[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4284 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4284

To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to encourage greater State 
  input and authority over species and habitat management by allowing 
States to propose and implement State Protective Action before species 
           are listed under that Act, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 24, 2014

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to encourage greater State 
  input and authority over species and habitat management by allowing 
States to propose and implement State Protective Action before species 
           are listed under that Act, 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 ``ESA Improvement Act of 2014''.

SEC. 2. ENDANGERED AND THREATENED SPECIES STATE PROTECTIVE ACTIONS.

    Section 4(c) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
1533(c)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), in the first sentence, by striking 
        ``The Secretary shall'' and inserting ``Except as provided in 
        paragraph (3), the Secretary shall''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) State protective action.--
                    ``(A) Exclusion from lists.--The Secretary shall 
                not include in a list under this subsection any 
                population of a species in a State if the Secretary has 
                approved a State Protective Action for such population 
                in accordance with this paragraph.
                    ``(B) Publication of notice.--Not later than 90 
                days before proposing to add a species to a list under 
                this subsection, the Secretary shall notify each State 
                in which a population of the species occurs of the 
                opportunity to submit to the Secretary a proposed State 
                Protective Action for the species in that State, 
                including specification of the criteria for approval of 
                such an action under this paragraph.
                    ``(C) Submission by state.--Each State notified 
                under subparagraph (B), or group of such States, may 
                submit to the Secretary a proposed State Protective 
                Action for the species in such State or States within 
                the period specified by the Secretary for the 
                submission of public comment regarding the inclusion of 
                the species in the list.
                    ``(D) Guidance to states.--During preparation of a 
                proposed State Protective Action under subparagraph 
                (A), the Secretary shall provide guidance to the State 
                regarding such preparation.
                    ``(E) Approval or disapproval; resubmission.--The 
                Secretary shall--
                            ``(i) approve or disapprove a proposed 
                        State Protective Action by not later than 45 
                        days after the date it is submitted;
                            ``(ii) approve such an action if the 
                        Secretary determines that it meets the criteria 
                        specified for approval in the notification 
                        under subparagraph (B);
                            ``(iii) upon disapproving such an action--
                                    ``(I) provide the written comments 
                                explaining specifically why the action 
                                was not approved;
                                    ``(II) allow the proposed action to 
                                be resubmitted at any time before the 
                                end of the 45-day period beginning on 
                                the date the Secretary provides such 
                                comments; and
                                    ``(III) by not later than 30 days 
                                after the end of such period, issue a 
                                final decision regarding the proposed 
                                action.
                    ``(F) Limitation on final listing.--The Secretary 
                may not add a population of a species to a list before 
                the date the Secretary has made a final determination 
                regarding approval of each State Protective Action for 
                such population that has been submitted in accordance 
                with this paragraph.
                    ``(G) Qualification for grants.--For purposes of 
                subsection (d), a State Protective Action approved by 
                the Secretary under this paragraph shall be treated as 
                a cooperative agreement entered into pursuant to this 
                subsection.
                    ``(H) Review of plans.--Every 5 years after 
                approving a State Protective Action, the Secretary 
                shall review the implementation and effectiveness of 
                the action, and if necessary provide guidance on 
                improvements or revisions that are required to maintain 
                the Secretary's approval of the action.
                    ``(I) Revocation of approval.--The Secretary may 
                revoke approval of a State Protective Action for a 
                population and propose adding such species to a list 
                under this subsection if at any time after completion 
                of the first review under subparagraph (H) the 
                Secretary determines that--
                            ``(i) the State has failed to implement the 
                        action; or
                            ``(ii) the action has failed to make 
                        measurable progress toward achieving the 
                        recovery criteria for the population.
                    ``(J) Termination.--The Secretary may terminate the 
                effectiveness of a State Protective Action approved 
                under this paragraph, including review regarding the 
                action under subparagraph (H), if the Secretary 
                determines that recovery criteria for the population 
                have been achieved.''.
                                 <all>