I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5103 

To require the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to approve 

or deny spend plans within a certain amount of time, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 1, 2023 

Mr. DONALDS (for himself, Mrs. PELTOLA, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, 

Mr. DUNN of Florida, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Mr. NEHLS, Mr. 

MOYLAN, Mr. RUTHERFORD, Mr. WEBSTER of Florida, Mrs. LUNA, Mrs. 

RADEWAGEN, and Mr. MAST) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To require the Director of the Office of Management and 

Budget to approve or deny spend plans within a certain 

amount of time, 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 ‘‘Fishery Improvement 

5 to Streamline untimely regulatory Hurdles post Emer6 gency Situation Act’’ or the ‘‘FISHES Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. APPROVAL OR DENIAL OF SPEND PLANS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi3 sion of law, in the case of a spend plan submitted to the 

4 Director by the Secretary for approval by the Director 

5 pursuant to section 312(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fish6 ery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 

7 1861a(a)), the Director shall approve or deny such spend 

8 plan not later than 30 days after the date on which the 

9 Secretary submits such spend plan to the Director for ap10 proval. 

11 (b) DENIAL OF SPEND PLAN.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the Director denies a 

13 spend plan under subsection (a) or paragraph (3) of 

14 this subsection, the Director shall, not later than 15 

15 days after the date of such denial, return such de16 nied spend plan to the Secretary with a description 

17 of the changes to such denied spend plan that are 

18 necessary for the Director to approve such denied 

19 spend plan. 

20 (2) RESUBMISSION OF SPEND PLAN.—Upon re21 ceipt of a denied spend plan under paragraph (1), 

22 the Secretary, in consultation with the relevant re23 quester with an affirmative fishery resource disaster 

24 determination of the spend plan, shall make the nec25 essary changes to such spend plan described by the 


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1 Director under paragraph (1) and resubmit such 

2 spend plan to the Director for approval. 

3 (3) REVIEW OF RESUBMITTED SPEND PLAN.— 

4 Not later than 15 days after the date of the receipt 

5 of a spend plan under paragraph (2), the Director 

6 shall approve or deny such spend plan. 

7 (c) APPROVAL OF SPEND PLAN.—If the Director ap8 proves a spend plan under subsection (a) or subsection 

9 (b)(3), the Director shall— 

10 (1) make such approval publicly available on 

11 the website of the Office of Management and Budg12 et; and 

13 (2) include in such approval— 

14 (A) the date on which communication re15 garding such spend plan was initiated between 

16 the Director and the Secretary; 

17 (B) if applicable— 

18 (i) the date of each denial of such 

19 spend plan under subsection (a) and sub20 section (b)(3); and 

21 (ii) the date of each resubmission of 

22 such spend plan under subsection (b)(2); 

23 and 

24 (C) the date on which the Director ap25 proved such spend plan. 


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1 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 (1) AFFIRMATIVE FISHERY RESOURCE DIS3 ASTER DETERMINATION.—The term ‘‘affirmative 

4 fishery resource disaster determination’’ means a de5 termination by the Secretary under section 312(a) of 

6 the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 

7 Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1861a(a)) that a fish8 ery resource disaster has occurred. 

9 (2) FISHERY RESOURCE DISASTER.—The term 

10 ‘‘fishery resource disaster’’ has the meaning given 

11 the term in section 312(a)(1)(C) of the Magnuson12 Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 

13 (16 U.S.C. 1861a(a)(1)(C)). 

14 (3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

15 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg16 et. 

17 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

18 the Secretary of Commerce. 

19 (5) SPEND PLAN.—The term ‘‘spend plan’’ 

20 means a spend plan submitted to the Secretary 

21 under section 312(a)(6)(D) of the Magnuson-Ste22 vens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 

23 U.S.C. 1861a(a)(6)(D)) by a requester with an af24 firmative fishery resource disaster determination. 

Æ 


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