II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 871
To establish a competitive grant program to support the conservation and
recovery of native plant, fungi, and animal species in the State of
Hawaii, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH5, 2025
Mr. S
CHATZ(for himself and Ms. HIRONO) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public
Works
A BILL
To establish a competitive grant program to support the
conservation and recovery of native plant, fungi, and
animal species in the State of Hawaii, 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 ‘‘Hawaii Native Species 4
Conservation and Recovery Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-1
ty’’ means— 2
(A) the State; 3
(B) a unit of local government in the 4
State; 5
(C) a Native Hawaiian organization; 6
(D) a nonprofit organization; 7
(E) a business; and 8
(F) an institution of higher education. 9
(2) G
RANT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘grant pro-10
gram’’ means the Hawaii Native Species Conserva-11
tion and Recovery Grant Program established under 12
section 3(a). 13
(3) N
ATIVE HAWAIIAN ORGANIZATION .—The 14
term ‘‘Native Hawaiian organization’’ has the mean-15
ing given the term in section 3 of the NATIVE Act 16
(25 U.S.C. 4352). 17
(4) N
ATIVE SPECIES.—The term ‘‘native spe-18
cies’’ means a plant, fungi, or animal species that is 19
native to the State. 20
(5) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 21
the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di-22
rector of the United States Fish and Wildlife Serv-23
ice. 24
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(6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State 1
of Hawaii. 2
SEC. 3. HAWAII NATIVE SPECIES CONSERVATION AND RE-3
COVERY GRANT PROGRAM. 4
(a) E
STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days after 5
the date on which amounts are appropriated to carry out 6
this Act, the Secretary shall establish a grant program, 7
to be known as the ‘‘Hawaii Native Species Conservation 8
and Recovery Grant Program’’, to annually provide, 9
through cooperative agreements, grants, micro grants, or 10
other means, funding to eligible entities to carry out 11
projects that— 12
(1) achieve the funding priorities developed 13
under subsection (c); and 14
(2) meet the criteria developed under subsection 15
(e). 16
(b) P
URPOSES.—The grant program shall identify 17
priorities and provide funding and technical assistance to 18
carry out coordinated, evidence-based conservation and re-19
covery projects in the State— 20
(1) to prevent and mitigate the introduction 21
and spread of invasive species, pests, and diseases 22
that threaten native species; 23
(2) to address the ecological consequences of 24
climate change on native species; 25
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(3) to address loss and degradation of native 1
species’ habitats; 2
(4) to manage, maintain, and restore popu-3
lations of native species; 4
(5) to increase scientific capacity to support the 5
planning, monitoring, and research activities nec-6
essary for the conservation and recovery of native 7
species; 8
(6) to improve information collection, ecological 9
monitoring, and management relating to the activi-10
ties described in paragraphs (1) through (5); and 11
(7) to engage the public through outreach, edu-12
cation, and community involvement to increase ca-13
pacity and support for the conservation and recovery 14
of native species in the State. 15
(c) D
EVELOPMENT OF PRIORITIES.—In carrying out 16
the grant program, the Secretary shall coordinate with the 17
following individuals to develop annual, evidence-based 18
funding priorities for the grant program that support the 19
purposes described in subsection (b): 20
(1) The heads of Federal agencies, including— 21
(A) the Administrator of the National Oce-22
anic and Atmospheric Administration (or a des-23
ignee); 24
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(B) the Administrator of the Environ-1
mental Protection Agency (or a designee); 2
(C) the Secretary of Agriculture (or a des-3
ignee); and 4
(D) the head of any other applicable Fed-5
eral agency (or a designee), as determined by 6
the Secretary. 7
(2) The Chairperson of the Hawaii Board of 8
Land and Natural Resources (or a designee). 9
(3) The Chairperson of the Hawaii Board of 10
Agriculture (or a designee). 11
(4) Any other relevant stakeholder involved in 12
the conservation and recovery of native species in 13
the State that the Secretary determines to be appro-14
priate. 15
(d) R
EQUEST FORPROPOSALS.—The Secretary shall 16
publish in the Federal Register an annual request for pro-17
posals, in accordance with the funding priorities developed 18
under subsection (c). 19
(e) C
RITERIA.—The Secretary, in coordination with 20
the individuals described in subsection (c), shall annually 21
develop criteria for ranking project proposals to receive 22
funding under the grant program. 23
(f) R
ECUSAL.—If the State or a unit of local govern-24
ment in the State applies for a grant under the grant pro-25
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gram, then the individuals described in paragraphs (2), 1
(3), and (4) of subsection (c) who are representatives of 2
the State or that unit of local government, as applicable, 3
shall recuse themselves from all funding decisions relating 4
to those applications. 5
(g) C
OSTSHARING.— 6
(1) F
EDERAL SHARE.— 7
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-8
graph (B), the Federal share of the cost of a 9
project carried out under the grant program 10
shall not exceed 75 percent. 11
(B) E
XCEPTIONS.—The Federal share of 12
the cost of a project carried out under the grant 13
program may be 100 percent, as determined by 14
the Secretary— 15
(i) for any project, in the discretion of 16
the Secretary; or 17
(ii) if the project— 18
(I) is carried out by a Native Ha-19
waiian organization; 20
(II) significantly contributes to 21
youth workforce readiness in the im-22
plementation of the project; or 23
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(III) is carried out using a grant 1
awarded under the grant program in 2
an amount of not more than $50,000. 3
(2) I
N-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS .—The non-Fed-4
eral share of the cost of a project carried out under 5
the grant program may be provided in the form of 6
an in-kind contribution of services, materials, or ac-7
cess to land. 8
(h) R
EQUIREMENT.—Of the amounts made available 9
to carry out the grant program for each fiscal year, not 10
less than 5 percent shall be used to award grants for 11
projects described in subclauses (I) through (III) of sub-12
section (g)(1)(B)(ii). 13
(i) T
ECHNICALASSISTANCE.—The Secretary may 14
provide technical assistance to eligible entities to assist in 15
the implementation of projects that receive funding under 16
the grant program. 17
(j) C
ONSULTATIONWITHNATIVEHAWAIIANORGA-18
NIZATIONS.—The Secretary, in carrying out the grant pro-19
gram, shall consult with Native Hawaiian organizations 20
with respect to any project that receives funding under 21
the grant program with implications for the Native Hawai-22
ian community. 23
(k) S
UPPLEMENT, NOTSUPPLANT.—Funds made 24
available to carry out the grant program for each fiscal 25
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year shall supplement and not supplant other funds made 1
available to carry out the purposes described in para-2
graphs (1) through (7) of subsection (b) in the State. 3
SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORT. 4
Annually, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a 5
report on the implementation of this Act, including— 6
(1) a description of each project that has re-7
ceived funding under the grant program; and 8
(2) the status of each project described in para-9
graph (1) that is in progress on the date of submis-10
sion of the applicable report. 11
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 12
(a) I
NGENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro-13
priated to the Secretary to carry out this Act $30,000,000 14
for the first fiscal year that begins after the date of enact-15
ment of this Act and for each of the 9 fiscal years there-16
after. 17
(b) A
DMINISTRATIVEEXPENSES.—Of the amounts 18
made available for each fiscal year under subsection (a), 19
the Secretary shall use not more than 5 percent for admin-20
istrative expenses relating to carrying out the grant pro-21
gram. 22
Æ
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