[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 655 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 655

   To amend the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act to ensure 
adequate funding for conservation and restoration of wildlife, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 19, 2009

  Mr. Johnson (for himself, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Tester, and Mr. Thune) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
               Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act to ensure 
adequate funding for conservation and restoration of wildlife, 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 ``Teaming with Wildlife Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) a diverse array of species of fish and wildlife is of 
        significant value to the United States for many reasons, 
        including aesthetic, ecological, educational, cultural, 
        recreational, economic, and scientific reasons;
            (2) millions of citizens in the United States participate 
        in outdoor recreation through hunting, fishing, and wildlife 
        observation, all of which have significant value to the 
        citizens who engage in those activities and economic benefits 
        for local communities;
            (3) it is in the national interest of the United States--
                    (A) to retain for present and future generations 
                the opportunity to observe, understand, and appreciate 
                a wide variety of wildlife; and
                    (B) to prevent wildlife from declining to the point 
                of requiring Federal protection under the Endangered 
                Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.);
            (4) hunters and anglers have for more than 70 years 
        willingly paid user fees in the form of Federal excise taxes on 
        hunting and fishing equipment to support a Federal investment 
        in wildlife diversity and abundance, through the enactment of 
        the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act (16 U.S.C. 669 
        et seq.) and the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Act ) 
        (commonly known as the ``Wallop-Breaux Act'') (16 U.S.C. 777 et 
        seq.);
            (5) Congress created the Wildlife Conservation and 
        Restoration Account under section 3(a)(2) of the Pittman-
        Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act (16 U.S.C. 669b(a)(2)) to 
        expand support for the full array of fish and wildlife 
        conservation needs, including species that are not hunted and 
        fished, but only authorized appropriations for the Account for 
        1 fiscal year;
            (6) while appropriated funds have been made available 
        through the State Wildlife Grants program of United States Fish 
        and Wildlife Service, the lack of assured and dedicated funding 
        for the Wildlife Conservation and Restoration Account has left 
        unrealized the goals of the Account, allowing wildlife to 
        continue to decline across the United States;
            (7) partly as a requirement of the unfunded Wildlife 
        Conservation and Restoration Account, each State has produced a 
        comprehensive wildlife strategy, which presents an action plan 
        for conserving the full array of wildlife and wildlife habitats 
        of each State; and
            (8) providing assured and dedicated funding to the Wildlife 
        Conservation and Restoration Account advances the national 
        interest in keeping wildlife from becoming endangered by 
        supporting States in implementing the comprehensive wildlife 
        conservation strategies of the States.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to provide reliable and assured funding to advance the 
        national interest in keeping wildlife from becoming endangered 
        by supporting programs in each State that address the 
        conservation needs of the full array of declining wildlife; and
            (2) to provide the Federal share of support needed to 
        implement the comprehensive wildlife conservation strategies 
        prepared by each State as a requirement of obtaining funds from 
        the Wildlife Conservation and Restoration Account established 
        under section 3(a)(2) of the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife 
        Restoration Act (16 U.S.C. 669b(a)(2)).

SEC. 3. WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION ACCOUNT.

    Section 3(a) of the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act (16 
U.S.C. 669b(a)) is amended by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the 
following:
            ``(2) Wildlife conservation and restoration account.--
                    ``(A) Establishment.--There is established in the 
                Federal aid to wildlife restoration fund a subaccount 
                to be known as the `Wildlife Conservation and 
                Restoration Account' (referred to in this paragraph as 
                the `Account').
                    ``(B) Use.--Amounts in the Account shall be 
                available without further appropriation, for each 
                fiscal year, for apportionment in accordance with this 
                Act to carry out State wildlife conservation and 
                restoration programs.
                    ``(C) Revenues.--
                            ``(i) Outer continental shelf revenues.--
                        For each of fiscal years 2011 through 2016, 
                        from amounts deposited in the Treasury under 
                        section 9 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 
                        Act (43 U.S.C. 1338), the Secretary of the 
                        Treasury shall transfer to the fund for deposit 
                        in the Account $175,000,000.
                            ``(ii) Mining revenues.--For each of fiscal 
                        years 2011 through 2016, from amounts deposited 
                        in the Treasury under section 35 of the Mineral 
                        Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191), after the 
                        withdrawal of funds to the States under section 
                        35(a) of that Act, the Secretary of the 
                        Treasury shall transfer to the fund for deposit 
                        in the Account $175,000,000.''.
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