[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2131 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2131

To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to prohibit the imposition 
   under that Act of any requirement to mitigate for the impacts of 
                 activities that occurred in the past.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 10, 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 prohibit the imposition 
   under that Act of any requirement to mitigate for the impacts of 
                 activities that occurred in the past.

    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 ``Stop Taking Our Property Act of 
1999''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON IMPOSITION OF MITIGATION REQUIREMENTS FOR IMPACTS 
              OF ACTIVITIES THAT OCCURRED IN THE PAST.

    (a) Mitigation Required for 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 a 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 a covered agency action, to 
        mitigate impacts of any activity that occurred before the date 
        of 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 to mitigate impacts of any activity that occurred before 
        the date of the covered agency action.
            ``(3) Covered agency action defined.--In this subsection 
        the term `covered agency action' means--
                    ``(A) any construction activity funded (in whole or 
                in part) or carried out by a Federal agency; and
                    ``(B) the issuance by any Federal agency of a 
                license or permit that would authorize any construction 
                activity that is carried out or funded (in whole or in 
                part) by a State or local government agency.''.
    (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 mitigate impacts of any 
        taking or other activity that occurred before the date of the 
        issuance of the permit.
            ``(2) Public project defined.--In this subsection the term 
        `public project' means any construction activity funded (in 
        whole or in part) or carried out by a Federal, State, or local 
        agency.''.
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