II 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2547 

To amend the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to exclude non-native migratory 

bird species from the application of that Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 18, 2004 

Mr. VOINOVICH (for himself and Mr. CRAPO) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 

Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to exclude nonnative migratory bird species from the application of 

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 TITLE I—EXCLUSION OF NON4 NATIVE SPECIES FROM MI5 GRATORY BIRD TREATY ACT 

6 SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE. 

7 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Migratory Bird Treaty 

8 Reform Act of 2004’’. 
2 

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1 SEC. 102. EXCLUSION OF NONNATIVE SPECIES FROM AP2 PLICATION OF CERTAIN PROHIBITIONS 

3 UNDER MIGRATORY BIRD TREATY ACT. 

4 Section 2 of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 

5 U.S.C. 703) is amended— 

6 (1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘That un7 less and except as permitted’’ and inserting the fol8 lowing: ‘‘(a) In General.—Unless and except as per9 mitted’’; and 

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

11 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION ON APPLICATION TO INTRODUCED

12 SPECIES.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—This section applies only to 

14 migratory bird species that are native to the United 

15 States the occurrence of which in the United States 

16 is entirely the result of natural biological or ecologi17 cal conditions. 

18 ‘‘(2) TREATMENT OF INTRODUCED SPECIES.— 

19 For purposes of paragraph (1)— 

20 ‘‘(A) a bird species shall not be treated as 

21 native to the United States if the species occurs 

22 in the United States solely as a result of inten23 tional or unintentional human-assisted introduc24 tion; and 

25 ‘‘(B) a migratory bird species shall be 

26 treated as native to the United States if— 
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1 ‘‘(i) the species was native to the 

2 United States and extant in 1918; 

3 ‘‘(ii) the species was extirpated after 

4 1918 throughout its range in the United 

5 States; and 

6 ‘‘(iii) after such extirpation, the spe7 cies was reintroduced in the United States 

8 as a part of a program carried out by a 

9 Federal agency.’’. 

10 SEC. 103. PUBLICATION OF LIST. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

12 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior 

13 shall publish in the Federal Register a list of all nonnative, 

14 human-introduced bird species to which the Migratory 

15 Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703 et seq.) does not apply 

16 that belong to biological families of migratory birds cov17 ered under any of the migratory bird conventions with 

18 Great Britain (for Canada), Mexico, Russia, or Japan. 

19 (b) PUBLIC COMMENT.—Before publishing the list 

20 under subsection (a), the Secretary shall provide adequate 

21 time for public comment. 

22 (c) EFFECT OF SECTION.—Nothing in this section 

23 shall delay implementation of other provisions of this Act 

24 or amendments made by this Act that exclude nonnative, 
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1 human-introduced bird species from the application of the 

2 Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703 et seq.). 

3 TITLE II—CONSERVATION OF 

4 NEOTROPICAL MIGRATORY 

5 BIRDS 

6 SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE. 

7 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Neotropical Migratory 

8 Bird Conservation Improvement Act of 2004’’. 

9 SEC. 202. AMENDMENTS TO NEOTROPICAL MIGRATORY 

10 BIRD CONSERVATION ACT. 

11 (a) FINDINGS.—Section 2(1) of the Neotropical Mi12 gratory Bird Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 6101(1)) is 

13 amended by inserting ‘‘, but breed in Canada and the 

14 United States’’ after ‘‘the Caribbean’’. 

15 (b) PURPOSES.—Section 3(2) of the Neotropical Mi16 gratory Bird Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 6102(2)) is 

17 amended by inserting ‘‘Canada,’’ after ‘‘United States,’’. 

18 (c) DEFINITION OF CARIBBEAN.—Section 4 of the 

19 Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 

20 6103) is amended— 

21 (1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para22 graph (4); 

23 (2) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the 

24 following: 
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1 ‘‘(1) CARIBBEAN.—The term ‘Caribbean’ in2 cludes Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Is3 lands.’’; and 

4 (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(3) FUND.—The term ‘Fund’ means the 

7 Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Fund es8 tablished by section 9(a).’’. 

9 (d) COST SHARING.—Section 5(e) of the Neotropical 

10 Migratory Bird Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 6104(e)) is 

11 amended— 

12 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘25 percent’’ 

13 and inserting ‘‘50 percent’’; and 

14 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking subparagraph 

15 (B) and inserting the following: 

16 ‘‘(B) FORM OF PAYMENT.— 

17 ‘‘(i) PROJECTS IN THE UNITED

18 STATES AND CANADA.—The non-Federal 

19 share required to be paid for a project car20 ried out in the United States or Canada 

21 shall be paid in cash. 

22 ‘‘(ii) PROJECTS IN LATIN AMERICA

23 AND THE CARIBBEAN.—The non-Federal 

24 share required to be paid for a project car-
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1 ried out in Latin America or the Caribbean 

2 may be paid in cash or in kind.’’. 

3 (e) REPORT.—Section 8 of the Neotropical Migratory 

4 Bird Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 6107) is amended— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘October 1, 2002,’’ and insert6 ing ‘‘1 year after the date of enactment of the 

7 Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Improve8 ment Act of 2004,’’; 

9 (2) by striking ‘‘this Act, including rec10 ommendations’’ and inserting ‘‘this Act that in11 cludes— 

12 ‘‘(1) recommendations’’; 

13 (3) by striking the period at the end and insert14 ing ‘‘; and’’; and 

15 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(2) a description of the activities of the advi17 sory group convened under section 7(b).’’. 

18 (f) NEOTROPICAL MIGRATORY BIRD CONSERVATION

19 FUND.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 9 of the Neotropical 

21 Migratory Bird Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 6108) 

22 is amended— 

23 (A) by striking the section heading and all 

24 that follows through subsection (b) and insert25 ing the following: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 9. NEOTROPICAL MIGRATORY BIRD CONSERVATION 

2 FUND. 

3 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

4 Treasury a separate account to be known as the 

5 ‘Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Fund’, which 

6 shall consist of amounts deposited in the Fund by the Sec7 retary of the Treasury under subsection (b). 

8 ‘‘(b) DEPOSITS IN THE FUND.—The Secretary of the 

9 Treasury shall deposit into the Fund— 

10 ‘‘(1) all amounts received by the Secretary in 

11 the form of donations under subsection (d); and 

12 ‘‘(2) other amounts appropriated to the Fund.’’; 

13 and 

14 (B) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘Ac15 count’’ and inserting ‘‘Fund’’. 

16 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Section 

17 9(c)(2) of the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conserva18 tion Act (16 U.S.C. 6108(c)(2)) is amended by 

19 striking ‘‘$80,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$150,000’’. 

20 (3) TRANSFER.—The Secretary of the Treasury 

21 shall transfer to the Neotropical Migratory Bird 

22 Conservation Fund amounts that were in the 

23 Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Account 

24 immediately before the date of enactment of this 

25 Act. 
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1 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

2 10 of the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act 

3 (16 U.S.C. 6109) is amended to read as follows: 

4 ‘‘SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be ap6 propriated to the Fund to carry out this Act— 

7 ‘‘(1) $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 

8 and 2006; 

9 ‘‘(2) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 

10 ‘‘(3) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2008. 

11 ‘‘(b) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts made available under 

12 this section shall remain available until expended. 

13 ‘‘(c) ALLOCATION.—Of amounts made available 

14 under this section for a fiscal year, not less than 75 per15 cent shall be expended for projects carried out outside the 

16 United States. 

17 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON EXPENDITURES FOR PROJECTS

18 IN CANADA.—Amounts made available under this section 

19 for a fiscal year shall not be used for any project in Can20 ada unless the amount available to carry out this Act for 

21 that fiscal year is greater than $10,000,000.’’. 

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