[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1101 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1101

 To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to improve the ability of 
 individuals and local, State, and Federal agencies to prevent natural 
                            flood disaster.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 11, 1999

  Mr. Pombo introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to improve the ability of 
 individuals and local, State, and Federal agencies to prevent natural 
                            flood disaster.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to assist individuals and local, State, 
and Federal agencies in complying with the Endangered Species Act of 
1973 in reconstructing or repairing of flood control levee structures 
to address imminent threats to public health or safety or catastrophic 
natural events and in maintaining the structural integrity of those 
structures.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973.

    (a) Actions Exempt From Consultation and Conferencing.--Section 
7(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536(a)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(5) Consultation and conferencing under paragraphs (2) and (4) is 
not required for any agency action that--
            ``(A) consists of reconstruction or repair of a Federal or 
        non-Federal levee structure--
                    ``(i) to address a critical, imminent threat to 
                public health or safety; or
                    ``(ii) to address a catastrophic natural event; or
            ``(B) consists of maintaining the structural integrity of a 
        Federal or non-Federal levee structure.''.
    (b) Exclusion From Takings Prohibition.--Section 9(a) of such Act 
(16 U.S.C. 1538(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
    ``(3) For purposes of this subsection, an activity of a Federal or 
non-Federal person is not a taking of a species if the activity--
            ``(A) consists of reconstruction or repair of a Federal or 
        non-Federal levee structure--
                    ``(i) to address a critical, imminent threat to 
                public health or safety; or
                    ``(ii) to address a catastrophic natural event; or
            ``(B) consists of maintaining the structural integrity of a 
        Federal or non-Federal levee structure.''.
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