I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9971 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 11, 2024 

Mr. HUFFMAN (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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Migratory Bird Protec5 tion Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE MIGRATORY BIRD TREATY 

2 ACT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Migratory Bird Treaty Act 

4 (16 U.S.C. 703 et seq.) is amended— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘of Agriculture’’ each place it 

6 appears; 

7 (2) by striking ‘‘of the Interior’’ each place it 

8 appears; 

9 (3) in section 5 (16 U.S.C. 706), as amended 

10 by paragraph (1) of this section, by inserting ‘‘of the 

11 Interior’’ after ‘‘employee of the Department’’; 

12 (4) in section 6 (16 U.S.C. 707), as amended 

13 by paragraph (1) of this section, by adding at the 

14 end the following: 

15 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZING CIVIL PENALTIES FOR INCI16 DENTAL TAKE.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A person who incidentally 

18 takes a migratory bird without an authorization 

19 issued pursuant to section 14 or in violation of the 

20 terms and conditions of an applicable permit or reg21 ulation issued by the Secretary to administer section 

22 14 may be assessed a civil penalty by the Secretary 

23 of not more than $10,000 per violation, except that 

24 unpermitted incidental take which is caused by con25 duct that is reckless or grossly negligent shall be 

26 subject to the penalties of subsection (a). 


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1 ‘‘(2) CIVIL ACTION.—The Secretary may com2 mence a civil action for appropriate relief, including 

3 a permanent or temporary injunction, for any inci4 dental take of a migratory bird without a permit or 

5 any violation of the terms and conditions of a permit 

6 issued or regulation promulgated pursuant to section 

7 14.’’; and 

8 (5) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 14. INCIDENTAL TAKE OF MIGRATORY BIRDS. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be a violation of this Act 

11 to incidentally take any migratory bird, and any part, 

12 nest, or egg of any such bird, except as authorized by the 

13 Secretary. The Secretary shall promulgate regulations to 

14 authorize the incidental take of migratory birds pursuant 

15 to this section, including issuing general permits. Before 

16 the Secretary promulgates regulations for an industry, the 

17 Secretary shall continue to enforce the document titled 

18 ‘Director’s Order No.: 225’ (published October 5, 2021). 

19 No penalty shall be assessed unless such entity is given 

20 notice and opportunity for a hearing on the record in ac21 cordance with sections 554 and 556 of title 5, United 

22 States Code. In determining the amount of the penalty, 

23 the Secretary shall consider the gravity of the violation 

24 and the demonstrated good faith of the entity. For good 


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1 cause shown, the Secretary, in an extraordinary case, may 

2 remit or mitigate any such penalty. 

3 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION OF FEES.—The Secretary may 

4 collect fees pursuant to authorizing and administering the 

5 incidental take of migratory birds. The fees may be used 

6 to cover the administrative costs for the permit program 

7 and conserving populations of bird species— 

8 ‘‘(1) affected by the authorized activities; or 

9 ‘‘(2) identified as birds of conservation concern 

10 under authority of section 13 of the Fish and Wild11 life Conservation Act of 1980 (16 U.S.C. 2912). 

12 ‘‘(c) DEPOSIT OF FEES.—There is established in the 

13 Treasury a separate account, which shall be known as the 

14 ‘Migratory Bird Recovery Fund’. The fund shall be man15 aged by the Secretary and may consist of— 

16 ‘‘(1) amounts received from fees pursuant to 

17 regulations under subsection (b); 

18 ‘‘(2) amounts received pursuant to section 6(e); 

19 ‘‘(3) amounts made available from appropria20 tions; and 

21 ‘‘(4) amounts received by the Secretary in the 

22 form of donations. 

23 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

24 is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for each fisVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:37 Oct 24, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9971.IH H9971

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1 cal year beginning after the date of the enactment of this 

2 section to carry out this section. 

3 ‘‘(e) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 5 years 

4 after the date of enactment of this section, and at the end 

5 of each 5 year period thereafter, the Secretary shall sub6 mit a report to the Chair and Ranking Member of the 

7 House Natural Resources Committee and to the Chair and 

8 Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public 

9 Works Committee on— 

10 ‘‘(1) the conservation status of migratory birds; 

11 ‘‘(2) the impacts upon migratory birds of activi12 ties for which authorizing regulations have been 

13 issued under this section; and 

14 ‘‘(3) the Secretary’s progress in carrying out 

15 the functions and responsibilities given to the Sec16 retary under this section. 

17 ‘‘(f) RESEARCH PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall es18 tablish and maintain, through direct programming, con19 tracts, or other form of agreement, and in consultation 

20 with research institutions, institutions of higher education, 

21 wildlife conservation groups, and representatives of au22 thorized activities regulated under this section, a research 

23 program to— 

24 ‘‘(1) better monitor the status of bird popu25 lations; 


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1 ‘‘(2) understand the stressors to bird popu2 lations; 

3 ‘‘(3) identify opportunities to reduce the impact 

4 of such stressors; and 

5 ‘‘(4) deploy and validate mitigation measures to 

6 conserve bird populations. 

7 ‘‘SEC. 15. DEFINITIONS. 

8 ‘‘For the purposes of this Act: 

9 ‘‘(1) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 

10 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 

11 meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 

12 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

13 ‘‘(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

14 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di15 rector of the United States Fish and Wildlife Serv16 ice.’’. 

17 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 7(b) of the 

18 North American Wetlands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 

19 4406(b)) is amended by inserting ‘‘subsections (a) through 

20 (d) of’’ before ‘‘section 6 of the Migratory Bird Treaty 

21 Act’’. 

Æ 


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