[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1985 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1985

To prohibit treatment of gray wolves in Washington, Oregon, and Utah as 
              endangered species, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 23, 2015

Mr. Newhouse (for himself, Mr. Walden, and Mr. Stewart) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit treatment of gray wolves in Washington, Oregon, and Utah as 
              endangered species, 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 ``Pacific Northwest Gray Wolf 
Management Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON TREATMENT OF WOLVES IN WASHINGTON, OREGON, AND 
              UTAH UNDER THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973.

    (a) In General.--Any wolf in a covered State shall not be treated 
under any status of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 
et seq.), including as an endangered species, a threatened species, an 
essential experimental population, or a nonessential experimental 
population.
    (b) Exclusive Covered State Management Authority.--
            (1) Exclusive state management authority.--Except as 
        provided in paragraph (2), each covered State shall have 
        exclusive authority to manage wolves within the borders of that 
        covered State.
            (2) Protection by covered states.--A covered State may not 
        provide protections to wolves that is greater than the 
        protections that would be provided under the Endangered Species 
        Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) if subsection (a) and 
        paragraph (1) of this subsection did not apply.
            (3) Reimbursement by covered states.--Nothing in this Act 
        precludes any State from reimbursing the owner of livestock for 
        any loss of livestock that results from depredation by wolves, 
        or that derives from wolves, that were introduced into the 
        wild.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) State.--The term ``covered State'' means each of the 
        States of Washington, Oregon, and Utah.
            (2) Wolf.--The term ``wolf'' means any species, subspecies, 
        or population segment of Canis lupus.
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