Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB3188 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 3188
5	5	To amend the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to affirm that the prohibition
6	6	on the unauthorized take or killing of migratory birds of that Act
7	7	includes incidental take, and to direct the United States Fish and Wild-
8	8	life Service to authorize such incidental take, and for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	MAY5, 2025
11	11	Mr. H
12	12	UFFMAN(for himself and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the following
13	13	bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To amend the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to affirm that
16	16	the prohibition on the unauthorized take or killing of
17	17	migratory birds of that Act includes incidental take, and
18	18	to direct the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
19	19	to authorize such incidental take, and for other purposes.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Migratory Bird Protec-4
24	24	tion Act of 2025’’. 5
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28	28	SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE MIGRATORY BIRD TREATY 1
29	29	ACT. 2
30	30	(a) I
31	31	NGENERAL.—The Migratory Bird Treaty Act 3
32	32	(16 U.S.C. 703 et seq.) is amended— 4
33	33	(1) by striking ‘‘of Agriculture’’ each place it 5
34	34	appears; 6
35	35	(2) by striking ‘‘of the Interior’’ each place it 7
36	36	appears; 8
37	37	(3) in section 5 (16 U.S.C. 706), as amended 9
38	38	by paragraph (1) of this section, by inserting ‘‘of the 10
39	39	Interior’’ after ‘‘employee of the Department’’; 11
40	40	(4) in section 6 (16 U.S.C. 707), as amended 12
41	41	by paragraph (1) of this section, by adding at the 13
42	42	end the following: 14
43	43	‘‘(e) A
44	44	UTHORIZINGCIVILPENALTIES FOR INCI-15
45	45	DENTALTAKE.— 16
46	46	‘‘(1) I
47	47	N GENERAL.—A person who incidentally 17
48	48	takes a migratory bird without an authorization 18
49	49	issued pursuant to section 14 or in violation of the 19
50	50	terms and conditions of an applicable permit or reg-20
51	51	ulation issued by the Secretary to administer section 21
52	52	14 may be assessed a civil penalty by the Secretary 22
53	53	of not more than $10,000 per violation, except that 23
54	54	unpermitted incidental take which is caused by con-24
55	55	duct that is reckless or grossly negligent shall be 25
56	56	subject to the penalties of subsection (a). 26
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60	60	‘‘(2) CIVIL ACTION.—The Secretary may com-1
61	61	mence a civil action for appropriate relief, including 2
62	62	a permanent or temporary injunction, for any inci-3
63	63	dental take of a migratory bird without a permit or 4
64	64	any violation of the terms and conditions of a permit 5
65	65	issued or regulation promulgated pursuant to section 6
66	66	14.’’; and 7
67	67	(5) by adding at the end the following: 8
68	68	‘‘SEC. 14. INCIDENTAL TAKE OF MIGRATORY BIRDS. 9
69	69	‘‘(a) I
70	70	NGENERAL.—It shall be a violation of this Act 10
71	71	to incidentally take any migratory bird, and any part, 11
72	72	nest, or egg of any such bird, except as authorized by the 12
73	73	Secretary. The Secretary shall promulgate regulations to 13
74	74	authorize the incidental take of migratory birds pursuant 14
75	75	to this section, including issuing general permits. Before 15
76	76	the Secretary promulgates regulations for an industry, the 16
77	77	Secretary shall continue to enforce the document titled 17
78	78	‘Director’s Order No.: 225’ (published October 5, 2021). 18
79	79	No penalty shall be assessed unless such entity is given 19
80	80	notice and opportunity for a hearing on the record in ac-20
81	81	cordance with sections 554 and 556 of title 5, United 21
82	82	States Code. In determining the amount of the penalty, 22
83	83	the Secretary shall consider the gravity of the violation 23
84	84	and the demonstrated good faith of the entity. For good 24
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88	88	cause shown, the Secretary, in an extraordinary case, may 1
89	89	remit or mitigate any such penalty. 2
90	90	‘‘(b) A
91	91	UTHORIZATION OFFEES.—The Secretary may 3
92	92	collect fees pursuant to authorizing and administering the 4
93	93	incidental take of migratory birds. The fees may be used 5
94	94	to cover the administrative costs for the permit program 6
95	95	and conserving populations of bird species— 7
96	96	‘‘(1) affected by the authorized activities; or 8
97	97	‘‘(2) identified as birds of conservation concern 9
98	98	under authority of section 13 of the Fish and Wild-10
99	99	life Conservation Act of 1980 (16 U.S.C. 2912). 11
100	100	‘‘(c) D
101	101	EPOSIT OFFEES.—There is established in the 12
102	102	Treasury a separate account, which shall be known as the 13
103	103	‘Migratory Bird Recovery Fund’. The fund shall be man-14
104	104	aged by the Secretary and may consist of— 15
105	105	‘‘(1) amounts received from fees pursuant to 16
106	106	regulations under subsection (b); 17
107	107	‘‘(2) amounts received pursuant to section 6(e); 18
108	108	‘‘(3) amounts made available from appropria-19
109	109	tions; and 20
110	110	‘‘(4) amounts received by the Secretary in the 21
111	111	form of donations. 22
112	112	‘‘(d) A
113	113	UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 23
114	114	is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each fis-24
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118	118	cal year beginning after the date of the enactment of this 1
119	119	section to carry out this section. 2
120	120	‘‘(e) R
121	121	EPORT TOCONGRESS.—Not later than 5 years 3
122	122	after the date of enactment of this section, and at the end 4
123	123	of each 5 year period thereafter, the Secretary shall sub-5
124	124	mit a report to the Chair and Ranking Member of the 6
125	125	House Natural Resources Committee and to the Chair and 7
126	126	Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public 8
127	127	Works Committee on— 9
128	128	‘‘(1) the conservation status of migratory birds; 10
129	129	‘‘(2) the impacts upon migratory birds of activi-11
130	130	ties for which authorizing regulations have been 12
131	131	issued under this section; and 13
132	132	‘‘(3) the Secretary’s progress in carrying out 14
133	133	the functions and responsibilities given to the Sec-15
134	134	retary under this section. 16
135	135	‘‘(f) R
136	136	ESEARCHPROGRAM.—The Secretary shall es-17
137	137	tablish and maintain, through direct programming, con-18
138	138	tracts, or other form of agreement, and in consultation 19
139	139	with research institutions, institutions of higher education, 20
140	140	wildlife conservation groups, and representatives of au-21
141	141	thorized activities regulated under this section, a research 22
142	142	program to— 23
143	143	‘‘(1) better monitor the status of bird popu-24
144	144	lations; 25
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148	148	‘‘(2) understand the stressors to bird popu-1
149	149	lations; 2
150	150	‘‘(3) identify opportunities to reduce the impact 3
151	151	of such stressors; and 4
152	152	‘‘(4) deploy and validate mitigation measures to 5
153	153	conserve bird populations. 6
154	154	‘‘SEC. 15. DEFINITIONS. 7
155	155	‘‘For the purposes of this Act: 8
156	156	‘‘(1) I
157	157	NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .— 9
158	158	The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 10
159	159	meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 11
160	160	Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 12
161	161	‘‘(2) S
162	162	ECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 13
163	163	the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di-14
164	164	rector of the United States Fish and Wildlife Serv-15
165	165	ice.’’. 16
166	166	(b) C
167	167	ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—Section 7(b) of the 17
168	168	North American Wetlands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 18
169	169	4406(b)) is amended by inserting ‘‘subsections (a) through 19
170	170	(d) of’’ before ‘‘section 6 of the Migratory Bird Treaty 20
171	171	Act’’. 21
172	172	Æ
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