I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4316 

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 

MARCH 27, 2014 

Mrs. LUMMIS (for herself, Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, Mr. AMODEI, Mr. 

BISHOP of Utah, Mr. COLLINS of Georgia, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. HUIZENGA

of Michigan, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, 

Mr. SOUTHERLAND, 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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF EXPENDITURES UNDER ENDAN2 GERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973. 

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

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

5 to conforming amendments which have executed) is 

6 amended to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 13. DISCLOSURE OF EXPENDITURES. 

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

9 in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, shall— 

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

11 each fiscal year, submit to the Committee on Nat12 ural Resources of the House of Representatives and 

13 the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 

14 the Senate an annual report detailing Federal Gov15 ernment expenditures for covered suits during the 

16 preceding fiscal year (including the information de17 scribed in subsection (b)); and 

18 ‘‘(2) make publicly available through the Inter19 net a searchable database of the information de20 scribed in subsection (b). 

21 ‘‘(b) INCLUDED INFORMATION.—The report shall in22 clude— 

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

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

25 each covered suit (if available); 


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

2 suit; 

3 ‘‘(3) the name of each covered agency whose ac4 tions gave rise to a claim in a covered suit; 

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

6 (disaggregated by agency account) to receive and re7 spond to notices referred to in section 11(g)(2) or to 

8 prepare for litigation of, litigate, negotiate a settle9 ment agreement or consent decree in, or provide ma10 terial, technical, or other assistance in relation to, a 

11 covered suit; 

12 ‘‘(5) the number of full-time equivalent employ13 ees that participated in the activities described in 

14 paragraph (4); and 

15 ‘‘(6) attorneys fees and other expenses 

16 (disaggregated by agency account) awarded in cov17 ered suits, including any consent decrees or settle18 ment agreements (regardless of whether a decree or 

19 settlement agreement is sealed or otherwise subject 

20 to nondisclosure provisions), including the bases for 

21 such awards. 

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

23 The head of each covered agency shall provide to the Sec24 retary in a timely manner all information requested by the 

25 Secretary to comply with the requirements of this section. 


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1 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON DISCLOSURE.—Notwith2 standing any other provision of this section, this section 

3 shall not affect any restriction in a consent decree or set4 tlement agreement on the disclosure of information that 

5 is not described in subsection (b). 

6 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.— 

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

8 agency’ means any agency of the Department of the 

9 Interior, the Forest Service, or the National Marine 

10 Fisheries Service. 

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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