[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1763 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1763

To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide that the cost of 
 mitigation required under that Act for a public construction project 
         may not exceed 10 percent of the total project costs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 12, 1999

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to provide that the cost of 
 mitigation required under that Act for a public construction project 
         may not exceed 10 percent of the total project costs.

    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 ``Reasonable Mitigation Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON COST OF MITIGATION REQUIRED UNDER ENDANGERED 
              SPECIES ACT OF 1973 FOR PUBLIC PROJECTS.

    (a) Mitigation Required With Respect to Federal Agency Actions.--
Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(q) Limitation on Required Mitigation.--
            ``(1) Mitigation pursuant to opinion of secretary.--This 
        section does not require mitigation for any covered agency 
        action, and the Secretary may not specify any measure under 
        clause (ii) or (iii) of subsection (b)(4)(C) and may not 
        require compliance with any term or condition under paragraph 
        subsection (b)(4)(C)(iv) for any covered agency action, if the 
        aggregate of the cost of all such mitigation, implementing all 
        such measures, and complying with all such terms and 
        conditions, respectively, for the covered agency action will 
        exceed 10 percent of the total project costs of activities 
        comprising or (in the case of a covered agency action 
        consisting of issuance of a permit or license) authorized by 
        the covered agency action.
            ``(2) Mitigation pursuant to committee exemption.--The 
        Committee may not establish any mitigation and enhancement 
        measures under subsection (h)(1)(B) for any covered agency 
        action if the cost of implementing such measures will exceed 10 
        percent of the total project costs of activities comprising or 
        (in the case of a covered agency action involving a permit or 
        license applicant) authorized by the covered agency action.
            ``(3) Definitions.--In this subsection--
                    (A) the term `covered agency action' means--
                            ``(i) any construction project that is 
                        carried out or funded (in whole or in part) by 
                        a Federal agency; and
                            ``(ii) the issuance by any Federal agency 
                        of a license or permit that would authorize any 
                        construction project that is carried out or 
                        funded (in whole or in part) by a State or 
                        local government agency; and
                    ``(B) the term `total project costs' means the 
                aggregate costs of acquiring land and carrying out 
                construction.''.
    (b) Mitigation Required for Incidental Take Permits.--Section 10 of 
the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1539) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(k) Limitation on Required Mitigation.--
            ``(1) In general.--Subsection (a)(2) does not require, and 
        the Secretary may not require as a term or condition of a 
        permit under subsection (a)(1)(B), that a permittee for a 
        public project take any measures to minimize or mitigate 
        impacts of a taking under the permit if the costs of 
        implementing such measures will exceed 10 percent of the total 
        project costs of the public project.
            ``(2) Definitions.--In this subsection--
                    ``(A) the term `public project' means any 
                construction project that is carried out or funded (in 
                whole or in part) by a Federal, State, or local agency; 
                and
                    ``(B) the term `total project costs' means the 
                aggregate costs of acquiring land and carrying out 
                construction.''.
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