I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1897
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to optimize conservation
through resource prioritization, incentivize wildlife conservation on private
lands, provide for greater incentives to recover listed species, create
greater transparency and accountability in recovering listed species,
streamline the permitting process, eliminate barriers to conservation,
and restore congressional intent.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH6, 2025
Mr. W
ESTERMAN(for himself, Ms. HAGEMAN, Mr. STAUBER, Mr. TIFFANY,
Mr. G
OSAR, Mr. HURDof Colorado, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. BENTZ, Mr.
F
ULCHER, Mr. BEGICH, Mr. EZELL, Mr. AMODEIof Nevada, Mr. HUNT,
Ms. M
ALOY, Mr. BIGGSof Arizona, and Mr. LAMALFA) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to optimize
conservation through resource prioritization, incentivize
wildlife conservation on private lands, provide for greater
incentives to recover listed species, create greater trans-
parency and accountability in recovering listed species,
streamline the permitting process, eliminate barriers to
conservation, and restore congressional intent.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 2
‘‘ESA Amendments Act of 2025’’. 3
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 4
this Act is as follows: 5
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Endangered Species Act of 1973 definitions.
Sec. 3. Authorization of appropriations.
Sec. 4. Rule of construction.
TITLE I—OPTIMIZING CONSERVATION THROUGH RESOURCE
PRIORITIZATION
Sec. 101. Prioritization of listing petitions, reviews, and determinations.
TITLE II—INCENTIVIZING WILDLIFE CONSERVATION ON PRIVATE
LANDS
Sec. 201. Candidate conservation agreements with assurances.
Sec. 202. Conservation plans.
Sec. 203. NEPA exemption for incidental take permits.
TITLE III—PROVIDING FOR GREATER INCENTIVES TO RECOVER
LISTED SPECIES
Sec. 301. Protective regulations under Endangered Species Act of 1973.
Sec. 302. 5-year review determinations.
Sec. 303. Judicial review during monitoring period.
Sec. 304. Codification of regulation.
Sec. 305. Designation of critical habitat.
TITLE IV—CREATING GREATER TRANSPARENCY AND
ACCOUNTABILITY IN RECOVERING LISTED SPECIES
Sec. 401. Requirement to publish basis for listings and critical habitat designa-
tions on Internet.
Sec. 402. Decisional transparency and use of State, Tribal, and local informa-
tion.
Sec. 403. Disclosure of expenditures under Endangered Species Act of 1973.
Sec. 404. Award of litigation costs to prevailing parties in accordance with ex-
isting law.
Sec. 405. Analysis of impacts and benefits of determination of endangered or
threatened status.
TITLE V—STREAMLINING PERMITTING PROCESS
Sec. 501. Limitation on reasonable and prudent measures.
Sec. 502. Successive consultations.
Sec. 503. Requirement to consider reasonably certain effects.
Sec. 504. Clarifying jeopardy.
TITLE VI — ELIMINATING BARRIERS TO CONSERVATION
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Sec. 601. Permits for CITES-listed species.
Sec. 602. Utilize Convention standard for permits applicable to non-native spe-
cies.
TITLE VII—RESTORING CONGRESSIONAL INTENT
Sec. 701. Limiting agency regulations.
SEC. 2. ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973 DEFINITIONS.
1
(a) F
ORESEEABLEFUTURE.—The final rule titled 2
‘‘Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Regu-3
lations for Listing Species and Designating Critical Habi-4
tat’’ (84 Fed. Reg. 45020; published August 27, 2019) 5
shall have the force and effect of law with respect to the 6
use of the term ‘‘foreseeable future’’. 7
(b) C
OMMERCIALACTIVITY.—Section 3(2) Endan-8
gered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1532(2)) is amend-9
ed by inserting ‘‘or public display or education aimed at 10
the preservation or conservation of a species’’ after ‘‘orga-11
nizations’’. 12
(c) C
ONSERVE; CONSERVING; CONSERVATION.—Sec-13
tion 3(3) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 14
U.S.C. 1532(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘and transplan-15
tation, and, in the extraordinary case where population 16
pressures within a given ecosystem cannot be otherwise 17
relieved, may include’’ and inserting ‘‘transplantation, 18
and, at the discretion of the Secretary,’’. 19
(d) H
ABITAT.—Section 3(5) of the Endangered Spe-20
cies Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1532(5)) is amended by add-21
ing at the end the following: 22
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‘‘(D)(i) For the purpose of designating critical 1
habitat for a threatened species or an endangered 2
species under this Act, the term ‘habitat’— 3
‘‘(I) means the abiotic and biotic setting 4
that currently or periodically contains the re-5
sources and conditions necessary to support 1 6
or more life processes of the threatened species 7
or endangered species; and 8
‘‘(II) does not include an area visited by 9
only vagrant individual members of the threat-10
ened species or endangered species. 11
‘‘(ii) If the setting described in clause (i)(I) 12
does not support all of the life processes of the rel-13
evant threatened species or endangered species, the 14
threatened species or endangered species must be 15
able to access, from the setting, other areas nec-16
essary to support its remaining life processes.’’. 17
(e) B
ESTSCIENTIFIC AND COMMERCIAL DATA 18
A
VAILABLE.— 19
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 3 of the Endangered 20
Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1532) is amended— 21
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (2) 22
through (10) as paragraphs (3) through (11), 23
respectively; and 24
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(B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 1
following: 2
(2) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENT .—Section 7(n) 3
of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 4
1536(n)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 3(13)’’ 5
and inserting ‘‘section 3(14)’’. 6
‘‘(2) The term ‘best scientific and commercial data 7
available’ includes data submitted to the Secretary by a 8
State, Tribal, or local government.’’. 9
(f) E
NVIRONMENTAL BASELINE.—Section 7 of the 10
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536) is 11
amended by adding at the end the following: 12
‘‘(q) E
NVIRONMENTAL BASELINE.—For the purpose 13
of carrying out a consultation under this section with re-14
spect to a threatened species or an endangered species, 15
the term ‘environmental baseline’— 16
‘‘(1) means the condition of the species or the 17
critical habitat of the species in the action area, 18
without the consequences to the species or the crit-19
ical habitat of the species caused by the proposed ac-20
tion; and 21
‘‘(2) includes— 22
‘‘(A) the past and present effects of all 23
Federal, State, and private actions and other 24
human activities in the action area; 25
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‘‘(B) the anticipated effects of each pro-1
posed Federal project within the action area for 2
which a consultation under this section has 3
been completed; 4
‘‘(C) the effects of State and private ac-5
tions that are contemporaneous with the con-6
sultation in process; and 7
‘‘(D) existing structures and facilities and 8
the past, present, and future effects on the spe-9
cies or the critical habitat of the species from 10
the physical existence of such structures and fa-11
cilities.’’. 12
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 13
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 15 of the Endangered 14
Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1542) is amended— 15
(1) in subsection (a)— 16
(A) by striking ‘‘subsection (b), (c), and 17
(d)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (b) and (c)’’; 18
(B) in paragraph (1)— 19
(i) by striking ‘‘and’’ after ‘‘fiscal year 20
1991,’’; and 21
(ii) by inserting ‘‘, and $302,025,000 22
for each of fiscal years 2026 through 23
2031’’ after ‘‘fiscal year 1992’’; 24
(C) in paragraph (2)— 25
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(i) by striking ‘‘and’’ after ‘‘fiscal 1
years 1989 and 1990,’’; and 2
(ii) by inserting ‘‘, and $116,630,000 3
for each of fiscal years 2026 through 4
2031’’ after ‘‘fiscal years 1991 and 1992’’; 5
and 6
(D) in paragraph (3)— 7
(i) by striking ‘‘and’’ after ‘‘fiscal 8
years 1989 and 1990,’’; and 9
(ii) by inserting ‘‘and $2,600,000 for 10
each of fiscal years 2026 through 2031’’ 11
after ‘‘fiscal years 1991 and 1992,’’; 12
(2) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘and 13
$600,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 14
2031’’ after ‘‘1992’’; and 15
(3) in subsection (c)— 16
(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ after ‘‘fiscal years 17
1988, 1989, and 1990,’’; and 18
(B) by inserting ‘‘and $9,900,000 for each 19
of fiscal years 2026 through 2031,’’ after ‘‘fis-20
cal years 1991 and 1992,’’. 21
(b) T
ECHNICALAMENDMENT.—Section 15(b) of the 22
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1542(b)) is 23
amended by striking ‘‘sections 7 (e), (g), and (h)’’ and 24
inserting ‘‘subsections (e), (g), and (h) of section 7’’. 25
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SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 1
Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this 2
Act may be construed to enlarge or diminish the authority, 3
jurisdiction, or responsibility of a State (as that term is 4
defined in section 3 of the Endangered Species Act of 5
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1532)) to manage, control, or regulate 6
fish and wildlife on lands and waters, including Federal 7
lands and waters, within the State. 8
TITLE I—OPTIMIZING CON-9
SERVATION THROUGH RE-10
SOURCE PRIORITIZATION 11
SEC. 101. PRIORITIZATION OF LISTING PETITIONS, RE-12
VIEWS, AND DETERMINATIONS. 13
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 4 of the Endangered Spe-14
cies Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533) is amended by adding 15
at the end the following: 16
‘‘(j) N
ATIONALLISTINGWORKPLAN.— 17
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than the date de-18
scribed in paragraph (2), the Secretary shall submit 19
to Congress a national listing work plan that estab-20
lishes, for each covered species, a schedule for the 21
completion during the 5-fiscal year period beginning 22
on October 1 of the first fiscal year after the date 23
of the submission of the work plan of— 24
‘‘(A) findings as described in subsection 25
(b)(3)(B) for each such covered species; 26
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‘‘(B) proposed and final determinations re-1
garding listing each such covered species under 2
this section; and 3
‘‘(C) proposed and final critical habitat 4
designations under subsection (a)(3) relating to 5
each such covered species. 6
‘‘(2) S
UBMISSION TO CONGRESS .— 7
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 8
submit to Congress— 9
‘‘(i) together with the budget request 10
of the Secretary for the first fiscal year 11
that begins not less than 365 days after 12
the date of the enactment of this sub-13
section, the initial work plan required 14
under paragraph (1); and 15
‘‘(ii) together with the budget request 16
of the Secretary for each fiscal year there-17
after, an updated work plan under para-18
graph (1). 19
‘‘(B) A
DDITIONAL INCLUSIONS.—The Sec-20
retary shall include with each budget request 21
referred to in subparagraph (A) a description of 22
the amounts to be requested to carry out the 23
work plan for the fiscal year covered by the 24
budget request, including any amounts re-25
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quested to address emergency listings if the 1
Secretary identifies any emergency posing a sig-2
nificant risk to the well-being of any species of 3
fish or wildlife or plant. 4
‘‘(3) P
RIORITY.— 5
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—In developing a work 6
plan under this subsection, the Secretary shall 7
assign to each species included in the work plan 8
a priority classification of Priority 1 through 9
Priority 5, such that, as determined by the Sec-10
retary, the following apply: 11
‘‘(i) Priority 1 represents species of 12
the highest priority, to be designated as 13
critically imperiled and in need of imme-14
diate action. 15
‘‘(ii) Priority 2 represents species with 16
respect to which the best scientific and 17
commercial data available support a clear 18
decision regarding the status of the spe-19
cies. 20
‘‘(iii) Priority 3 represents species 21
with respect to which studies regarding the 22
status of the species are being carried 23
out— 24
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‘‘(I) to answer key questions that 1
may influence the findings of a peti-2
tion to list the species submitted 3
under subsection (b)(3); and 4
‘‘(II) to resolve any uncertainty 5
regarding the status of the species 6
within a reasonable timeframe. 7
‘‘(iv) Priority 4 represents species for 8
which proactive conservation efforts likely 9
to reduce threats to the species are being 10
developed or carried out, within a reason-11
able timeframe and in an organized man-12
ner, by Federal agencies, States, land-13
owners, or other stakeholders. 14
‘‘(v) Priority 5 represents species— 15
‘‘(I) for which there exists little 16
information regarding— 17
‘‘(aa) threats to the species; 18
or 19
‘‘(bb) the status of the spe-20
cies; or 21
‘‘(II) that would receive limited 22
conservation benefit in the foreseeable 23
future by listing the species as a 24
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threatened species or endangered spe-1
cies under this section. 2
‘‘(B) U
SE OF METHODOLOGY .—The Sec-3
retary shall establish and assign priority classi-4
fications under subparagraph (A) in accordance 5
with the notice of the Director of the United 6
States Fish and Wildlife Service titled ‘Method-7
ology for Prioritizing Status Reviews and Ac-8
companying 12-Month Findings on Petitions 9
for Listing Under the Endangered Species Act’ 10
(81 Fed. Reg. 49248; published July 27, 2016). 11
‘‘(C) E
XTENSIONS FOR CERTAIN PRIORITY 12
CLASSIFICATIONS.— 13
‘‘(i) P
RIORITY 3.—With respect to a 14
species classified as Priority 3 under sub-15
paragraph (A)(iii), if the Secretary deter-16
mines that additional time would allow for 17
more complete data collection or the com-18
pletion of studies relating to the species, 19
the Secretary may retain the species under 20
the work plan for a period of not more 21
than 5 years after the deadline under para-22
graph (4). 23
‘‘(ii) P
RIORITY 4.—With respect to a 24
species classified as Priority 4 under sub-25
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paragraph (A)(iv), if the Secretary deter-1
mines that existing conservation efforts 2
continue to meet the conservation needs of 3
the species, the Secretary may retain the 4
species under the work plan for a period of 5
not more than 5 years after the deadline 6
under paragraph (4). 7
‘‘(iii) P
RIORITY 5.—With respect to a 8
species classified as Priority 5 under sub-9
paragraph (A)(v), the Secretary may retain 10
the species under the work plan for a pe-11
riod of not more than 5 years after the 12
deadline under paragraph (4). 13
‘‘(D) R
EVISION OF PRIORITY CLASSIFICA -14
TION.—The Secretary may revise, in accordance 15
with subparagraph (A), the assignment to a pri-16
ority classification of a species included in a 17
work plan at any time during the fiscal years 18
to which the work plan applies. 19
‘‘(E) E
FFECT OF PRIORITY CLASSIFICA -20
TION.—The assignment of a priority classifica-21
tion to a species included in a work plan is not 22
a final agency action. 23
‘‘(4) D
EADLINE.—The Secretary shall act on 24
any petition to add a species to a list published 25
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under subsection (c) submitted under subsection 1
(b)(3) not later than the last day of the fiscal year 2
specified for that petition in the most recent work 3
plan. 4
‘‘(5) R
EGULATIONS.—The Secretary may issue 5
such regulations as the Secretary determines appro-6
priate to carry out this subsection. 7
‘‘(6) E
FFECT OF SUBSECTION .—Nothing in this 8
subsection may be construed to preclude or other-9
wise affect the emergency listing authority of the 10
Secretary under subsection (b)(7). 11
‘‘(7) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 12
‘‘(A) C
OVERED SPECIES.—The term ‘cov-13
ered species’ means a species that is not in-14
cluded on a list published under subsection 15
(c)— 16
‘‘(i) for which a petition to add the 17
species to such a list has been submitted 18
under subsection (b)(3); or 19
‘‘(ii) that is otherwise under consider-20
ation by the Secretary for addition to such 21
a list. 22
‘‘(B) W
ORK PLAN.—The term ‘work plan’ 23
means the national listing work plan submitted 24
by the Secretary under paragraph (1).’’. 25
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(b) CONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.—Section 4(b)(3) of 1
the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 2
1533(b)(3)) is amended— 3
(1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘Within 4
12 months’’ and inserting ‘‘In accordance with the 5
national listing work plan submitted under sub-6
section (j),’’; and 7
(2) in subparagraph (C), to read as follows: 8
‘‘(C) Any negative finding described in subpara-9
graph (A) and any finding described in subpara-10
graph (B)(i)(I) shall be subject to judicial review.’’. 11
TITLE II—INCENTIVIZING WILD-12
LIFE CONSERVATION ON PRI-13
VATE LANDS 14
SEC. 201. CANDIDATE CONSERVATION AGREEMENTS WITH 15
ASSURANCES. 16
(a) L
ISTINGDETERMINATIONS.—Section 4(b)(1) of 17
the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 18
1533(b)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-19
lowing: 20
‘‘(C) In making a determination under sub-21
section (a)(1) with respect to a species, the Sec-22
retary shall take into account and document the ef-23
fect of any net conservation benefit (as that term is 24
defined in subsection (k) of section 10) of any Can-25
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didate Conservation Agreement with Assurances or 1
any programmatic Candidate Conservation Agree-2
ment with Assurances (as those terms are defined in 3
that subsection) relating to such species.’’. 4
(b) C
ANDIDATECONSERVATIONAGREEMENTSWITH 5
A
SSURANCES.—Section 10 of the Endangered Species Act 6
of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1539) is amended by adding at the 7
end the following: 8
‘‘(k) C
ANDIDATE CONSERVATION AGREEMENTS 9
W
ITHASSURANCES.— 10
‘‘(1) P
ROPOSED AGREEMENT .—A covered party 11
may submit a proposed Agreement to the Secretary. 12
‘‘(2) A
PPROVAL.—Not later than 120 days 13
after the date of the receipt of a proposed Agree-14
ment under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall ap-15
prove the proposed Agreement if the Secretary de-16
termines that the proposed Agreement— 17
‘‘(A) sets forth specific management activi-18
ties that the covered party will undertake to 19
conserve the covered species; 20
‘‘(B) provides a positive estimate of the net 21
conservation benefit of such management activi-22
ties to the covered species; 23
‘‘(C) describes, to the maximum extent 24
practicable, the existing population levels of the 25
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covered species or the existing quality of habi-1
tat; 2
‘‘(D) includes a monitoring plan to be car-3
ried out by the parties to the Agreement; and 4
‘‘(E) provides assurances to the covered 5
party that no additional conservation measures 6
will be required and additional land, water, or 7
resource use restrictions will not be imposed on 8
the covered party if the covered species becomes 9
listed after the effective date of such Agree-10
ment. 11
‘‘(3) D
ENIAL.—Not later than 120 days after 12
the date of the receipt of a proposed Agreement 13
under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall— 14
‘‘(A) deny the proposed Agreement if the 15
Secretary determines that the proposed Agree-16
ment does not meet the requirements described 17
in paragraph (2); and 18
‘‘(B) provide the submitting covered party 19
a written explanation for such determination 20
and the adjustments required for the Secretary 21
to approve such proposed Agreement. 22
‘‘(4) P
ROGRAMMATIC CANDIDATE CONSERVA -23
TION AGREEMENT WITH ASSURANCES .— 24
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may 1
enter into a Candidate Conservation Agreement 2
with Assurances with a covered party that au-3
thorizes such covered party— 4
‘‘(i) to administer such Candidate 5
Conservation Agreement with Assurances; 6
‘‘(ii) to hold any permit issued under 7
this section with regard to such Candidate 8
Conservation Agreement with Assurances; 9
‘‘(iii) to enroll other covered parties 10
within the area covered by such Candidate 11
Conservation Agreement with Assurances 12
in such Candidate Conservation Agreement 13
with Assurances; and 14
‘‘(iv) to convey any permit authoriza-15
tion held by such covered party under 16
clause (ii) to each covered party enrolled 17
under clause (iii). 18
‘‘(B) P
UBLICATION.—Upon receipt of a 19
proposed programmatic Candidate Conservation 20
Agreement with Assurances under paragraph 21
(1) and before approving or denying such a pro-22
posed programmatic Candidate Conservation 23
Agreement with Assurances under paragraph 24
(2) or (3), respectively, the Secretary shall— 25
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‘‘(i) not later than 30 days after the 1
date of such receipt, publish the proposed 2
programmatic Candidate Conservation 3
Agreement with Assurances in the Federal 4
Register for public comment for a period 5
of not less than 60 days; 6
‘‘(ii) review any comments received 7
under clause (i); and 8
‘‘(iii) after the close of the public com-9
ment period for the proposed pro-10
grammatic Candidate Conservation Agree-11
ment with Assurances, publish in the Fed-12
eral Register— 13
‘‘(I) any comments received 14
under clause (i); and 15
‘‘(II) the approval or denial of 16
the proposed programmatic Candidate 17
Conservation Agreement with Assur-18
ances under paragraph (2) or (3), re-19
spectively. 20
‘‘(5) I
NCIDENTAL TAKE AUTHORIZATION .—If a 21
covered species is listed under section 4, the Sec-22
retary shall issue a permit to the relevant covered 23
party under this section allowing incidental take of 24
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and modification to the habitat of such covered spe-1
cies consistent with the Agreement. 2
‘‘(6) T
ECHNICAL ASSISTANCE .—The Secretary 3
shall, upon request, provide a covered party with 4
technical assistance in developing a proposed Agree-5
ment. 6
‘‘(7) A
PPLICABILITY TO FEDERAL LAND .—An 7
Agreement may apply to a covered party that con-8
ducts activities on land administered by any Federal 9
agency pursuant to a permit or lease issued to the 10
covered party by that Federal agency. 11
‘‘(8) E
XEMPTION FROM CONSULTATION RE -12
QUIREMENT.—An Agreement approved under this 13
subsection shall be deemed to have been granted an 14
exemption under section 7(h) for the purposes of 15
that section. 16
‘‘(9) E
XEMPTION FROM DISCLOSURE .—Infor-17
mation submitted by a private party to the Secretary 18
under this subsection shall be exempt from disclo-19
sure under section 552(b)(3)(B) of title 5, United 20
States Code. 21
‘‘(10) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 22
‘‘(A) A
GREEMENT.—The term ‘Agreement’ 23
means— 24
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‘‘(i) a Candidate Conservation Agree-1
ment with Assurances; or 2
‘‘(ii) a programmatic Candidate Con-3
servation Agreement with Assurances. 4
‘‘(B) C
ANDIDATE CONSERVATION AGREE -5
MENT WITH ASSURANCES .—The term ‘Can-6
didate Conservation Agreement with Assur-7
ances’ means any voluntary agreement, includ-8
ing a conservation benefit agreement, between 9
the Secretary and a covered party in which— 10
‘‘(i) the covered party commits to im-11
plementing mutually agreed upon conserva-12
tion measures for a candidate species; and 13
‘‘(ii) the Secretary provides assur-14
ances that, if such candidate species is list-15
ed pursuant to section 4— 16
‘‘(I) the covered party shall incur 17
no additional obligations beyond ac-18
tions agreed to in the agreement with 19
respect to conservation activities re-20
quired under this Act; and 21
‘‘(II) no additional land, water, 22
or resource use restrictions shall be 23
imposed on the covered party beyond 24
those included in the agreement. 25
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‘‘(C) CANDIDATE SPECIES .—The term 1
‘candidate species’ means a species— 2
‘‘(i) designated by the Secretary as a 3
candidate species under this Act; or 4
‘‘(ii) proposed to be listed pursuant to 5
section 4. 6
‘‘(D) C
OVERED PARTY.—The term ‘covered 7
party’ means a— 8
‘‘(i) party that conducts activities on 9
land administered by a Federal agency 10
pursuant to a permit or lease issued to the 11
party; 12
‘‘(ii) private property owner; 13
‘‘(iii) county; 14
‘‘(iv) State or State agency; or 15
‘‘(v) Tribal government. 16
‘‘(E) C
OVERED SPECIES.—The term ‘cov-17
ered species’ means, with respect to an Agree-18
ment, the species that is the subject of such 19
Agreement. 20
‘‘(F) N
ET CONSERVATION BENEFIT .—The 21
term ‘net conservation benefit’ means the net 22
effect of an Agreement, determined by com-23
paring the existing situation of the candidate 24
species without the Agreement in effect and a 25
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situation in which the Agreement is in effect, 1
on a candidate species, including— 2
‘‘(i) the net effect on threats to such 3
species; 4
‘‘(ii) the net effect on the number of 5
individuals of such species; or 6
‘‘(iii) the net effect on the habitat of 7
such species. 8
‘‘(G) P
ROGRAMMATIC CANDIDATE CON -9
SERVATION AGREEMENT WITH ASSURANCES .— 10
The term ‘programmatic Candidate Conserva-11
tion Agreement with Assurances’ means a Can-12
didate Conservation Agreement with Assurances 13
described in paragraph (4)(A).’’. 14
SEC. 202. CONSERVATION PLANS. 15
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 10(a)(2) of the Endan-16
gered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(2)) is 17
amended— 18
(1) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘, and 19
shall include the terms and conditions of the related 20
conservation plan, which shall be legally binding on 21
all parties thereto’’ after ‘‘being complied with’’; and 22
(2) by adding at the end the following: 23
‘‘(D) Each Federal agency shall, as appli-24
cable and to the maximum extent practicable, 25
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adopt the mitigation measures contained in a 1
permit issued under subparagraph (B) in any 2
authorization issued by such Federal agency 3
with respect to the action that is the subject of 4
such permit. 5
‘‘(E) With respect to an action that is the 6
subject of a permit issued under subparagraph 7
(B), the Secretary shall not seek any additional 8
mitigation measures through any other Federal 9
or State or local process.’’. 10
(b) E
XEMPTIONFROMCONSULTATION REQUIRE-11
MENT.—Section 10(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 12
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1539(a)) is amended by adding at the 13
end the following: 14
‘‘(3) A permit issued by the Secretary under this sub-15
section shall be deemed to have been granted an exemption 16
under section 7(h) for the purposes of that section.’’. 17
SEC. 203. NEPA EXEMPTION FOR INCIDENTAL TAKE PER-18
MITS. 19
Section 10(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 20
(16 U.S.C. 1539(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 21
following: 22
‘‘(4) The issuance of a permit under paragraph (2) 23
shall not be considered a major Federal action under sec-24
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tion 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act 1
of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)(C)).’’. 2
TITLE III—PROVIDING FOR 3
GREATER INCENTIVES TO RE-4
COVER LISTED SPECIES 5
SEC. 301. PROTECTIVE REGULATIONS UNDER ENDAN-6
GERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973. 7
Section 4 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 8
U.S.C. 1533) is amended— 9
(1) in subsection (d), to read as follows: 10
‘‘(d) P
ROTECTIVEREGULATIONS.— 11
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Whenever any species is 12
listed as a threatened species pursuant to subsection 13
(c), the Secretary shall issue such regulations as are 14
necessary and advisable to provide for the conserva-15
tion of that species. 16
‘‘(2) R
ECOVERY GOALS.— 17
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—If the Secretary issues 18
a regulation under paragraph (1) that prohibits 19
an act described in section 9(a), the Secretary 20
shall, with respect to the species that is the 21
subject of such regulation— 22
‘‘(i) establish objective, incremental 23
recovery goals; 24
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‘‘(ii) provide for the stringency of 1
such regulation to decrease as such recov-2
ery goals are met; and 3
‘‘(iii) provide for State management 4
within such State, if such State is willing 5
to take on such management, beginning on 6
the date on which the Secretary determines 7
that each such recovery goal is met and, if 8
each such recovery goal remains met, con-9
tinuing until such species is removed from 10
the list of threatened species published 11
pursuant to subsection (c). 12
‘‘(B) S
TATUS REVIEW.—On the date on 13
which the Secretary determines that each recov-14
ery goal established under subparagraph (A)(i) 15
for a species is met, the Secretary shall begin 16
a review of the species and subsequently deter-17
mine, on the basis of such review, whether the 18
species should be removed from the lists pub-19
lished pursuant to subsection (c)(1). 20
‘‘(3) C
OOPERATIVE AGREEMENT .—A regulation 21
issued under paragraph (1) that prohibits an act de-22
scribed in section 9(a) with respect to a resident 23
species shall apply with respect to a State that has 24
entered into a cooperative agreement with the Sec-25
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retary pursuant to section 6(c) only to the extent 1
that such regulation is adopted by such State. 2
‘‘(4) S
TATE RECOVERY STRATEGY .— 3
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—A State may develop 4
a recovery strategy for a threatened species or 5
a candidate species and submit to the Secretary 6
a petition for the Secretary to use such recovery 7
strategy as the basis for any regulation issued 8
under paragraph (1) with respect to such spe-9
cies within such State. 10
‘‘(B) A
PPROVAL OR DENIAL OF PETI -11
TION.—Not later than 120 days after the date 12
on which the Secretary receives a petition sub-13
mitted under subparagraph (A), the Secretary 14
shall— 15
‘‘(i) approve such petition if the Sec-16
retary determines the recovery strategy is 17
reasonably certain to be implemented by 18
the petitioning State and to be effective in 19
conserving the species that is the subject 20
of such recovery strategy; or 21
‘‘(ii) deny such petition if the require-22
ments described in clause (i) are not met. 23
‘‘(C) P
UBLICATION.—Not later than 30 24
days after the date on which the Secretary ap-25
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proves or denies a petition under subparagraph 1
(B), the Secretary shall publish such approval 2
or denial in the Federal Register. 3
‘‘(D) D
ENIAL OF PETITION.— 4
‘‘(i) W
RITTEN EXPLANATION .—If the 5
Secretary denies a petition under subpara-6
graph (B), the Secretary shall include in 7
such denial a written explanation for such 8
denial, including a description of the 9
changes to such petition that are necessary 10
for the Secretary to approve such petition. 11
‘‘(ii) R
ESUBMISSION OF DENIED PETI -12
TION.—A State may resubmit a petition 13
that is denied under subparagraph (B). 14
‘‘(E) U
SE IN PROTECTIVE REGULA -15
TIONS.—If the Secretary approves a petition 16
under subparagraph (B), the Secretary shall— 17
‘‘(i) issue a regulation under para-18
graph (1) that adopts the recovery strategy 19
as such regulation with respect to the spe-20
cies that is the subject of such recovery 21
strategy within the petitioning State; and 22
‘‘(ii) establish objective criteria to 23
evaluate the effectiveness of such recovery 24
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strategy in conserving such species within 1
such State. 2
‘‘(F) R
EVISION.—If a recovery strategy 3
that is adopted as a regulation issued under 4
paragraph (1) is determined by the Secretary to 5
be ineffective in conserving the species that is 6
the subject of such recovery strategy in accord-7
ance with the objective criteria established 8
under subparagraph (E)(ii) for such recovery 9
strategy, the Secretary shall revise such regula-10
tion and reissue such regulation in accordance 11
with paragraph (1).’’; and 12
(2) in subsection (f)(1)(B)— 13
(A) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 14
end; 15
(B) in clause (iii), by striking the period at 16
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 17
(C) by adding at the end the following: 18
‘‘(iv) with respect to an endangered spe-19
cies, objective, incremental recovery goals in ac-20
cordance with subsection (d)(2)(A) for use 21
under that subsection if such endangered spe-22
cies is changed in status from an endangered 23
species to a threatened species under subsection 24
(c)(2)(B)(ii).’’. 25
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SEC. 302. 5-YEAR REVIEW DETERMINATIONS. 1
Section 4(c) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 2
(16 U.S.C. 1533(c)) is amended by adding at the end the 3
following: 4
‘‘(3) Not later than 30 days after the date on which 5
the Secretary makes a determination under paragraph 6
(2)(B), the Secretary shall initiate a rulemaking to carry 7
out such determination.’’. 8
SEC. 303. JUDICIAL REVIEW DURING MONITORING PERIOD. 9
Section 4(g) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 10
(16 U.S.C. 1533(g)) is amended by adding at the end the 11
following: 12
‘‘(3) The removal of a species from a list published 13
under subsection (c)(1) is not subject to judicial review 14
during the period established under paragraph (1) with 15
respect to the species.’’. 16
SEC. 304. CODIFICATION OF REGULATION. 17
The final rule titled ‘‘Endangered and Threatened 18
Wildlife and Plants; Regulations for Prohibitions to 19
Threatened Wildlife and Plants’’ (84 Fed. Reg. 44753; 20
published August 27, 2019) shall have the force and effect 21
of law. 22
SEC. 305. DESIGNATION OF CRITICAL HABITAT. 23
(a) P
RIVATELYOWNED ORCONTROLLEDLAND.— 24
Section 4(a)(3) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 25
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(16 U.S.C. 1533(a)(3)) is amended by adding at the end 1
the following: 2
‘‘(C) The Secretary may not designate as critical 3
habitat under subparagraph (A) any privately owned or 4
controlled land or other geographical area that is subject 5
to a land management plan that— 6
‘‘(i) the Secretary determines is similar in na-7
ture to an integrated natural resources management 8
plan described in section 101 of the Sikes Act (16 9
U.S.C. 670a); 10
‘‘(ii)(I) is prepared in cooperation with the Sec-11
retary and the head of each applicable State fish 12
and wildlife agency of each State in which such land 13
or other geographical area is located; or 14
‘‘(II) is submitted to the Secretary in a manner 15
that is similar to the manner in which an applicant 16
submits a conservation plan to the Secretary under 17
section 10(a)(2)(A); 18
‘‘(iii) includes an activity or a limitation on an 19
activity that the Secretary determines will likely con-20
serve the species concerned; 21
‘‘(iv) the Secretary determines will result in— 22
‘‘(I) an increase in the population of the 23
species concerned above the population of such 24
species on the date that such species is listed as 25
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a threatened species or an endangered species; 1
or 2
‘‘(II) maintaining the same population of 3
such species on the land or other geographical 4
area as the population that would likely occur 5
if such land or other geographical area is des-6
ignated as critical habitat; and 7
‘‘(v) to the maximum extent practicable, will 8
minimize and mitigate the impacts of any activity 9
that will likely result in an incidental taking of the 10
species concerned.’’. 11
(b) D
ESIGNATION CONSIDERATIONS.—Section 12
4(b)(2) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 13
1533(b)(2)) is amended in the first sentence by inserting 14
‘‘the impact on existing efforts of private landowners to 15
conserve the species,’’ after ‘‘impact on national secu-16
rity,’’. 17
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TITLE IV—CREATING GREATER 1
TRANSPARENCY AND AC-2
COUNTABILITY IN RECOV-3
ERING LISTED SPECIES 4
SEC. 401. REQUIREMENT TO PUBLISH BASIS FOR LISTINGS 5
AND CRITICAL HABITAT DESIGNATIONS ON 6
INTERNET. 7
Section 4(b) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 8
(16 U.S.C. 1533(b)) is amended by adding at the end the 9
following: 10
‘‘(9) The Secretary shall make publicly available on 11
the Internet the best scientific and commercial data avail-12
able that are used as the basis for each regulation, includ-13
ing each proposed regulation, promulgated under para-14
graphs (1) and (3) of subsection (a), except that— 15
‘‘(A) at the request of a Governor, State agen-16
cy, or legislature of a State, the Secretary may not 17
make such data available under this paragraph if 18
such entity determines that public disclosure of such 19
data is prohibited by a law or regulation of such 20
State, including any law or regulation requiring the 21
protection of personal information; and 22
‘‘(B) not later than 30 days after the date of 23
the enactment of this paragraph, the Secretary shall 24
execute an agreement with the Secretary of Defense 25
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that prevents the disclosure under this paragraph of 1
classified information pertaining to Department of 2
Defense personnel, facilities, lands, or waters.’’. 3
SEC. 402. DECISIONAL TRANSPARENCY AND USE OF STATE, 4
TRIBAL, AND LOCAL INFORMATION. 5
Section 6(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 6
(16 U.S.C. 1535(a)) is amended— 7
(1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before the first sentence; 8
and 9
(2) by striking ‘‘Such cooperation shall include’’ 10
and inserting the following: 11
‘‘(2) Such cooperation shall include— 12
‘‘(A) before making a determination under 13
section 4(a), providing to States affected by 14
such determination all data that is the basis of 15
the determination; and 16
‘‘(B)’’. 17
SEC. 403. DISCLOSURE OF EXPENDITURES UNDER ENDAN-18
GERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973. 19
(a) R
EQUIREMENTTODISCLOSE.—Section 13 of the 20
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (87 Stat. 902) is amend-21
ed to read as follows: 22
‘‘SEC. 13. DISCLOSURE OF EXPENDITURES. 23
‘‘(a) R
EQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of the Interior, 24
in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, shall— 25
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‘‘(1) not later than 90 days after the end of 1
each fiscal year, submit to the Committee on Nat-2
ural Resources of the House of Representatives and 3
the Committee on Environment and Public Works of 4
the Senate an annual report detailing Federal Gov-5
ernment expenditures for covered suits during the 6
preceding fiscal year (including the information de-7
scribed in subsection (b)); and 8
‘‘(2) make publicly available through the Inter-9
net a searchable database, updated monthly, of the 10
information described in subsection (b). 11
‘‘(b) I
NCLUDEDINFORMATION.—The report shall in-12
clude— 13
‘‘(1) the case name and number of each covered 14
suit, and, with respect to each such covered suit, a 15
hyperlink to each settlement decision, final decision, 16
consent decree, stipulation of dismissal, release, in-17
terim decision, motion to dismiss, partial motion for 18
summary judgement, or related final document; 19
‘‘(2) a description of each claim or cause of ac-20
tion in each covered suit; 21
‘‘(3) the name of each covered agency the ac-22
tions of which give rise to any claim in a covered 23
suit and each plaintiff in such suit; 24
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‘‘(4) funds expended by each covered agency 1
(disaggregated by agency account) to receive and re-2
spond to notices referred to in section 11(g)(2) or to 3
prepare for litigation of, litigate, negotiate a settle-4
ment agreement or consent decree in, or provide ma-5
terial, technical, or other assistance in relation to, a 6
covered suit; 7
‘‘(5) the number of full-time equivalent employ-8
ees that participated in the activities described in 9
paragraph (4); 10
‘‘(6) any information required to be published 11
under section 1304 of title 31, United States Code, 12
with respect to a covered suit; and 13
‘‘(7) attorneys fees and other expenses 14
(disaggregated by agency account) awarded in cov-15
ered suits, including any consent decrees or settle-16
ment agreements (regardless of whether a decree or 17
settlement agreement is sealed or otherwise subject 18
to nondisclosure provisions), including the basis for 19
such awards. 20
‘‘(c) R
EQUIREMENT TOPROVIDEINFORMATION.— 21
The head of each covered agency shall provide to the Sec-22
retary in a timely manner all information requested by the 23
Secretary to comply with the requirements of this section. 24
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‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON DISCLOSURE.—Notwith-1
standing any other provision of this section, this section 2
shall not affect any restriction in a consent decree or set-3
tlement agreement on the disclosure of information that 4
is not described in subsection (b). 5
‘‘(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 6
‘‘(1) C
OVERED AGENCY .—The term ‘covered 7
agency’ means any agency of the— 8
‘‘(A) Department of the Interior; 9
‘‘(B) Forest Service; 10
‘‘(C) Environmental Protection Agency; 11
‘‘(D) National Marine Fisheries Service; 12
‘‘(E) Bonneville Power Administration; 13
‘‘(F) Western Area Power Administration; 14
‘‘(G) Southwestern Power Administration; 15
or 16
‘‘(H) Southeastern Power Administration. 17
‘‘(2) C
OVERED SUIT.—The term ‘covered suit’ 18
means— 19
‘‘(A) any civil action containing any claim 20
arising under this Act against the Federal Gov-21
ernment and based on the action of a covered 22
agency; and 23
‘‘(B) any administrative proceeding under 24
which the United States awards fees and other 25
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expenses to a third party under section 504 of 1
title 5, United States Code.’’. 2
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 3
in the first section of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 4
(16 U.S.C. 1531 note) is amended by striking the item 5
relating to section 13 and inserting the following: 6
‘‘Sec. 13. Disclosure of expenditures.’’.
SEC. 404. AWARD OF LITIGATION COSTS TO PREVAILING
7
PARTIES IN ACCORDANCE WITH EXISTING 8
LAW. 9
Section 11(g)(4) of the Endangered Species Act of 10
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1540(g)(4)) is amended by striking ‘‘to 11
any party, whenever the court determines such award is 12
appropriate’’ and inserting ‘‘in accordance with section 13
2412 of title 28, United States Code and section 504 of 14
title 5, United States Code’’. 15
SEC. 405. ANALYSIS OF IMPACTS AND BENEFITS OF DETER-16
MINATION OF ENDANGERED OR THREAT-17
ENED STATUS. 18
Section 4(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 19
(16 U.S.C. 1533(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 20
following: 21
‘‘(4)(A) The Secretary shall, concurrently with deter-22
mining under paragraph (1) whether a species is a threat-23
ened species or an endangered species, prepare an analysis 24
with respect to such determination of— 25
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‘‘(i) the economic effect; 1
‘‘(ii) the effects on national security; 2
‘‘(iii) the effects on human health and safety; 3
and 4
‘‘(iv) any other relevant effect. 5
‘‘(B) Nothing in this paragraph shall delay a deter-6
mination made by the Secretary under paragraph (1) or 7
change the criteria used by the Secretary to make such 8
a determination.’’. 9
TITLE V—STREAMLINING 10
PERMITTING PROCESS 11
SEC. 501. LIMITATION ON REASONABLE AND PRUDENT 12
MEASURES. 13
Section 7(b)(4) of the Endangered Species Act of 14
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536(b)(4)) is amended— 15
(1) by inserting ‘‘and that do not propose, rec-16
ommend, or require the Federal agency or the appli-17
cant concerned, if any, to mitigate or offset such im-18
pact’’ after ‘‘minimize such impact’’; and 19
(2) by inserting ‘‘which measures may be issued 20
after the written statement,’’ after ‘‘such taking,’’. 21
SEC. 502. SUCCESSIVE CONSULTATIONS. 22
Section 7(b) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 23
(16 U.S.C. 1536(b)) is amended by adding at the end the 24
following: 25
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‘‘(5)(A) With respect to an ongoing Federal agency 1
action for which the applicable Federal agency has adopt-2
ed a reasonable and prudent alternative or a reasonable 3
and prudent measure to comply with subsection (a)(2), in 4
any subsequent consultation for the Federal agency action 5
that occurs 10 years or more after the date on which the 6
initial consultation for the Federal agency action was com-7
pleted, the Secretary shall— 8
‘‘(i) project the likelihood of and timeline for 9
the recovery of the threatened species and endan-10
gered species affected by the Federal agency action; 11
and 12
‘‘(ii) determine whether continuing to imple-13
ment the reasonable and prudent alternative or a 14
reasonable and prudent measure will materially in-15
crease the likelihood of and reduce the time for re-16
covery of the threatened species and endangered spe-17
cies. 18
‘‘(B) If the Secretary finds under subparagraph 19
(A)(ii) that continued implementation of the modification 20
will not materially improve the likelihood of and shorten 21
the time to the recovery of the species, the Federal agency 22
shall discontinue implementation of the modification not-23
withstanding subsection (a)(2).’’. 24
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SEC. 503. REQUIREMENT TO CONSIDER REASONABLY CER-1
TAIN EFFECTS. 2
Section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act of 3
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1536(a)) is amended by inserting ‘‘A 4
consultation carried out pursuant to this paragraph shall 5
consider the effects that are reasonably certain to be 6
caused by the action without a substantive presumption 7
in favor of the species’’ after ‘‘commercial data available.’’. 8
SEC. 504. CLARIFYING JEOPARDY. 9
Section 7(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 10
(16 U.S.C. 1536(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 11
following: 12
‘‘(5) For the purposes of a consultation carried out 13
pursuant to paragraph (2) or a conference carried out 14
under paragraph (4), the Secretary may only determine 15
that the action that is the subject of such consultation 16
or conference is likely to jeopardize the continued exist-17
ence of an applicable species or result in the destruction 18
or adverse modification of habitat of such a species which 19
is determined by the Secretary, after consultation as ap-20
propriate with affected States, to be critical if the Sec-21
retary determines, based on the best scientific and com-22
mercial data available, that the effects that are reasonably 23
certain to be caused by the action are likely to result in 24
the action itself causing such jeopardy.’’. 25
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TITLE VI—ELIMINATING 1
BARRIERS TO CONSERVATION 2
SEC. 601. PERMITS FOR CITES-LISTED SPECIES. 3
Section 9(c)(2) of Endangered Species Act of 1973 4
(16 U.S.C. 1538(c)(2)) is amended to read as follows: 5
‘‘(2) An export from or import into the United 6
States of fish or wildlife listed as a threatened spe-7
cies or an endangered species pursuant to section 4 8
is lawful under this Act and not subject to permit 9
requirements or other regulations issued by the Sec-10
retary with respect to exportation and importation 11
pursuant to this Act if— 12
‘‘(A) such fish or wildlife is a species that 13
is not native to the United States; and 14
‘‘(B) with respect to the export or import, 15
each applicable requirement— 16
‘‘(i) of the Convention is satisfied; and 17
‘‘(ii) of subsections (d), (e), and (f) is 18
satisfied.’’. 19
SEC. 602. UTILIZE CONVENTION STANDARD FOR PERMITS 20
APPLICABLE TO NON-NATIVE SPECIES. 21
Section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act 22
of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(1)(A)) is amended to read 23
as follows: 24
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‘‘(A)(i) with respect to a species that is native 1
to the United States, any act otherwise prohibited by 2
section 9 for scientific purposes or to enhance the 3
propagation or survival of the affected species, in-4
cluding acts necessary for the establishment and 5
maintenance of experimental populations pursuant 6
to subsection (j); and 7
‘‘(ii) with respect to a species that is not native 8
to the United States, any act otherwise prohibited by 9
section 9 that the Secretary determines is not detri-10
mental to the survival of the affected species, includ-11
ing— 12
‘‘(I) to export or re-import, deliver, receive, 13
carry, transport, or ship in interstate or foreign 14
commerce in the course of a commercial activ-15
ity; 16
‘‘(II) to buy or sell or offer for sale in 17
interstate or foreign commerce; and 18
‘‘(III) acts necessary for the establishment 19
and maintenance of experimental populations 20
pursuant to subsection (j); or’’. 21
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TITLE VII—RESTORING 1
CONGRESSIONAL INTENT 2
SEC. 701. LIMITING AGENCY REGULATIONS. 3
Section 11(f) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 4
(16 U.S.C. 1540(f)) is amended— 5
(1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary,’’ and inserting 6
the following: 7
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary,’’; 8
(2) in paragraph (1), as so designated, by strik-9
ing ‘‘to enforce this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘to enforce 10
this section and section 8A’’; and 11
(3) by adding at the end the following: 12
‘‘(2) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—This sub-13
section may not be construed to be an independent 14
source of authority to promulgate regulations to en-15
force the provisions of this Act other than those in-16
cluded in this section and section 8A.’’. 17
Æ
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