IB
Union Calendar No. 164
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 615
[Report No. 118–203, Part I]
To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture
from prohibiting the use of lead ammunition or tackle on certain Federal
land or water under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior
and the Secretary of Agriculture, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY27, 2023
Mr. W
ITTMAN(for himself, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS, Mrs. WAG-
NER, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. GUEST, Mr. HUDSON, Mr.
G
ROTHMAN, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. WEBSTERof Florida, Mr. AUSTINSCOTT
of Georgia, Mr. B
ALDERSON, Mr. WALBERG, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr.
S
TAUBER, Mr. BOST, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. CARTERof Georgia, Mr.
E
DWARDS, Mr. RESCHENTHALER, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. FULCHER, Mr.
R
OSENDALE, Mr. CRENSHAW, Mr. FINSTAD, and Ms. STEFANIK) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural
Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
S
EPTEMBER20, 2023
Additional sponsors: Mr. J
ACKSONof Texas, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. OWENS, Ms.
H
AGEMAN, Mr. MOOREof Alabama, Ms. DELACRUZ, Mr. RUTHER-
FORD, Mr. THOMPSONof Pennsylvania, Mrs. BOEBERT, Mr. DONALDS,
Mr. A
MODEI, Mr. GOODof Virginia, Mr. CARTERof Texas, Mr. ZINKE,
Mr. C
ARL, Mr. TIFFANY, Mr. PFLUGER, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. ROGERSof
Alabama, Mr. T
ONYGONZALESof Texas, Mrs. SPARTZ, Mr. LAMBORN,
Mrs. K
IGGANSof Virginia, and Mr. FITZGERALD
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•HR 615 RH
SEPTEMBER20, 2023
Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with an amendment
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
SEPTEMBER20, 2023
Committee on Agriculture 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 January 27, 2023]
A BILL
To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary
of Agriculture from prohibiting the use of lead ammuni-
tion or tackle on certain Federal land or water under
the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior and the
Secretary of Agriculture, and for other purposes.
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•HR 615 RH
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Access for 4
Hunters and Anglers Act of 2023’’. 5
SEC. 2. PROTECTING ACCESS FOR HUNTERS AND ANGLERS 6
ON FEDERAL LAND AND WATER. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Except as provided in section 20.21 8
or 20.108 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations (as in 9
effect on the date of enactment of this Act), and subsection 10
(b), the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Direc-11
tor of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service or the 12
Director of the Bureau of Land Management, and the Sec-13
retary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest 14
Service (referred to in this section as the ‘‘applicable Sec-15
retary’’), may not— 16
(1) prohibit the use of lead ammunition or tackle 17
on Federal land or water that is— 18
(A) under the jurisdiction of the applicable 19
Secretary; and 20
(B) made available for hunting or fishing 21
activities; or 22
(2) issue regulations relating to the level of lead 23
in ammunition or tackle to be used on Federal land 24
or water described in paragraph (1). 25
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•HR 615 RH
(b) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to a 1
prohibition or regulations described in that subsection that 2
are limited to a specific unit of Federal land or water, if 3
the applicable Secretary determines that— 4
(1) a decline in wildlife population at the spe-5
cific unit of Federal land or water is primarily 6
caused by the use of lead in ammunition or tackle, 7
based on the field data from the specific unit of Fed-8
eral land or water; and 9
(2) the prohibition or regulations, as applicable, 10
are— 11
(A) consistent with the law of the State in 12
which the specific Federal land or water is lo-13
cated; 14
(B) consistent with an applicable policy of 15
the fish and wildlife department of the State in 16
which the specific Federal land or water is lo-17
cated; or 18
(C) approved by the applicable fish and 19
wildlife department of the State in which the 20
specific Federal land or water is located. 21
(c) F
EDERALREGISTERNOTICE.—The applicable Sec-22
retary shall include in a Federal Register notice with re-23
spect to any prohibition or regulations that meet the re-24
quirements of paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (b) an 25
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•HR 615 RH
explanation of how the prohibition or regulations, as appli-1
cable, meet those requirements. 2
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kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB Union Calendar No.
164
118
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
H. R. 615
[Report No. 118–203, Part I]
A BILL
To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the
Secretary of Agriculture from prohibiting the use
of lead ammunition or tackle on certain Federal
land or water under the jurisdiction of the Sec-
retary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agri-
culture, and for other purposes.
S
EPTEMBER
20, 2023
Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with
an amendment
S
EPTEMBER
20, 2023
Committee on Agriculture discharged; committed to the
Committee of the Whole House on the State of the
Union and ordered to be printed
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