I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3162 

To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to improve the disclosure 

of certain expenditures under that Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 22, 2015 

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia (for himself, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. 

HUIZENGA of Michigan, Mr. AMODEI, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, and Mr. VALADAO) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to improve 

the disclosure of certain expenditures under that Act, 

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 ‘‘Endangered Species 

5 Recovery Transparency Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF EXPENDITURES UNDER ENDAN7 GERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973. 

8 (a) REQUIREMENT TO DISCLOSE.—Section 13 of the 

9 Endangered Species Act of 1973 (87 Stat. 902; relating 


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1 to conforming amendments which have executed) is 

2 amended to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 13. DISCLOSURE OF EXPENDITURES. 

4 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of the Interior, 

5 in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, shall— 

6 ‘‘(1) not later than 90 days after the end of 

7 each fiscal year, submit to the Committee on Nat8 ural Resources of the House of Representatives and 

9 the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 

10 the Senate an annual report detailing Federal Gov11 ernment expenditures for covered suits during the 

12 preceding fiscal year (including the information de13 scribed in subsection (b)); and 

14 ‘‘(2) make publicly available through the Inter15 net a searchable database of the information de16 scribed in subsection (b). 

17 ‘‘(b) INCLUDED INFORMATION.—The report shall in18 clude— 

19 ‘‘(1) the case name and number of each covered 

20 suit, and a hyperlink to the record or decision for 

21 each covered suit (if available); 

22 ‘‘(2) a description of the claims in each covered 

23 suit; 

24 ‘‘(3) the name of each covered agency whose ac25 tions gave rise to a claim in a covered suit; 


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1 ‘‘(4) funds expended by each covered agency 

2 (disaggregated by agency account) to receive and re3 spond to notices referred to in section 11(g)(2) or to 

4 prepare for litigation of, litigate, negotiate a settle5 ment agreement or consent decree in, or provide ma6 terial, technical, or other assistance in relation to, a 

7 covered suit; 

8 ‘‘(5) the number of full-time equivalent employ9 ees that participated in the activities described in 

10 paragraph (4); and 

11 ‘‘(6) attorneys’ fees and other expenses 

12 (disaggregated by agency account) awarded in cov13 ered suits, including any consent decrees or settle14 ment agreements (regardless of whether a decree or 

15 settlement agreement is sealed or otherwise subject 

16 to nondisclosure provisions), including the bases for 

17 such awards. 

18 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE INFORMATION.— 

19 The head of each covered agency shall provide to the Sec20 retary in a timely manner all information requested by the 

21 Secretary to comply with the requirements of this section. 

22 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON DISCLOSURE.—Notwith23 standing any other provision of this section, this section 

24 shall not affect any restriction in a consent decree or setVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:26 Jul 25, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3162.IH H3162

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1 tlement agreement on the disclosure of information that 

2 is not described in subsection (b). 

3 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) COVERED AGENCY.—The term ‘covered 

5 agency’ means any agency of the Department of the 

6 Interior, the Forest Service, the National Marine 

7 Fisheries Service, the Bonneville Power Administra8 tion, the Western Area Power Administration, the 

9 Southwestern Power Administration, or the South10 eastern Power Administration. 

11 ‘‘(2) COVERED SUIT.—The term ‘covered suit’ 

12 means any civil action containing a claim against the 

13 Federal Government, in which the claim arises under 

14 this Act and is based on the action of a covered 

15 agency.’’. 

16 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

17 in the first section of such Act is amended by striking the 

18 item relating to such section and inserting the following: 

‘‘Sec. 13. Disclosure of expenditures.’’. 

19 (c) PRIOR AMENDMENTS NOT AFFECTED.—This sec20 tion shall not be construed to affect the amendments made 

21 by section 13 of such Act, as in effect before the enact22 ment of this Act. 

Æ 


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