I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5103 
To require the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to approve 
or deny spend plans within a certain amount of time, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 1, 2023 
Mr. DONALDS (for himself, Mrs. PELTOLA, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. MOSKOWITZ, 
Mr. DUNN of Florida, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Mr. NEHLS, Mr. 
MOYLAN, Mr. RUTHERFORD, Mr. WEBSTER of Florida, Mrs. LUNA, Mrs. 
RADEWAGEN, and Mr. MAST) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To require the Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget to approve or deny spend plans within a certain 
amount of time, 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 ‘‘Fishery Improvement 
to Streamline untimely regulatory Hurdles post Emer-
gency Situation Act’’ or the ‘‘FISHES Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. APPROVAL OR DENIAL OF SPEND PLANS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of law, in the case of a spend plan submitted to the 
Director by the Secretary for approval by the Director 
pursuant to section 312(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fish-
ery Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 
1861a(a)), the Director shall approve or deny such spend 
plan not later than 30 days after the date on which the 
Secretary submits such spend plan to the Director for ap-
proval. 
(b) DENIAL OF SPEND PLAN.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—If the Director denies a 
spend plan under subsection (a) or paragraph (3) of 
this subsection, the Director shall, not later than 15 
days after the date of such denial, return such de-
nied spend plan to the Secretary with a description 
of the changes to such denied spend plan that are 
necessary for the Director to approve such denied 
spend plan. 
(2) RESUBMISSION OF SPEND PLAN.—Upon re-
ceipt of a denied spend plan under paragraph (1), 
the Secretary, in consultation with the relevant re-
quester with an affirmative fishery resource disaster 
determination of the spend plan, shall make the nec-
essary changes to such spend plan described by the 
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Director under paragraph (1) and resubmit such 
spend plan to the Director for approval. 
(3) REVIEW OF RESUBMITTED SPEND PLAN.— 
Not later than 15 days after the date of the receipt 
of a spend plan under paragraph (2), the Director 
shall approve or deny such spend plan. 
(c) APPROVAL OF SPEND PLAN.—If the Director ap-
proves a spend plan under subsection (a) or subsection 
(b)(3), the Director shall— 
(1) make such approval publicly available on 
the website of the Office of Management and Budg-
et; and 
(2) include in such approval— 
(A) the date on which communication re-
garding such spend plan was initiated between 
the Director and the Secretary; 
(B) if applicable— 
(i) the date of each denial of such 
spend plan under subsection (a) and sub-
section (b)(3); and 
(ii) the date of each resubmission of 
such spend plan under subsection (b)(2); 
and 
(C) the date on which the Director ap-
proved such spend plan. 
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(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) AFFIRMATIVE
FISHERY
RESOURCE
DIS-
ASTER
DETERMINATION.—The term ‘‘affirmative 
fishery resource disaster determination’’ means a de-
termination by the Secretary under section 312(a) of 
the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1861a(a)) that a fish-
ery resource disaster has occurred. 
(2) FISHERY RESOURCE DISASTER.—The term 
‘‘fishery resource disaster’’ has the meaning given 
the term in section 312(a)(1)(C) of the Magnuson- 
Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
(16 U.S.C. 1861a(a)(1)(C)). 
(3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 
the Director of the Office of Management and Budg-
et. 
(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Commerce. 
(5) SPEND
PLAN.—The term ‘‘spend plan’’ 
means a spend plan submitted to the Secretary 
under section 312(a)(6)(D) of the Magnuson-Ste-
vens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 
U.S.C. 1861a(a)(6)(D)) by a requester with an af-
firmative fishery resource disaster determination. 
Æ 
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