[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 659 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 659

   To reverse the Department of the Interior's listing of the lesser 
 prairie chicken as a threatened species under the Endangered Species 
   Act of 1973, to prevent further consideration of listing of such 
 species as a threatened species or endangered species under that Act 
pending implementation of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife 
Agencies' Lesser Prairie-Chicken Range-Wide Conservation Plan and other 
             conservation measures, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 2, 2015

Mr. Mullin (for himself, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Neugebauer, Mr. Thornberry, Mr. 
 Cole, Mr. Tipton, Ms. Jenkins of Kansas, Mr. Flores, Mr. Pearce, Mr. 
 Huelskamp, and Mr. Bridenstine) introduced the following bill; which 
           was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To reverse the Department of the Interior's listing of the lesser 
 prairie chicken as a threatened species under the Endangered Species 
   Act of 1973, to prevent further consideration of listing of such 
 species as a threatened species or endangered species under that Act 
pending implementation of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife 
Agencies' Lesser Prairie-Chicken Range-Wide Conservation Plan and other 
             conservation measures, and for other purposes.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Lesser Prairie Chicken Voluntary 
Recovery Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. IMPLEMENTATION OF LESSER PRAIRIE-CHICKEN RANGE-WIDE 
              CONSERVATION PLAN AND OTHER CONSERVATION MEASURES.

    (a) Prohibition on Treatment as Threatened or Endangered Species.--
            (1) In general.--Notwithstanding any prior action by the 
        Secretary of the Interior, the lesser prairie chicken shall not 
        be treated as a threatened species or endangered species under 
        the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) 
        before January 31, 2020.
            (2) Prohibition on proposal.--On and after January 31, 
        2020, the lesser prairie chicken may not be treated as a 
        threatened species or endangered species under the Endangered 
        Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) unless the 
        Secretary publishes a determination, based on the totality of 
        the scientific evidence, that conservation (as that term is 
        used in that Act) under the Range-Wide Plan and the agreements, 
        programs, and efforts referred to in subsection (b) has not 
        achieved the conservation goals established by the Range-Wide 
        Plan.
    (b) Monitoring of Progress of Conservation Programs.--The Secretary 
shall monitor and annually report to the Congress on progress in 
conservation of the Lesser Prairie Chicken under the Range-Wide Plan 
and all related Candidate Conservation Agreements and Candidate and 
Conservation Agreements With Assurances, other Federal conservation 
programs administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, 
the Bureau of Land Management, and the Department of Agriculture, State 
conservation programs, and private conservation efforts.
    (c)  Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Candidate conservation agreements.--Each of the terms 
        ``Candidate Conservation Agreement'' and ``Candidate and 
        Conservation Agreement With Assurances'' means, respectively, 
        such an agreement referred to in--
                    (A) the Announcement of Final Policy for Candidate 
                Conservation Agreements with Assurances published by 
                the Department of the Interior and the Department of 
                Commerce on June 17, 1999 (64 Fed. Reg. 32726); and
                    (B) sections 17.22(d) and 17.32(d) of title 50, 
                Code of Federal Regulations.
            (2) Range-wide plan.--The term ``Range-Wide Plan'' means 
        the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Range-Wide Conservation Plan of the 
        Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, as endorsed 
        by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service on October 23, 
        2013, and published for comment on January 29, 2014 (79 Fed. 
        Reg. 4652).
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