I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4483 

To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to increase State and local 

involvement in management plans. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 

Mr. YOUNG 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 

State and local involvement in management plans. 

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 ‘‘Localizing Authority 

5 of Management Plans Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘LAMP Act 

6 of 2019’’. 

7 SEC. 2. REFERENCES. 

8 Except as otherwise specifically provided, whenever in 

9 this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 

10 of an amendment to, or repeal of, a provision, the refVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:29 Sep 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4483.IH H4483

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1 erence shall be considered to be made to a provision of 

2 the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 

3 seq.). 

4 SEC. 3. VOLUNTARY COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT AGREE5 MENTS. 

6 Section 6 (16 U.S.C. 1535) is amended by striking 

7 so much as precedes subsection (c) and inserting the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 6. COOPERATION WITH NON-FEDERAL PERSONS. 

10 ‘‘(a) GENERALLY.—In carrying out the program au11 thorized by this Act, the Secretary shall cooperate to the 

12 maximum extent practicable with the States and other 

13 non-Federal persons. Such cooperation shall include con14 sultation with the States and non-Federal persons con15 cerned before acquiring any land or water, or interest 

16 therein, for the purpose of conserving any endangered spe17 cies or threatened species. 

18 ‘‘(b) COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT AGREEMENTS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter 

20 into a cooperative management agreement with any 

21 State or group of States, political subdivision of a 

22 State, Indian Tribe, local government, or non-Fed23 eral person— 

24 ‘‘(A) for the management of a species or 

25 group of species listed as endangered species or 


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1 threatened species under section 4, a species or 

2 group of species proposed to be listed under 

3 section 4, or species or group of species that 

4 are candidates for listing; or 

5 ‘‘(B) for the management or acquisition of 

6 an area that provides habitat for a species. 

7 ‘‘(2) SCOPE OF COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT

8 AGREEMENTS.—(A) A cooperative management 

9 agreement entered into under this subsection— 

10 ‘‘(i) may provide for the management of a 

11 species or group of species on both public and 

12 private lands and waters that are under the au13 thority, control, or ownership of a State or 

14 group of States, political subdivision of a State, 

15 Indian Tribe, local government, or non-Federal 

16 person and that are affected by a listing deter17 mination, proposed determination, or proposed 

18 candidacy for determination; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) may include the acquisition or man20 agement of land as habitat for species. 

21 ‘‘(B) A cooperative management agreement 

22 may not restrict private or non-Federal property un23 less written consent to such restrictions by the non24 Federal owner is given either to the Secretary or the 


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1 State, political subdivision, local government, or non2 Federal person who is a party to the agreement. 

3 ‘‘(C) The Secretary may grant to a party to an 

4 agreement the authority to undertake programs to 

5 enhance the population or habitat of a species on 

6 federally owned lands, except that such authority 

7 shall not otherwise conflict with other uses of such 

8 land that are approved by the Secretary or author9 ized by the Congress. 

10 ‘‘(D) The Secretary is authorized, in conjunc11 tion with entering into and as a part of any agree12 ment under this section, to provide funds to carry 

13 out the agreement to a non-Federal person, as pro14 vided in paragraph (11). 

15 ‘‘(3) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 30 days 

16 after submission of a request to enter into a cooper17 ative management agreement, the party submitting 

18 the request shall provide notice of the request to any 

19 non-Federal person or Federal power marketing ad20 ministration that would be subject to the proposed 

21 cooperative management agreement. 

22 ‘‘(4) DEVELOPMENT OF PROPOSED AGREE23 MENT.—(A) The requesting party shall develop and 

24 submit to the Secretary a proposed cooperative man25 agement agreement. 


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1 ‘‘(B) The Secretary shall— 

2 ‘‘(i) publish in the Federal Register— 

3 ‘‘(I) a notice of availability of any pro4 posed cooperative management agreement; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(II) a request for submission within 

7 30 days after the date of publication of the 

8 notice, of public comment on such pro9 posed agreement; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) shall hold a public hearing on such a 

11 proposed agreement in the county in which the 

12 proposed agreement would be in effect, if re13 quested by a non-Federal person that would be 

14 subject to the proposed agreement and that re15 sides in such county. 

16 ‘‘(5) APPROVAL OF AGREEMENT.—(A) Not 

17 later than 120 days after the submission of a pro18 posed cooperative management agreement under 

19 paragraph (4), the Secretary shall determine wheth20 er the proposed agreement is in accordance with this 

21 subsection and will promote the conservation of the 

22 species to which the proposed agreement applies. 

23 ‘‘(B) The Secretary shall approve and enter 

24 into a proposed cooperative management agreement, 

25 if the Secretary finds that— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the requesting party has sufficient au2 thority under law to implement and carry out 

3 the terms of the agreement; 

4 ‘‘(ii) the agreement defines an area that 

5 serves as habitat for the species or group of 

6 species to which the agreement applies; 

7 ‘‘(iii) the agreement adequately provides 

8 for the administration and management of the 

9 identified management area; 

10 ‘‘(iv) the agreement promotes the conserva11 tion of the species to which the agreement ap12 plies by committing Federal or non-Federal ef13 forts to the conservation; 

14 ‘‘(v) the term of the agreement is of suffi15 cient duration to accomplish the provisions of 

16 the agreement; and 

17 ‘‘(vi) the agreement is adequately funded 

18 to carry out the agreement. 

19 ‘‘(C) No later than 30 days after entering into 

20 a cooperative management agreement, the Secretary 

21 shall publish in the Federal Register a notice of 

22 availability of the terms of such agreement and the 

23 response of the Secretary to all information received 

24 or presented with respect to the agreement pursuant 

25 to paragraph (4)(B). 


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1 ‘‘(6) ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS.—Prepa2 ration, approval, and entering into a cooperative 

3 management agreement under this subsection shall 

4 not be subject to section 102(2) of the National En5 vironmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332(2)). 

6 ‘‘(7) NO SURPRISES.—For any species or area 

7 that is the subject of a cooperative management 

8 agreement under this subsection, a party to the 

9 agreement shall not be required— 

10 ‘‘(A) to make any additional payment for 

11 any purpose, or to accept any additional restric12 tion on any parcel of land available for develop13 ment or land management under the agree14 ment, without consent of the party; or 

15 ‘‘(B) to undertake any other measure to 

16 minimize or mitigate impacts on the species in 

17 addition to measures required by the agreement 

18 as established. 

19 ‘‘(8) EFFECT OF LISTING OF SPECIES.—A co20 operative management agreement entered into under 

21 this subsection shall remain in effect and shall not 

22 be required to be amended if a species to which the 

23 agreement does not apply is determined to be an en24 dangered species or threatened species under section 

25 4. 


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1 ‘‘(9) APPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN PROVI2 SIONS.—Sections 5, 7, and 9 shall not apply to those 

3 activities of a party to a cooperative management 

4 agreement that are conducted in accordance with 

5 such agreement. 

6 ‘‘(10) VIOLATIONS OF AGREEMENTS.—(A) If 

7 the Secretary determines that a party to a coopera8 tive management agreement is not administering or 

9 acting in accordance with the agreement, the Sec10 retary shall notify the party. 

11 ‘‘(B) If a party that is notified under subpara12 graph (A) fails to take appropriate corrective action 

13 within a period of time determined by the Secretary 

14 to be reasonable (not to exceed 90 days after the 

15 date of the notification)— 

16 ‘‘(i) the Secretary shall rescind the entire 

17 cooperative management agreement or the ap18 plicability of the agreement to the party that is 

19 the subject of the notification; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) beginning on the date of the rescis21 sion— 

22 ‘‘(I) the entire agreement shall not be 

23 effective, or the agreement shall not be ef24 fective with respect to the party, whichever 

25 is appropriate; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) sections 5, 7, and 9 shall apply 

2 to activities of the party. 

3 ‘‘(11) FACA.—Consultation with States pursu4 ant to this section shall not be subject to the Fed5 eral Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.).’’. 

6 SEC. 4. DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY TO STATES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6 (16 U.S.C. 1535) as 

8 amended by section 3 of this Act, is further amended by 

9 striking subsection (c) and all that follows through sub10 section (f) and inserting the following: 

11 ‘‘(c) STATE AUTHORITY TO PROTECT ENDANGERED

12 SPECIES AND THREATENED SPECIES.— 

13 ‘‘(1) DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY.—In further14 ance of the purposes of this Act, the Secretary may 

15 delegate to a State that establishes and maintains 

16 an adequate program for the conservation of endan17 gered species and threatened species the authority 

18 under this Act with respect to species that are resi19 dents in the State. Within 120 days after the Sec20 retary receives a certified copy of such a proposed 

21 State program, the Secretary shall make a deter22 mination whether such program will be adequate to 

23 provide protections to endangered species and 

24 threatened species in such State. In order for a 

25 State program to be determined to be an adequate 


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1 program for the conservation of endangered species 

2 and threatened species, the Secretary must find that 

3 under the State program— 

4 ‘‘(A)(i) State agency has authority to con5 serve resident species that are determined by 

6 the State agency or the Secretary to be endan7 gered species or threatened species; 

8 ‘‘(ii) the State agency has established ac9 ceptable conservation programs, consistent with 

10 the purposes and policies of this Act, for all 

11 resident species in the State that are deter12 mined by the Secretary to be endangered spe13 cies or threatened species or for those species or 

14 taxonomic groups of species that the State pro15 poses to cover under its program, and has fur16 nished to the Secretary a copy of such plan and 

17 program together with all pertinent details and 

18 information requested by the Secretary; 

19 ‘‘(iii) the State agency is authorized to 

20 conduct investigations to determine the status 

21 and requirements for survival of resident en22 dangered species and threatened species; 

23 ‘‘(iv) provision is made for public partici24 pation in designating resident species as endan25 gered species or threatened species; and 


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1 ‘‘(v) the State agency has initiated or en2 couraged voluntary or incentive based programs 

3 to further the conservation objectives for the 

4 species; or 

5 ‘‘(B)(i) the requirements set forth in 

6 clauses (iii) and (iv) of subparagraph (A) are 

7 complied with; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) plans are included under which imme9 diate attention will be given to those resident 

10 species that are determined by the Secretary or 

11 the State agency to be endangered species or 

12 threatened species and that the Secretary and 

13 the State agency agree are most urgently in 

14 need of conservation programs. 

15 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF DELEGATION AGREE16 MENT.—(A) Such delegation shall provide for— 

17 ‘‘(i) the actions to be taken by the Sec18 retary and the States; 

19 ‘‘(ii) the benefits that are expected to be 

20 derived in connection with the conservation of 

21 endangered species or threatened species; 

22 ‘‘(iii) the estimated cost of such actions; 

23 and 


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1 ‘‘(iv) the share of such costs to be borne by 

2 the Federal Government and by the States; ex3 cept that— 

4 ‘‘(I) the Federal share of such costs 

5 shall not exceed 75 percent of the esti6 mated program cost stated in the agree7 ment; and 

8 ‘‘(II) the Federal share may be in9 creased to 90 percent if two or more States 

10 having a common interest in one or more 

11 endangered species or threatened species, 

12 the conservation of which may be enhanced 

13 by cooperation of such States, enter jointly 

14 into an agreement with the Secretary. 

15 ‘‘(3) COMPLIANCE WITH PROCEDURES.—In im16 plementing this Act under authority delegated to a 

17 State by the Secretary, the State shall comply with 

18 all requirements, prohibitions, and procedures set 

19 forth by this Act. 

20 ‘‘(4) PROHIBITIONS NOT AFFECTED.—A delega21 tion to a State whose program is determined ade22 quate under paragraph (1) shall not affect the appli23 cability of prohibitions set forth in or authorized 

24 pursuant to section 4(d) or paragraph (1) or (2) of 

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1 dent endangered species or threatened species in the 

2 State. 

3 ‘‘(d) FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may provide 

5 financial assistance to any State, through its respec6 tive State agency, that has entered into a coopera7 tive management agreement under subsection (b) or 

8 received authority under a delegation under sub9 section (c) of this section to assist in development of 

10 programs for the conservation of endangered species 

11 and threatened species or to assist in monitoring the 

12 status of candidate species pursuant to subpara13 graph (C) of section 4(b)(3) and recovered species 

14 pursuant to section 4(f). The Secretary shall allocate 

15 among such States each annual appropriation under 

16 subsection (i) based on consideration of— 

17 ‘‘(A) the international commitments 

18 of the United States to protect endangered 

19 species or threatened species; 

20 ‘‘(B) the readiness of a State to pro21 ceed with a conservation program con22 sistent with the objectives and purposes of 

23 this Act; 

24 ‘‘(C) the number of endangered spe25 cies and threatened species within a State; 


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1 ‘‘(D) the potential for restoring en2 dangered species and threatened species 

3 within a State; 

4 ‘‘(E) the relative urgency to initiate a 

5 program to restore and protect an endan6 gered species or threatened species, in 

7 terms of survival of the species; 

8 ‘‘(F) the importance of monitoring the 

9 status of candidate species within a State 

10 to prevent a significant risk to the well11 being of any such species; and 

12 ‘‘(G) the importance of monitoring the 

13 status of recovered species within a State 

14 to assure that such species do not return 

15 to the point at which the measures pro16 vided pursuant to this Act are again nec17 essary. 

18 ‘‘(2) UNOBLIGATED AMOUNTS.—So much 

19 of the annual appropriation made under sub20 section (i) allocated for obligation to any State 

21 for any fiscal year as remains unobligated at 

22 the end thereof may be made available to that 

23 State until the end of the succeeding fiscal 

24 year. Any amount allocated to any State that is 

25 unobligated at the end of the period during 


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1 which it is available for expenditure may be 

2 made available for expenditure by the Secretary 

3 in conducting programs under this section. 

4 ‘‘(3) ADVANCE OF FUNDS.—The Secretary 

5 may, in the Secretary’s discretion, and under 

6 such rules and regulations as the Secretary may 

7 prescribe, advance funds to the State for fi8 nancing the United States pro rata share 

9 agreed upon in the cooperative agreement. For 

10 the purposes of this section, the non-Federal 

11 share may, in the discretion of the Secretary, be 

12 in the form of money or real property, the value 

13 of which shall be determined by the Secretary, 

14 whose decision shall be final. 

15 ‘‘(e) REVIEW OF STATE PROGRAMS.—Any action 

16 taken by the Secretary under this section shall be subject 

17 to his periodic review at intervals of no greater than 5 

18 years. 

19 ‘‘(f) CONFLICTS BETWEEN FEDERAL AND STATE

20 LAWS.—Any State law or regulation that applies with re21 spect to the importation or exportation of, or interstate 

22 or foreign commerce in, endangered species or threatened 

23 species is void to the extent that it may effectively— 

24 ‘‘(1) permit what is prohibited by this Act or by 

25 any regulation that implements this Act; or 


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1 ‘‘(2) prohibit what is authorized pursuant to an 

2 exemption or permit provided for in this Act or in 

3 any regulation that implements this Act. This Act 

4 shall not otherwise be construed to void any State 

5 law or regulation that is intended to conserve migra6 tory, resident, or introduced fish or wildlife, or to 

7 permit or prohibit sale of such fish or wildlife. Any 

8 State law or regulation respecting the taking of an 

9 endangered species or threatened species may be 

10 more restrictive than the exemptions or permits pro11 vided for in this Act or in any regulation that imple12 ments this Act.’’. 

13 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 6(g)(2)(A) 

14 (16 U.S.C. 1535(g)(2)(A)) is amended to read as follows: 

15 ‘‘(A) to which the Secretary has delegated 

16 authority under subsection (c); or’’. 

17 SEC. 5. FACA. 

18 Section 6 (16 U.S.C. 1535), as amended by sections 

19 3 and 4 of this Act, is further amended by adding at the 

20 end the following: 

21 ‘‘(j) FACA.—Consultation with States regarding this 

22 section shall not be subject to the Federal Advisory Com23 mittee Act (5 U.S.C. App.).’’. 

Æ 


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