I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 3188
To amend the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to affirm that the prohibition
on the unauthorized take or killing of migratory birds of that Act
includes incidental take, and to direct the United States Fish and Wild-
life Service to authorize such incidental take, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY5, 2025
Mr. H
UFFMAN(for himself and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to affirm that
the prohibition on the unauthorized take or killing of
migratory birds of that Act includes incidental take, and
to direct the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
to authorize such incidental take, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Migratory Bird Protec-4
tion Act of 2025’’. 5
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SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE MIGRATORY BIRD TREATY 1
ACT. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Migratory Bird Treaty Act 3
(16 U.S.C. 703 et seq.) is amended— 4
(1) by striking ‘‘of Agriculture’’ each place it 5
appears; 6
(2) by striking ‘‘of the Interior’’ each place it 7
appears; 8
(3) in section 5 (16 U.S.C. 706), as amended 9
by paragraph (1) of this section, by inserting ‘‘of the 10
Interior’’ after ‘‘employee of the Department’’; 11
(4) in section 6 (16 U.S.C. 707), as amended 12
by paragraph (1) of this section, by adding at the 13
end the following: 14
‘‘(e) A
UTHORIZINGCIVILPENALTIES FOR INCI-15
DENTALTAKE.— 16
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—A person who incidentally 17
takes a migratory bird without an authorization 18
issued pursuant to section 14 or in violation of the 19
terms and conditions of an applicable permit or reg-20
ulation issued by the Secretary to administer section 21
14 may be assessed a civil penalty by the Secretary 22
of not more than $10,000 per violation, except that 23
unpermitted incidental take which is caused by con-24
duct that is reckless or grossly negligent shall be 25
subject to the penalties of subsection (a). 26
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‘‘(2) CIVIL ACTION.—The Secretary may com-1
mence a civil action for appropriate relief, including 2
a permanent or temporary injunction, for any inci-3
dental take of a migratory bird without a permit or 4
any violation of the terms and conditions of a permit 5
issued or regulation promulgated pursuant to section 6
14.’’; and 7
(5) by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘SEC. 14. INCIDENTAL TAKE OF MIGRATORY BIRDS. 9
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—It shall be a violation of this Act 10
to incidentally take any migratory bird, and any part, 11
nest, or egg of any such bird, except as authorized by the 12
Secretary. The Secretary shall promulgate regulations to 13
authorize the incidental take of migratory birds pursuant 14
to this section, including issuing general permits. Before 15
the Secretary promulgates regulations for an industry, the 16
Secretary shall continue to enforce the document titled 17
‘Director’s Order No.: 225’ (published October 5, 2021). 18
No penalty shall be assessed unless such entity is given 19
notice and opportunity for a hearing on the record in ac-20
cordance with sections 554 and 556 of title 5, United 21
States Code. In determining the amount of the penalty, 22
the Secretary shall consider the gravity of the violation 23
and the demonstrated good faith of the entity. For good 24
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cause shown, the Secretary, in an extraordinary case, may 1
remit or mitigate any such penalty. 2
‘‘(b) A
UTHORIZATION OFFEES.—The Secretary may 3
collect fees pursuant to authorizing and administering the 4
incidental take of migratory birds. The fees may be used 5
to cover the administrative costs for the permit program 6
and conserving populations of bird species— 7
‘‘(1) affected by the authorized activities; or 8
‘‘(2) identified as birds of conservation concern 9
under authority of section 13 of the Fish and Wild-10
life Conservation Act of 1980 (16 U.S.C. 2912). 11
‘‘(c) D
EPOSIT OFFEES.—There is established in the 12
Treasury a separate account, which shall be known as the 13
‘Migratory Bird Recovery Fund’. The fund shall be man-14
aged by the Secretary and may consist of— 15
‘‘(1) amounts received from fees pursuant to 16
regulations under subsection (b); 17
‘‘(2) amounts received pursuant to section 6(e); 18
‘‘(3) amounts made available from appropria-19
tions; and 20
‘‘(4) amounts received by the Secretary in the 21
form of donations. 22
‘‘(d) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 23
is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each fis-24
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cal year beginning after the date of the enactment of this 1
section to carry out this section. 2
‘‘(e) R
EPORT TOCONGRESS.—Not later than 5 years 3
after the date of enactment of this section, and at the end 4
of each 5 year period thereafter, the Secretary shall sub-5
mit a report to the Chair and Ranking Member of the 6
House Natural Resources Committee and to the Chair and 7
Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public 8
Works Committee on— 9
‘‘(1) the conservation status of migratory birds; 10
‘‘(2) the impacts upon migratory birds of activi-11
ties for which authorizing regulations have been 12
issued under this section; and 13
‘‘(3) the Secretary’s progress in carrying out 14
the functions and responsibilities given to the Sec-15
retary under this section. 16
‘‘(f) R
ESEARCHPROGRAM.—The Secretary shall es-17
tablish and maintain, through direct programming, con-18
tracts, or other form of agreement, and in consultation 19
with research institutions, institutions of higher education, 20
wildlife conservation groups, and representatives of au-21
thorized activities regulated under this section, a research 22
program to— 23
‘‘(1) better monitor the status of bird popu-24
lations; 25
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‘‘(2) understand the stressors to bird popu-1
lations; 2
‘‘(3) identify opportunities to reduce the impact 3
of such stressors; and 4
‘‘(4) deploy and validate mitigation measures to 5
conserve bird populations. 6
‘‘SEC. 15. DEFINITIONS. 7
‘‘For the purposes of this Act: 8
‘‘(1) I
NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .— 9
The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 10
meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 11
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 12
‘‘(2) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 13
the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di-14
rector of the United States Fish and Wildlife Serv-15
ice.’’. 16
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—Section 7(b) of the 17
North American Wetlands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 18
4406(b)) is amended by inserting ‘‘subsections (a) through 19
(d) of’’ before ‘‘section 6 of the Migratory Bird Treaty 20
Act’’. 21
Æ
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