[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1414 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1414

   To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide for making 
   determinations of whether a species is an endangered species or a 
     threatened species other than solely on the basis of the best 
   scientific and commercial data available, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 18, 1993

Mr. Hansen (for himself, Mr. Young of Alaska, Mr. Smith of Oregon, Mr. 
  Baker of Louisiana, Mrs. Vucanovich, Mr. Doolittle, Mr. Herger, Mr. 
  Stump, Mr. Dornan, Mr. Skeen, Mr. Thomas of Wyoming, Mr. Taylor of 
 North Carolina, Mr. Packard, Mr. Gallegly, Mr. Hancock, Mr. Emerson, 
  Mr. Armey, and Mr. Zeliff) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred jointly to the Committees on Merchant Marine and Fisheries and 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide for making 
   determinations of whether a species is an endangered species or a 
     threatened species other than solely on the basis of the best 
   scientific and commercial data available, 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 ``Human Protection Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. DETERMINATION OF WHETHER SPECIES IS ENDANGERED OR THREATENED.

    Section 4(b)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
1533(b)(1)(A)) is amended by striking ``solely''.

SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT THAT POTENTIAL ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF ACTION UNDER 
              ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT OUTWEIGH POTENTIAL ECONOMIC COSTS.

    (a) Requirement.--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 
new paragraph:
    ``(9) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an action shall 
not be taken under this Act if--
            ``(A) the potential economic benefits to society of the 
        action do not outweigh the potential economic costs to society 
        of the action, as those benefits and costs are determined under 
        Executive Order 12291, as in effect on the June 12, 1991, or
            ``(B) the action does not otherwise comply with the 
        requirements of section 2 of that Executive Order.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 4(b)(2) of the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(b)(2)) is amended in the second 
sentence by striking ``, unless he determines,'' and all that follows 
through the end of the sentence and inserting a period.

SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY.

    (a) In General.--No regulation promulgated after the date of 
enactment of this Act by any agency shall become effective until the 
issuing agency is certified by the Attorney General of the United 
States to be in compliance with Executive Order 12630 or similar 
procedures to assess the potential for the taking of private property 
in the course of Federal regulatory activity, with the goal of 
minimizing such where possible.
    (b) Judicial Review.--
            (1) In general.--Judicial review of actions taken pursuant 
        to this section shall be limited to whether the Attorney 
        General has certified the issuing agency as in compliance with 
        Executive Order 12630 or similar procedures, such review to be 
        permitted in the same forum and at the same time as the issued 
        regulations are otherwise subject to judicial review. Only 
        persons adversely affected or grieved by agency action shall 
        have standing to challenge that action as contrary to this 
        section. In no event shall such review include any issue for 
        which the United States Claims Court has jurisdiction.
            (2) Other review.--Nothing in this section shall affect any 
        otherwise available judicial review of agency action.
    (c) Definitions.--As used in this section--
            (1) the term ``agency'' means all executive branch agencies 
        which engage in activity with the potential for taking private 
        property, including any military department of the United 
        States Government, any United States Government corporation, 
        United States Government controlled corporation, or other 
        establishment in the Executive Branch of the United States 
        Government; and
            (2) the term ``taking of private property'' means an 
        activity wherein private property is taken such that 
        compensation to the owner of that property is required by the 
        Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

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