IB 
Union Calendar No. 404 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4316 
[Report No. 113–538] 
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 
JULY 17, 2014 
Additional sponsors: Mr. LUCAS, Mr. WALDEN, Mr. COTTON, Mr. CRAMER, 
Mr. GOSAR, Mr. OLSON, Mr. TIPTON, Mr. HUELSKAMP, Mr. JONES, Mr. 
TIBERI, Mr. POMPEO, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. PEARCE, and Mrs. 
MCMORRIS RODGERS 
JULY 17, 2014 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 27, 2014] 
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A BILL 
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to improve 
the disclosure of certain expenditures under that Act, 
and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Endangered Species Re-
covery Transparency Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF EXPENDITURES UNDER ENDAN-
GERED SPECIES ACT OF 1973. 
(a) REQUIREMENT TO DISCLOSE.—Section 13 of the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (87 Stat. 902; relating to 
conforming amendments which have executed) is amended 
to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 13. DISCLOSURE OF EXPENDITURES. 
‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of the Interior, in 
consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, shall— 
‘‘(1) not later than 90 days after the end of each 
fiscal year, submit to the Committee on Natural Re-
sources of the House of Representatives and the Com-
mittee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Sen-
ate an annual report detailing Federal Government 
expenditures for covered suits during the preceding 
fiscal year (including the information described in 
subsection (b)); and 
‘‘(2) make publicly available through the Inter-
net a searchable database of the information described 
in subsection (b). 
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‘‘(b) INCLUDED INFORMATION.—The report shall in-
clude— 
‘‘(1) the case name and number of each covered 
suit, and a hyperlink to the record or decision for 
each covered suit (if available); 
‘‘(2) a description of the claims in each covered 
suit; 
‘‘(3) the name of each covered agency whose ac-
tions gave rise to a claim in a covered suit; 
‘‘(4) funds expended by each covered agency 
(disaggregated by agency account) to receive and re-
spond to notices referred to in section 11(g)(2) or to 
prepare for litigation of, litigate, negotiate a settle-
ment agreement or consent decree in, or provide mate-
rial, technical, or other assistance in relation to, a 
covered suit; 
‘‘(5) the number of full-time equivalent employ-
ees that participated in the activities described in 
paragraph (4); and 
‘‘(6) 
attorneys 
fees 
and 
other 
expenses 
(disaggregated by agency account) awarded in covered 
suits, including any consent decrees or settlement 
agreements (regardless of whether a decree or settle-
ment agreement is sealed or otherwise subject to non-
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disclosure provisions), including the bases for such 
awards. 
‘‘(c) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE INFORMATION.—The 
head of each covered agency shall provide to the Secretary 
in a timely manner all information requested by the Sec-
retary to comply with the requirements of this section. 
‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON DISCLOSURE.—Notwithstanding 
any other provision of this section, this section shall not 
affect any restriction in a consent decree or settlement 
agreement on the disclosure of information that is not de-
scribed in subsection (b). 
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.— 
‘‘(1) COVERED
AGENCY.—The term ‘covered 
agency’ means any agency of the Department of the 
Interior, the Forest Service, the National Marine 
Fisheries Service, the Bonneville Power Administra-
tion, the Western Area Power Administration, the 
Southwestern Power Administration, or the South-
eastern Power Administration. 
‘‘(2) COVERED
SUIT.—The term ‘covered suit’ 
means any civil action containing a claim against 
the Federal Government, in which the claim arises 
under this Act and is based on the action of a covered 
agency.’’. 
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(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents in 
the first section of such Act is amended by striking the item 
relating to such section and inserting the following: 
‘‘Sec. 13. Disclosure of expenditures.’’. 
(c) PRIOR AMENDMENTS NOT AFFECTED.—This sec-
tion shall not be construed to affect the amendments made 
by section 13 of such Act, as in effect before the enactment 
of this Act. 
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Union Calendar No. 404 
113TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4316 
[Report No. 113–538] 
A BILL 
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to 
improve the disclosure of certain expenditures 
under that Act, and for other purposes. 
JULY 17, 2014 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:05 Jul 18, 2014
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PO 00000
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