I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4647 
To amend the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act to make supple-
mental funds available for management of fish and wildlife species of 
greatest conservation need as determined by State fish and wildlife agen-
cies, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 14, 2017 
Mr. FORTENBERRY (for himself and Mrs. DINGELL) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To amend the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act 
to make supplemental funds available for management 
of fish and wildlife species of greatest conservation need 
as determined by State fish and wildlife agencies, 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 ‘‘Recovering America’s 
Wildlife Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) A diverse array of species of fish and wild-
life is of significant value to the United States for 
aesthetic, ecological, educational, cultural, rec-
reational, economic, and scientific reasons. 
(2) More than 100 million citizens of the 
United States participate in outdoor recreation 
through hunting, fishing, birding, and other wildlife- 
dependent recreation, all of which have significant 
value to the citizens who engage in those activities 
and provide economic benefits to local communities. 
(3) It is in the interest of the United States— 
(A) to retain for present and future gen-
erations the opportunity to hunt, fish, observe, 
understand, and appreciate a wide variety of 
fish and wildlife; 
(B) to recover species of fish and wildlife 
listed as threatened species or endangered spe-
cies under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
(16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and to prevent fish 
and wildlife species from declining to the point 
of requiring Federal protection under such Act; 
and 
(C) to support collaborative and proactive 
conservation that will sustain the diverse fish 
and wildlife populations of the United States. 
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(4) The first nongovernmental conservation or-
ganizations to instill fish and wildlife conservation 
values in hunters, anglers, bird watchers, and all 
citizens were founded during the 1880s to 1890s at 
the behest of hunters and anglers, including Theo-
dore Roosevelt and naturalist George Bird Grinnell, 
who were alarmed that game and sportfish could not 
sustain unregulated harvest and that avifauna need-
ed protection from commercial take. 
(5) At the turn of the 20th century, the 
States— 
(A) realized the need to regulate the har-
vest of game and sportfish for sustainable use; 
(B) required hunters and anglers to obtain 
licenses and established regulations for game 
seasons, bag and creel limits, and legal means 
of take for game and sportfish; and 
(C) used the funds received for such li-
censes largely for enforcement of such regula-
tions. 
(6) In 1937, an alliance between hunters and 
conservation organizations, States, the Federal Gov-
ernment, and the shooting sports industry convinced 
Congress to transfer to the States receipts from an 
existing Federal excise tax on sporting arms and 
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ammunition, matched by State hunting license dol-
lars, for the management of wildlife and conserva-
tion of habitat under the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife 
Restoration Act (16 U.S.C. 669 et seq.), which 
greatly enhanced the States’ ability to move from 
primarily enforcing game seasons and bag limits to 
science-based research and management of wildlife. 
(7) In 1951, an alliance between anglers and 
conservation organizations, States, the Federal Gov-
ernment, and the sportfishing industry convinced 
Congress to impose a Federal excise tax on fishing 
equipment under the Dingell-Johnson Sportfish Res-
toration Act (16 U.S.C. 777 et seq.) and to transfer 
to the States such receipts, matched by State fishing 
license revenues, to manage sportfish and conserve 
aquatic habitats, enhancing the State fish and wild-
life agency’s ability to use science-based research 
and management of fish species. 
(8) Such user-pay, public-benefits means of 
funding fish and wildlife conservation is unique in 
the world, having been started in the United States 
by sportsmen and sportswomen who were willing to 
pay these fees to ensure dedicated funds went to fish 
and wildlife conservation delivered by the States. 
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(9) Such user-pay funds (licenses and excise 
taxes)— 
(A) have benefitted not only hunters and 
anglers, but all citizens of the United States by 
providing abundant fish and wildlife (including 
both game and nongame species), clean water, 
outdoor recreation, healthy activities, and qual-
ity of life; and 
(B) provide, and will continue to provide, 
a majority of the funds that are available to 
State fish and wildlife agencies for science- 
based research and management of fish and 
wildlife. 
(10) State fish and wildlife agencies are respon-
sible for the conservation and management of all 
fish and wildlife in the State, but are grossly under-
funded because there are few funds available at the 
State level for fish and wildlife conservation, except 
those driven by hunting and fishing license revenues 
and Federal excise tax revenues. 
(11) Congress created a subaccount known as 
the Wildlife Conservation and Restoration Sub-
account under section 3(a)(2) of the Pittman-Rob-
ertson 
Wildlife 
Restoration 
Act 
(16 
U.S.C. 
669b(a)(2)) to support the full array of fish and 
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