[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1965 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1965

To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to limit the application of 
 that Act with respect to actions on military land or private land and 
to provide incentives for voluntary habitat maintenance, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 6, 2003

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to limit the application of 
 that Act with respect to actions on military land or private land and 
to provide incentives for voluntary habitat maintenance, 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 ``Property Protection and 
Encouragement Act''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON APPLICATION OF CONSULTATION REQUIREMENTS WITH 
              RESPECT TO ACTION ON MILITARY LAND OR PRIVATE LAND.

    Section 7(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) This section does not apply with respect to an agency 
        action that--
                    ``(A) is authorized, funded, or carried out by the 
                Department of Defense and that occurs on land that is 
                under the administrative jurisdiction of the Department 
                of Defense; or
                    ``(B) occurs on land that is privately owned.''.

SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON APPLICATION OF TAKING PROHIBITION WITH RESPECT TO 
              ACTION ON MILITARY LAND OR PRIVATE LAND.

    Section 9(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
1538(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph 
        (A) by inserting ``paragraph (3) of this subsection or in'' 
        after ``Except as provided in''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Paragraph (1)(B) does not prohibit any act or 
        omission that occurs on land that is under the administrative 
        jurisdiction of the Department of Defense or on land that is 
        privately owned.''.

SEC. 4. VOLUNTARY HABITAT MAINTENANCE PROGRAM.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of the 
Interior shall create a voluntary program to use funds transferred 
under section 2507 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 
2002 (Public Law 107-171; 116 Stat. 275; 43 U.S.C. 2211 note), to make 
payments to private land owners whose property right or water right has 
or is a habitat for a threatened or endangered species and who 
voluntarily elect to enroll into the program in order to maintain 
habitat for a threatened species or endangered species. The Secretary 
shall make payments under this section to be determined by the 
Secretary to each private land owner whose property right or water 
right has or is a habitat for a threatened or endangered species and 
who has voluntarily elected to enroll into the program created by the 
Secretary. The Secretary shall issue regulations implementing this 
program no later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
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