[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2245 Reported in House (RH)]

<DOC>





                                                 Union Calendar No. 563
116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 2245

                      [Report No. 116-680, Part I]

  To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to prohibit import and 
export of any species listed or proposed to be listed under such Act as 
  a threatened species or endangered species, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 10, 2019

 Mr. Grijalva (for himself, Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
  Cartwright, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Norton, Mr. Ted Lieu of California, Mr. 
Lowenthal, Mr. Lynch, Mrs. Napolitano, and Mr. Moulton) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
 Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Foreign Affairs, and 
   Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

                           December 21, 2020

   Additional sponsors: Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Kuster of New 
   Hampshire, Ms. Lee of California, Ms. Brownley of California, Mr. 
   DeFazio, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Malinowski, Ms. Haaland, Mr. 
 Hastings, Mrs. Murphy of Florida, Ms. McCollum, Ms. Dean, Mr. Johnson 
  of Georgia, Ms. Underwood, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Soto, Mrs. Davis of 
   California, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Neguse, Mr. Quigley, Ms. Castor of 
    Florida, Ms. DelBene, Ms. Mucarsel-Powell, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. 
Carbajal, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Schiff, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney of 
    New York, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Shalala, Mr. Swalwell of 
    California, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Ms. Scanlon, Ms. Judy Chu of 
California, Mr. Pascrell, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Crist, Ms. Titus, Ms. Eshoo, 
 Mr. DeSaulnier, Ms. Spanberger, Mr. Yarmuth, Mrs. Lowey, Mr. Smith of 
    Washington, Mr. Beyer, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Foster, and Mrs. Luria


                           December 21, 2020

    Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with amendments
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]

                           December 21, 2020

Committees on Foreign Affairs and Ways and Means discharged; committed 
   to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and 
                         ordered to be printed
 [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 
                               10, 2019]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to prohibit import and 
export of any species listed or proposed to be listed under such Act as 
  a threatened species or 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 ``Conserving Ecosystems by Ceasing the 
Importation of Large Animal Trophies Act'' or the ``CECIL Act''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO PROHIBITED ACTS.

    Section 9(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
1538(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(3) Except as provided in section 10 of this Act, it is unlawful 
for any person to import into or export from the United States any 
sport-hunted trophy of a species listed or proposed to be listed under 
section 4(c) as a threatened species or endangered species.''.

SEC. 3. IMPORTS OF SPORT-HUNTED TROPHIES.

    Section 10(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
1539(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(3) Before issuing any permit under this Act authorizing import 
of any sport-hunted trophy of a species that is listed or proposed to 
be listed as an endangered or threatened species, the Secretary must 
make a finding after public notice and comment pursuant to section 553 
of title 5, United States Code, of whether the country where the animal 
was killed adequately provides for the conservation and monitoring for 
that species, including that--
            ``(A) a management plan for that species based on the best 
        available science that--
                    ``(i) addresses existing threats to the species;
                    ``(ii) provides a significant conservation benefit 
                to the species;
                    ``(iii) formally coordinates with adjacent 
                countries to protect transboundary populations; and
                    ``(iv) ensures that any take is sustainable and 
                does not contribute to the species' decline in either 
                the short-term or long-term according to current 
                population estimates derived through the use of the 
                best available science;
            ``(B) such management plan is being actively implemented;
            ``(C) the country where the animal was killed demonstrates 
        transparency, accountability, and verifiability in governance 
        to ensure that any benefits of trophy hunting, including 
        revenue from such taking, materially, directly and 
        substantially benefits the conservation of that species;
            ``(D) hunting of the species in such country enhances the 
        propagation or survival of the species; and
            ``(E) the local community in which the trophy hunting 
        occurs directly and substantially benefits from the hunting of 
        the species.
    ``(4) Notwithstanding subsections (b) and (c)(2) of section 9, no 
permit may be issued by the Secretary for the import of a sport-hunted 
trophy of an elephant or lion taken in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, or 
Zambia.''.

SEC. 4. PERMIT FEES FOR SPORT-HUNTED TROPHY IMPORTS.

    Section 10(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
1539(a)(2)) is amended by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 
subparagraph (D), and by inserting after subparagraph (B) the 
following:
    ``(C) No permit may be issued by the Secretary under this Act for 
import of a sport-hunted trophy unless the applicant pays to the 
Secretary all administrative costs incurred by the United States that 
are associated with processing the permit application.''.

SEC. 5. TRANSPARENCY OF SPORTS-HUNTED TROPHY IMPORT PERMITS.

    Section 10(c) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
1539(c)) is amended by inserting ``The Secretary shall publish notice 
in the Federal Register of each application for an exemption or permit 
which is made under this Act for a sport-hunted trophy of a species 
that is listed or proposed to be listed as an endangered species or 
threatened species.'' after ``section.''

SEC. 6. TERMINATION OF INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COUNCIL.

    The International Wildlife Conservation Council of the United 
States Fish and Wildlife Service is hereby abolished.

SEC. 7. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE STUDY.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 6 months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 
shall conduct and submit to the Congress a report on the results of a 
study of the effectiveness of trophy hunting in supporting 
international wildlife conservation efforts.
    (b) Report.--The report shall--
            (1) include a detailed analysis of how permit fees and 
        other payments from hunters to government entities and hunting 
        guides in host countries are applied to tangible actions 
        supporting the conservation of the target species and other 
        wildlife in such countries;
            (2) identify data gaps and recommend information that 
        hunters and host countries must submit to verify the impacts of 
        trophy hunting on wildlife conservation efforts; and
            (3) recommend actions that the Department of the Interior 
        and the Congress should take to ensure that trophy hunting 
        contributes to conservation.
            Amend the title so as to read: ``A bill to amend the 
        Endangered Species Act of 1973 to strengthen protections for 
        endangered and threatened species, as well as species proposed 
        to be listed, by requiring certification by the Fish and 
        Wildlife Service that any international trophy hunting of those 
        species enhances the conservation of the species before any 
        import of the trophy would be permitted, and for other 
        purposes.''.
                                                 Union Calendar No. 563

116th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 2245

                      [Report No. 116-680, Part I]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

  To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to prohibit import and 
export of any species listed or proposed to be listed under such Act as 
  a threatened species or endangered species, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                           December 21, 2020

    Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with amendments

                           December 21, 2020

Committees on Foreign Affairs and Ways and Means discharged; committed 
   to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and 
                         ordered to be printed