I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6345 
To provide for greater county and State consultation with regard to petitions 
under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 12, 2018 
Mr. PEARCE (for himself, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. 
SCHWEIKERT, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Mr. 
ABRAHAM, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina, Mr. 
GIANFORTE, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. 
SMITH of Missouri, Mr. BANKS of Indiana, Mr. STEWART, Mrs. NOEM, 
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. ESTES of 
Kansas, and Mr. MCCLINTOCK) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To provide for greater county and State consultation with 
regard to petitions under the Endangered Species Act 
of 1973, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Ensuring Meaningful 
Petition Outreach While Enhancing Rights of States Act 
of 2018’’ or the ‘‘EMPOWERS Act of 2018’’. 
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SEC. 2. GREATER COUNTY AND STATE INVOLVEMENT. 
(a) COUNTY AND STATE CONSULTATION ON PETI-
TIONS.—Section 4(b)(3) of the Endangered Species Act 
of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(b)(3)) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘(E) LISTING PETITION REVIEW REQUIRE-
MENTS.— 
‘‘(i) Not later than 30 days before 
submitting to the Secretary a petition to 
list, delist, or reclassify a species that oc-
curs in the United States, or to revise a 
designation of critical habitat of such a 
species, the petitioner shall provide to the 
chief executive of each county and State in 
which the species is located a notice of in-
tent to submit such petition. 
‘‘(ii) The Secretary shall, upon finding 
that a petitioned action to list a species as 
a threatened species or endangered species 
may be warranted, solicit from the chief 
executive of each county and State in 
which the species is located— 
‘‘(I) information regarding 
threats to the species and efforts 
by the county or State, respec-
tively, to protect the species; 
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‘‘(II) information about the 
anticipated effects of the action 
requested in the petition in that 
county or State, respectively; and 
‘‘(III) the advice of the chief 
executive on whether the status 
of the species merits the action 
requested in the petition, includ-
ing information in support of 
such advice. 
‘‘(iii) The Secretary may verify by 
field testing the information presented in a 
petition asserting that a species is a 
threatened species or endangered species. 
‘‘(iv) If a chief executive advises under 
clause (ii)(III) that the petitioned-for ac-
tion is not warranted, the Secretary may 
not proceed with the action unless the Sec-
retary demonstrates that information sub-
mitted in support of such advice by the 
chief executive is incorrect and that the ac-
tion is warranted.’’. 
(b) REGULATIONS
TO
IMPLEMENT
DETERMINA-
TIONS.—Section 4(b)(5) of the Endangered Species Act 
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