
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to improve the disclosure
of certain expenditures under that Act, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 27, 2014
Mrs. Lummis (for herself, Mr. Hastings of Washington, Mr. Amodei, Mr.
Bishop of Utah, Mr. Collins of Georgia, Mr. Harris, Mr. Huizenga of
Michigan, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Luetkemeyer, Mr. Neugebauer, Mr.
Southerland, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Valadao) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural
Resources
July 17, 2014
Additional sponsors: Mr. Lucas, Mr. Walden, Mr. Cotton, Mr. Cramer, Mr.
Gosar, Mr. Olson, Mr. Tipton, Mr. Huelskamp, Mr. Jones, Mr. Tiberi, Mr.
Pompeo, Mr. McClintock, Mr. Pearce, and Mrs. McMorris Rodgers
July 17, 2014
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed
in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March
27, 2014]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to improve the disclosure
of certain expenditures 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 ``Endangered Species Recovery
Transparency Act''.
SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF EXPENDITURES UNDER ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT OF
1973.
(a) Requirement To Disclose.--Section 13 of the Endangered Species
Act of 1973 (87 Stat. 902; relating to conforming amendments which have
executed) is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 13. DISCLOSURE OF EXPENDITURES.
``(a) Requirement.--The Secretary of the Interior, in consultation
with the Secretary of Commerce, shall--
``(1) not later than 90 days after the end of each fiscal
year, submit to the Committee on Natural Resources of the House
of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources of the Senate an annual report detailing Federal
Government expenditures for covered suits during the preceding
fiscal year (including the information described in subsection
(b)); and
``(2) make publicly available through the Internet a
searchable database of the information described in subsection
(b).
``(b) Included Information.--The report shall include--
``(1) the case name and number of each covered suit, and a
hyperlink to the record or decision for each covered suit (if
available);
``(2) a description of the claims in each covered suit;
``(3) the name of each covered agency whose actions gave
rise to a claim in a covered suit;
``(4) funds expended by each covered agency (disaggregated
by agency account) to receive and respond to notices referred
to in section 11(g)(2) or to prepare for litigation of,
litigate, negotiate a settlement agreement or consent decree
in, or provide material, technical, or other assistance in
relation to, a covered suit;
``(5) the number of full-time equivalent employees that
participated in the activities described in paragraph (4); and
``(6) attorneys fees and other expenses (disaggregated by
agency account) awarded in covered suits, including any consent
decrees or settlement agreements (regardless of whether a
decree or settlement agreement is sealed or otherwise subject
to nondisclosure provisions), including the bases for such
awards.
``(c) Requirement To Provide Information.--The head of each covered
agency shall provide to the Secretary in a timely manner all
information requested by the Secretary to comply with the requirements
of this section.
``(d) Limitation on Disclosure.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of this section, this section shall not affect any
restriction in a consent decree or settlement agreement on the
disclosure of information that is not described in subsection (b).
``(e) Definitions.--
``(1) Covered agency.--The term `covered agency' means any
agency of the Department of the Interior, the Forest Service,
the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Bonneville Power
Administration, the Western Area Power Administration, the
Southwestern Power Administration, or the Southeastern Power
Administration.
``(2) Covered suit.--The term `covered suit' means any
civil action containing a claim against the Federal Government,
in which the claim arises under this Act and is based on the
action of a covered agency.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in the first section
of such Act is amended by striking the item relating to such section
and inserting the following:
``Sec. 13. Disclosure of expenditures.''.
(c) Prior Amendments Not Affected.--This section shall not be
construed to affect the amendments made by section 13 of such Act, as
in effect before the enactment of this Act.
Union Calendar No. 404
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4316
[Report No. 113-538]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to improve the disclosure
of certain expenditures under that Act, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
July 17, 2014
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed