LOCAL Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5467 To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to increase transparency, to support regulatory certainty, and to reauthorize that Act, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 17, 2019 Mr. TIPTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources A BILL To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to increase transparency, to support regulatory certainty, and to re- authorize that Act, 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 ‘‘Land Ownership Col- 4 laboration Accelerates Life Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘LOCAL 5 Act of 2019’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Dec 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5467.IH H5467 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5467 IH SEC. 2. CONSERVATION AGREEMENTS AS REGULATORY 1 MECHANISMS. 2 Section 4(f) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 3 (16 U.S.C. 1533) is amended by adding at the end the 4 following: 5 ‘‘(6) TREATMENT.— 6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A conservation agreement 7 (including any agreement described in subparagraph 8 (B)) entered into or endorsed by the Secretary shall 9 be considered to be a regulation for purposes of de- 10 termining whether to include a species on the list of 11 threatened species or endangered species pursuant 12 to this section. 13 ‘‘(B) DESCRIPTION OF AGREEMENTS.—An 14 agreement referred to in subparagraph (A) in- 15 cludes— 16 ‘‘(i) a voluntary wildlife conservation 17 agreement under paragraph (3); 18 ‘‘(ii) a candidate conservation agreement 19 with assurances under paragraph (4); 20 ‘‘(iii) a candidate conservation agreement; 21 or 22 ‘‘(iv) a plan that— 23 ‘‘(I) relates to the conservation of a 24 species; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Dec 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5467.IH H5467 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5467 IH ‘‘(II) affects the viability of the spe- 1 cies; and 2 ‘‘(III) is implemented, or proposed to 3 be implemented, by— 4 ‘‘(aa) a State; 5 ‘‘(bb) 2 or more States; 6 ‘‘(cc) a unit of local government; 7 or 8 ‘‘(dd) 2 or more units of local 9 government.’’. 10 SEC. 3. VOLUNTARY WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AGREE- 11 MENTS. 12 Section 4(f) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 13 (16 U.S.C. 1533(f)) is further amended by adding at the 14 end the following: 15 ‘‘(3) VOLUNTARY WILDLIFE CONSERVATION 16 AGREEMENTS.— 17 ‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary 18 shall establish procedures for developing and 19 entering into voluntary wildlife conservation 20 agreements, including by establishing conserva- 21 tion goals and other criteria for the agreements, 22 with 1 or more entities, including— 23 ‘‘(i) a State, Tribal, or local govern- 24 ment; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Dec 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5467.IH H5467 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5467 IH ‘‘(ii) a private landowner; 1 ‘‘(iii) a lessee; 2 ‘‘(iv) a private third-party conserva- 3 tion organization; or 4 ‘‘(v) any other entity that the Sec- 5 retary determines appropriate. 6 ‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—A voluntary wildlife 7 conservation agreement entered into under this 8 paragraph shall include provisions establishing 9 that— 10 ‘‘(i) a party to the agreement that is 11 in compliance with the agreement shall not 12 be required to carry out any additional 13 mitigation measure for a species covered 14 by the agreement, if the additional meas- 15 ure would require— 16 ‘‘(I) any additional expenditure 17 of resources by the party to the agree- 18 ment; or 19 ‘‘(II) the adoption of any addi- 20 tional use, development, or manage- 21 ment restriction on land, water, or a 22 water-related right of the party to the 23 agreement that would otherwise be 24 available under the agreement; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Dec 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5467.IH H5467 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5467 IH ‘‘(ii) a conservation agreement or an 1 activity proposed to be carried out under 2 such an agreement may be modified only— 3 ‘‘(I) under extraordinary cir- 4 cumstances; and 5 ‘‘(II) with the consent of all par- 6 ties to the agreement. 7 ‘‘(C) STREAMLINING REQUIREMENTS.—To 8 reduce the time and expense required to enter 9 into a voluntary wildlife conservation agreement 10 under this paragraph, the Secretary shall, to 11 the maximum extent practicable— 12 ‘‘(i) implement standard procedures 13 and encourage widespread use of templates 14 in developing the agreements; 15 ‘‘(ii) simplify the application and ap- 16 proval processes relating to the agree- 17 ments; 18 ‘‘(iii) reduce the burdens associated 19 with reporting and monitoring under the 20 agreements; and 21 ‘‘(iv) provide for the protection of sen- 22 sitive personal and business-related infor- 23 mation of any party to the agreements.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Dec 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5467.IH H5467 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 5467 IH SEC. 4. CANDIDATE CONSERVATION AGREEMENTS WITH 1 ASSURANCES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4(f) of the Endangered 3 Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(f)) (as amended by 4 section 4) is amended by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(4) CANDIDATE CONSERVATION AGREEMENTS 6 WITH ASSURANCES.—Notwithstanding any other 7 provision of law, in entering into or carrying out any 8 candidate conservation agreement under this Act, 9 the Secretary— 10 ‘‘(A) shall honor the terms of the agree- 11 ment, as in existence before March 21, 2017; 12 ‘‘(B) shall enact regulations— 13 ‘‘(i) to expedite the process for enter- 14 ing into a conservation agreement; and 15 ‘‘(ii) to protect sensitive personal and 16 business-related information of each party 17 to the agreement; 18 ‘‘(C) may not take into consideration 19 whether the implementation of the agreement, 20 in the Secretary’s judgement, will provide a net 21 conservation benefit to a species covered by the 22 agreement; 23 ‘‘(D) shall take into consideration whether 24 the implementation of the agreement, in the 25 Secretary’s judgement, will preclude or remove 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Dec 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5467.IH H5467 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 5467 IH any need to list a species covered by the agree- 1 ment as a threatened species or an endangered 2 species under this section; and 3 ‘‘(E) may not preclude a party to the 4 agreement from receiving Federal funds under 5 any other conservation program.’’. 6 (b) EFFECT ON REGULATIONS.—Notwithstanding 7 any other provision of law— 8 (1) the amendments to part 17 of title 50, Code 9 of Federal Regulations, made by the final rule pro- 10 mulgated by the Secretary of the Interior entitled 11 ‘‘Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; 12 Revisions to the Regulations for Candidate Con- 13 servation Agreements With Assurances’’ (81 Fed. 14 Reg. 95053 (December 27, 2016)) shall have no 15 force or effect; 16 (2) such part shall be in effect as if those 17 amendments had not been made; and 18 (3) the Secretary of Commerce and the Sec- 19 retary of the Interior shall not make any amend- 20 ments to such part that are substantially similar to 21 the amendments made by the final rule described in 22 paragraph (1), unless specifically authorized to do so 23 by Act of Congress. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Dec 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5467.IH H5467 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 5467 IH SEC. 5. SAFE HARBOR AGREEMENTS. 1 Section 4(f) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 2 (16 U.S.C. 1533(f)) (as amended by section 5(a)) is 3 amended by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘(5) SAFE HARBOR AGREEMENTS.—The Sec- 5 retary may offer to enter into an agreement, to be 6 known as a ‘safe harbor agreement’, with 1 or more 7 entities, including a State or local government, a pri- 8 vate landowner, a lessee, private third-party con- 9 servation organization, or any other entity that the 10 Secretary determines appropriate, that— 11 ‘‘(A) shall provide for the taking of any ad- 12 ditional threatened species or endangered spe- 13 cies that— 14 ‘‘(i) is not covered under another 15 agreement under this subsection; and 16 ‘‘(ii) is drawn to the property covered 17 by that agreement due to the improved 18 conditions on that property generated by 19 recovery activities for the benefit of the 20 species covered by the agreement; and 21 ‘‘(B) may provide for the taking of any 22 threatened species or endangered species cov- 23 ered under another agreement under this sub- 24 section and any additional threatened species or 25 endangered species not covered under that 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Dec 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5467.IH H5467 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 5467 IH agreement that is drawn to an adjacent prop- 1 erty not covered by the agreement due to the 2 improved conditions on the property covered by 3 the agreement generated by recovery activities 4 for the benefit of the species covered by the 5 agreement.’’. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:58 Dec 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5467.IH H5467 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS