[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5594 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5594
To provide for greater county and State consultation with regard to
petitions under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 13, 2020
Mr. Smith of Missouri (for himself, Mr. Gosar, Mr. McClintock, Mr.
Crawford, Mr. Newhouse, and Ms. Cheney) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for greater county and State consultation with regard to
petitions under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, 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 ``Ensuring Meaningful Petition
Outreach While Enhancing Rights of States Act of 2020'' or the
``EMPOWERS Act of 2020''.
SEC. 2. GREATER COUNTY AND STATE INVOLVEMENT.
(a) County and State Consultation on Petitions.--Section 4(b)(3) of
the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(b)(3)) is amended by
adding at the end the following:
``(E) Listing petition review requirements.--
``(i) Not later than 30 days before
submitting to the Secretary a petition to list,
delist, or reclassify a species that occurs in
the United States, or to revise a designation
of critical habitat of such a species, the
petitioner shall provide to the chief executive
of each county and State in which the species
is located a notice of intent to submit such
petition.
``(ii) The Secretary shall, upon finding
that a petitioned action to list a species as a
threatened species or endangered species may be
warranted, solicit from the chief executive of
each county and State in which the species is
located--
``(I) information regarding threats
to the species and efforts by the
county or State, respectively, to
protect the species;
``(II) information about the
anticipated effects of the action
requested in the petition in that
county or State, respectively; and
``(III) the advice of the chief
executive on whether the status of the
species merits the action requested in
the petition, including information in
support of such advice.
``(iii) The Secretary may verify by field
testing the information presented in a petition
asserting that a species is a threatened
species or endangered species.
``(iv) If a chief executive advises under
clause (ii)(III) that the petitioned-for action
is not warranted, the Secretary may not proceed
with the action unless the Secretary
demonstrates that information submitted in
support of such advice by the chief executive
is incorrect and that the action is
warranted.''.
(b) Regulations To Implement Determinations.--Section 4(b)(5) of
the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(b)(5)) is amended to
read as follows:
``(5) Notice required.--With respect to any regulation
proposed by the Secretary to implement a determination referred
to in subsection (a)(1), the Secretary shall--
``(A) not less than 90 days before the effective
date of the regulation--
``(i) publish a general notice and the
complete text of the proposed regulation in the
Federal Register;
``(ii) provide notice of the proposed
regulation (including the complete text of the
regulation) to the chief executive of county
and State in which the species is located, and
invite such chief executive to submit to the
Secretary a determination as to whether the
proposed regulation is warranted; and
``(iii) if the chief executive notifies the
Secretary that the proposed regulation is not
warranted, provide to the chief executive a
record of decision for such determination,
including information made available to the
Secretary that did not support the
determination and in writing the reasons for
the determination;
``(B) in cooperation with the Secretary of State,
provide notice of the proposed regulation to each
foreign nation in which the species is located or whose
citizens harvest the species on the high seas, and
invite the comment of such nation thereon;
``(C) provide notice of the proposed regulation
to--
``(i) each person who requests such notice;
``(ii) each person who has submitted
additional data on the proposed regulation;
``(iii) each county, State, and local
government within the jurisdiction of which the
species is located or that is likely to
experience any effects of any measures to
protect the species under this Act; and
``(iv) such professional scientific
organizations as the Secretary considers
appropriate;
``(D) publish a summary of the proposed regulation
on the internet; and
``(E) promptly hold one public hearing on the
proposed regulation if any person files a request for
such a hearing within 45 days after the date of
publication of general notice.''.
(c) Consultation on Final Determination.--Section 4(i) of the
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(i)) is amended to read
as follows:
``(i) Written Justification.--If the Secretary adopts a final
regulation in conflict with advise submitted by the chief executive of
a county or State or fails to adopt a regulation pursuant to an action
petitioned for by such a chief executive under subsection (b)(3), the
Secretary shall submit to the chief executive--
``(1) a separate written justification explaining the
failure of the Secretary to adopt regulations consistent with
the advise or petition of the chief executive;
``(2) any determination referred to in subsection (a)(1)
relating to the regulation; and
``(3) all comments received by the Secretary that disagreed
with all or part of the regulation.''.
(d) FACA.--Section 4(b) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16
U.S.C. 1533(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(9) FACA.--Consultation with counties and States
regarding petitions and proposed regulations under this
subsection shall not be subject to the Federal Advisory
Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.).''.
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