II 

Calendar No. 671

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2547

[Report No. 108–313] 

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 

AUGUST 25, 2004

Reported, under authority of the order of the Senate of July 22, 2004, by 

Mr. INHOFE, without amendment 

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, 
2

•S 2547 RS 

1 TITLE I—EXCLUSION OF NON2 NATIVE SPECIES FROM MI3 GRATORY BIRD TREATY ACT 

4 SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE. 

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

6 Reform Act of 2004’’. 

7 SEC. 102. EXCLUSION OF NONNATIVE SPECIES FROM AP8 PLICATION OF CERTAIN PROHIBITIONS 

9 UNDER MIGRATORY BIRD TREATY ACT. 

10 Section 2 of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 

11 U.S.C. 703) is amended— 

12 (1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘That un13 less and except as permitted’’ and inserting the fol14 lowing: ‘‘(a) In General.—Unless and except as per15 mitted’’; and 

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

17 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION ON APPLICATION TO INTRODUCED

18 SPECIES.— 

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

20 migratory bird species that are native to the United 

21 States the occurrence of which in the United States 

22 is entirely the result of natural biological or ecologi23 cal conditions. 

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

25 For purposes of paragraph (1)— 
3

•S 2547 RS 

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

2 native to the United States if the species occurs 

3 in the United States solely as a result of inten4 tional or unintentional human-assisted introduc5 tion; and 

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

7 treated as native to the United States if— 

8 ‘‘(i) the species was native to the 

9 United States and extant in 1918; 

10 ‘‘(ii) the species was extirpated after 

11 1918 throughout its range in the United 

12 States; and 

13 ‘‘(iii) after such extirpation, the spe14 cies was reintroduced in the United States 

15 as a part of a program carried out by a 

16 Federal agency.’’. 

17 SEC. 103. PUBLICATION OF LIST. 

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

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

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

21 human-introduced bird species to which the Migratory 

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

23 that belong to biological families of migratory birds cov24 ered under any of the migratory bird conventions with 

25 Great Britain (for Canada), Mexico, Russia, or Japan. 
4

•S 2547 RS 

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

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

3 time for public comment. 

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

5 shall delay implementation of other provisions of this Act 

6 or amendments made by this Act that exclude nonnative, 

7 human-introduced bird species from the application of the 

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

9 TITLE II—CONSERVATION OF 

10 NEOTROPICAL MIGRATORY 

11 BIRDS 

12 SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE. 

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

14 Bird Conservation Improvement Act of 2004’’. 

15 SEC. 202. AMENDMENTS TO NEOTROPICAL MIGRATORY 

16 BIRD CONSERVATION ACT. 

17 (a) FINDINGS.—Section 2(1) of the Neotropical Mi18 gratory Bird Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 6101(1)) is 

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

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

21 (b) PURPOSES.—Section 3(2) of the Neotropical Mi22 gratory Bird Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 6102(2)) is 

23 amended by inserting ‘‘Canada,’’ after ‘‘United States,’’.
5

•S 2547 RS 

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

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

3 6103) is amended— 

4 (1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para5 graph (4); 

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

7 following: 

8 ‘‘(1) CARIBBEAN.—The term ‘Caribbean’ in9 cludes Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Is10 lands.’’; and 

11 (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol12 lowing: 

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

14 Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Fund es15 tablished by section 9(a).’’. 

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

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

18 amended— 

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

20 and inserting ‘‘50 percent’’; and 

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

22 (B) and inserting the following: 

23 ‘‘(B) FORM OF PAYMENT.— 

24 ‘‘(i) PROJECTS IN THE UNITED

25 STATES AND CANADA.—The non-Federal 
6

•S 2547 RS 

1 share required to be paid for a project car2 ried out in the United States or Canada 

3 shall be paid in cash. 

4 ‘‘(ii) PROJECTS IN LATIN AMERICA

5 AND THE CARIBBEAN.—The non-Federal 

6 share required to be paid for a project car7 ried out in Latin America or the Caribbean 

8 may be paid in cash or in kind.’’. 

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

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

11 (1) by striking ‘‘October 1, 2002,’’ and insert12 ing ‘‘1 year after the date of enactment of the 

13 Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Improve14 ment Act of 2004,’’; 

15 (2) by striking ‘‘this Act, including rec16 ommendations’’ and inserting ‘‘this Act that in17 cludes— 

18 ‘‘(1) recommendations’’; 

19 (3) by striking the period at the end and insert20 ing ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

22 ‘‘(2) a description of the activities of the advi23 sory group convened under section 7(b).’’. 

24 (f) NEOTROPICAL MIGRATORY BIRD CONSERVATION

25 FUND.— 
7

•S 2547 RS 

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

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

3 is amended— 

4 (A) by striking the section heading and all 

5 that follows through subsection (b) and insert6 ing the following: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 9. NEOTROPICAL MIGRATORY BIRD CONSERVATION 

8 FUND. 

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

10 Treasury a separate account to be known as the 

11 ‘Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Fund’, which 

12 shall consist of amounts deposited in the Fund by the Sec13 retary of the Treasury under subsection (b). 

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

15 Treasury shall deposit into the Fund— 

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

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

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

19 and 

20 (B) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘Ac21 count’’ and inserting ‘‘Fund’’. 

22 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Section 

23 9(c)(2) of the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conserva24 tion Act (16 U.S.C. 6108(c)(2)) is amended by 

25 striking ‘‘$80,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$150,000’’. 
8

•S 2547 RS 

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

2 shall transfer to the Neotropical Migratory Bird 

3 Conservation Fund amounts that were in the 

4 Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Account 

5 immediately before the date of enactment of this 

6 Act. 

7 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

8 10 of the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act 

9 (16 U.S.C. 6109) is amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be ap12 propriated to the Fund to carry out this Act— 

13 ‘‘(1) $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005 

14 and 2006; 

15 ‘‘(2) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2007; and 

16 ‘‘(3) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2008. 

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

18 this section shall remain available until expended. 

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

20 under this section for a fiscal year, not less than 75 per21 cent shall be expended for projects carried out outside the 

22 United States. 

23 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON EXPENDITURES FOR PROJECTS

24 IN CANADA.—Amounts made available under this section 

25 for a fiscal year shall not be used for any project in Can-
9

•S 2547 RS 

1 ada unless the amount available to carry out this Act for 

2 that fiscal year is greater than $10,000,000.’’.
Calendar No. 671

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2547

[Report No. 108–313] 

A BILL

To amend the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to exapplication of that Act, and for other purposes. clude non-native migratory bird species from the 

AUGUST 25, 2004

Reported under authority of the order of the Senate of 

July 22, 2004, without amendment