IB 
Union Calendar No. 563 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 2245 
[Report No. 116–680, Part I] 
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to prohibit import and 
export of any species listed or proposed to be listed under such Act 
as a threatened species or endangered species, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 10, 2019 
Mr. GRIJALVA (for himself, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
CARTWRIGHT, Mr. COHEN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. TED LIEU of California, 
Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. LYNCH, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, and Mr. MOULTON) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Foreign Affairs, 
and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
DECEMBER 21, 2020 
Additional sponsors: Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. KUSTER of New 
Hampshire, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Mr. 
DEFAZIO, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. 
HASTINGS, Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. DEAN, Mr. 
JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SOTO, 
Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. QUIGLEY, 
Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Ms. DELBENE, Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL, Mr. 
BLUMENAUER, Mr. CARBAJAL, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. SCHIFF, 
Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. POCAN, Mr. CONNOLLY, 
Ms. SHALALA, Mr. SWALWELL of California, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Ms. 
SCANLON, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. PASCRELL, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. 
CRIST, Ms. TITUS, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. SPANBERGER, 
Mr. YARMUTH, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. BEYER, Mr. 
LIPINSKI, Mr. FOSTER, and Mrs. LURIA 
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DECEMBER 21, 2020 
Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with amendments 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
DECEMBER 21, 2020 
Committees on Foreign Affairs and Ways and Means discharged; committed 
to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and or-
dered to be printed 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 10, 2019] 
A BILL 
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to prohibit 
import and export of any species listed or proposed to 
be listed under such Act as a threatened species or 
endangered species, 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 ‘‘Conserving Ecosystems 
by Ceasing the Importation of Large Animal Trophies Act’’ 
or the ‘‘CECIL Act’’. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO PROHIBITED ACTS. 
Section 9(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
(16 U.S.C. 1538(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(3) Except as provided in section 10 of this Act, it 
is unlawful for any person to import into or export from 
the United States any sport-hunted trophy of a species list-
ed or proposed to be listed under section 4(c) as a threatened 
species or endangered species.’’. 
SEC. 3. IMPORTS OF SPORT-HUNTED TROPHIES. 
Section 10(a) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
(16 U.S.C. 1539(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: 
‘‘(3) Before issuing any permit under this Act author-
izing import of any sport-hunted trophy of a species that 
is listed or proposed to be listed as an endangered or threat-
ened species, the Secretary must make a finding after public 
notice and comment pursuant to section 553 of title 5, 
United States Code, of whether the country where the ani-
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mal was killed adequately provides for the conservation and 
monitoring for that species, including that— 
‘‘(A) a management plan for that species based 
on the best available science that— 
‘‘(i) addresses existing threats to the species; 
‘‘(ii) provides a significant conservation 
benefit to the species; 
‘‘(iii) formally coordinates with adjacent 
countries to protect transboundary populations; 
and 
‘‘(iv) ensures that any take is sustainable 
and does not contribute to the species’ decline in 
either the short-term or long-term according to 
current population estimates derived through the 
use of the best available science; 
‘‘(B) such management plan is being actively 
implemented; 
‘‘(C) the country where the animal was killed 
demonstrates 
transparency, 
accountability, 
and 
verifiability in governance to ensure that any benefits 
of trophy hunting, including revenue from such tak-
ing, materially, directly and substantially benefits the 
conservation of that species; 
‘‘(D) hunting of the species in such country en-
hances the propagation or survival of the species; and 
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‘‘(E) the local community in which the trophy 
hunting occurs directly and substantially benefits 
from the hunting of the species. 
‘‘(4) Notwithstanding subsections (b) and (c)(2) of sec-
tion 9, no permit may be issued by the Secretary for the 
import of a sport-hunted trophy of an elephant or lion 
taken in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, or Zambia.’’. 
SEC. 4. PERMIT FEES FOR SPORT-HUNTED TROPHY IM-
PORTS. 
Section 10(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
(16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(2)) is amended by redesignating sub-
paragraph (C) as subparagraph (D), and by inserting after 
subparagraph (B) the following: 
‘‘(C) No permit may be issued by the Secretary under 
this Act for import of a sport-hunted trophy unless the ap-
plicant pays to the Secretary all administrative costs in-
curred by the United States that are associated with proc-
essing the permit application.’’. 
SEC. 5. TRANSPARENCY OF SPORTS-HUNTED TROPHY IM-
PORT PERMITS. 
Section 10(c) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
(16 U.S.C. 1539(c)) is amended by inserting ‘‘The Secretary 
shall publish notice in the Federal Register of each applica-
tion for an exemption or permit which is made under this 
Act for a sport-hunted trophy of a species that is listed or 
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proposed to be listed as an endangered species or threatened 
species.’’ after ‘‘section.’’ 
SEC. 6. TERMINATION OF INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE CON-
SERVATION COUNCIL. 
The International Wildlife Conservation Council of the 
United States Fish and Wildlife Service is hereby abolished. 
SEC. 7. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE STUDY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 
of the United States shall conduct and submit to the Con-
gress a report on the results of a study of the effectiveness 
of trophy hunting in supporting international wildlife con-
servation efforts. 
(b) REPORT.—The report shall— 
(1) include a detailed analysis of how permit fees 
and other payments from hunters to government enti-
ties and hunting guides in host countries are applied 
to tangible actions supporting the conservation of the 
target species and other wildlife in such countries; 
(2) identify data gaps and recommend informa-
tion that hunters and host countries must submit to 
verify the impacts of trophy hunting on wildlife con-
servation efforts; and 
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