II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2608 

To provide for congressional approval of national monuments and restrictions 

on the use of national monuments, to establish requirements for the 

declaration of marine national monuments, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 15, 2014 

Ms. MURKOWSKI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To provide for congressional approval of national monuments 

and restrictions on the use of national monuments, to 

establish requirements for the declaration of marine national monuments, 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 ‘‘Improved National 

5 Monument Designation Process Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF NATIONAL MONUMENTS. 

2 The Act of June 8, 1906 (commonly known as the 

3 ‘‘Antiquities Act of 1906’’) (16 U.S.C. 431 et seq.), is 

4 amended— 

5 (1) in section 2 (16 U.S.C. 431)— 

6 (A) by striking ‘‘SEC. 2. That the Presi7 dent is hereby authorized, in his discretion to’’ 

8 and inserting the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF NATIONAL MONUMENTS. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—After obtaining congressional 

11 approval of the proposed national monument and certi12 fying compliance with the National Environmental Policy 

13 Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) with respect to the 

14 proposed national monument and subject to subsection 

15 (b), the President may’’; and 

16 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR DECLARATION OF MARINE

18 NATIONAL MONUMENTS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF EXCLUSIVE ECONOMIC

20 ZONE.—In this subsection, the term ‘exclusive eco21 nomic zone’ means the zone established by Procla22 mation Number 5030, dated March 10, 1983 (16 

23 U.S.C. 1453 note). 

24 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The President may not 

25 declare any area of the exclusive economic zone to 

26 be a national monument unless— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the declaration is specifically author2 ized by an Act of Congress; 

3 ‘‘(B) the President has submitted to the 

4 Governor of each State and each territory, any 

5 part of which is located within 100 nautical 

6 miles of the proposed national monument, a 

7 proposal to make the declaration; 

8 ‘‘(C) the Governor of each State and terri9 tory described in subparagraph (B) submits to 

10 the President notice that the legislature of the 

11 State or territory has approved the proposal 

12 submitted under that paragraph; and 

13 ‘‘(D) the declaration is substantially the 

14 same as the proposal submitted under subpara15 graph (B).’’; and 

16 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 5. RESTRICTIONS ON PUBLIC USE. 

18 ‘‘The Secretary of the Interior, or the Secretary of 

19 Commerce, with respect to any area of the exclusive eco20 nomic zone (as defined in section 2(b)(1)) designated as 

21 a national monument, shall not implement any restrictions 

22 on the public use of a national monument until the expira23 tion of an appropriate review period (as determined by the 

24 Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Commerce, 


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1 as applicable) providing for public input and congressional 

2 approval.’’. 

Æ 


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