[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6784 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 6784

 To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide for protective 
     regulations when a species is listed as an endangered species.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 14, 2023

 Mr. Stauber (for himself, Mr. Newhouse, Ms. Hageman, Ms. Boebert, and 
  Mr. Bentz) 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 provide for protective 
     regulations when a species is listed as an endangered species.

    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 Flexibility Act''.

SEC. 2. PROTECTIVE REGULATIONS FOR ENDANGERED SPECIES.

    (a) Protective Regulations.--Section 4(d) of the Endangered Species 
Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(d)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(d) Protective Regulations.--
            ``(1) Threatened species.--Whenever any species is listed 
        as a threatened species pursuant to subsection (c), the 
        Secretary shall issue such regulations as the Secretary deems 
        necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of such 
        species.
            ``(2) Endangered species.--Whenever any species is listed 
        as an endangered species pursuant to subsection (c), the 
        Secretary may issue such regulations as the Secretary deems 
        necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of such 
        species.
            ``(3) Prohibition on certain activities.--Except as 
        provided in paragraph (4), the Secretary may, by regulation 
        issued under this subsection, prohibit with respect to any 
        threatened or endangered species any act prohibited under 
        section 9(a)(1), in the case of fish or wildlife, or section 
        9(a)(2) in the case of plants.
            ``(4) Exception.--Regulations described by paragraph (3) 
        shall apply in any State which has entered into a cooperative 
        agreement pursuant to section 6(c) only to the extent that such 
        regulations have also been adopted by such State.''.
    (b) Exception to Prohibited Acts.--Paragraphs (1) and (2) of 
section 9(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
1538(a)(1) and (2)) are each amended by inserting ``by regulations 
issued under section 4(d) or'' after ``as provided''.
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