I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5594 
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 
JANUARY 13, 2020 
Mr. SMITH of Missouri (for himself, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. 
CRAWFORD, Mr. NEWHOUSE, and Ms. CHENEY) 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 2020’’ or the ‘‘EMPOWERS Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. GREATER COUNTY AND STATE INVOLVEMENT. 
(a) COUNTY AND STATE CONSULTATION ON PETI-
TIONS.—Section 4(b)(3) of the Endangered Species Act 
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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, respectively, to 
protect the species; 
‘‘(II) information about the an-
ticipated effects of the action re-
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quested in the petition in that county 
or State, respectively; and 
‘‘(III) the advice of the chief ex-
ecutive on whether the status of the 
species merits the action requested in 
the petition, including 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 
of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(b)(5)) is amended to read as 
follows: 
‘‘(5) NOTICE REQUIRED.—With respect to any 
regulation proposed by the Secretary to implement a 
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determination referred to in subsection (a)(1), the 
Secretary shall— 
‘‘(A) not less than 90 days before the ef-
fective date of the regulation— 
‘‘(i) publish a general notice and the 
complete text of the proposed regulation in 
the Federal Register; 
‘‘(ii) provide notice of the proposed 
regulation (including the complete text of 
the regulation) to the chief executive of 
county and State in which the species is lo-
cated, and invite such chief executive to 
submit to the Secretary a determination as 
to whether the proposed regulation is war-
ranted; and 
‘‘(iii) if the chief executive notifies the 
Secretary that the proposed regulation is 
not warranted, provide to the chief execu-
tive a record of decision for such deter-
mination, 
including 
information 
made 
available to the Secretary that did not sup-
port the determination and in writing the 
reasons for the determination; 
‘‘(B) in cooperation with the Secretary of 
State, provide notice of the proposed regulation 
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