IB 
Union Calendar No. 422 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 1274 
[Report No. 115–561] 
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require making available 
to States affected by determinations that species are endangered species 
or threatened species all data that is the basis of such determinations, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 1, 2017 
Mr. NEWHOUSE (for himself, Mr. TIPTON, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. 
PEARCE, Mr. HARPER, Mr. YOHO, Mr. JONES, Mr. MARSHALL, and Mr. 
CRAMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Natural Resources 
FEBRUARY 15, 2018 
Additional sponsors: Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. GIANFORTE, Mr. SESSIONS, and 
Mr. STEWART 
FEBRUARY 15, 2018 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 1, 2017] 
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A BILL 
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require 
making available to States affected by determinations 
that species are endangered species or threatened species 
all data that is the basis of such determinations, 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 ‘‘State, Tribal, and Local 
Species Transparency and Recovery Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DECISIONAL TRANSPARENCY AND USE OF STATE, 
TRIBAL, AND LOCAL INFORMATION. 
(a) REQUIRING DECISIONAL TRANSPARENCY WITH 
AFFECTED STATES.—Section 6(a) of the Endangered Spe-
cies Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1535(a)) is amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before the first sentence; 
and 
(2) by striking ‘‘Such cooperation shall include’’ 
and inserting the following: 
‘‘(2) Such cooperation shall include— 
‘‘(A) before making a determination under sec-
tion 4(a), providing to States affected by such deter-
mination all data that is the basis of the determina-
tion; and 
‘‘(B)’’. 
(b) ENSURING USE OF STATE, TRIBAL, AND LOCAL IN-
FORMATION.—Section 3 of the Endangered Species Act of 
1973 (16 U.S.C. 1532) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through (10) 
as paragraphs (3) through (11), respectively; and 
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(2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(2) The term ‘best scientific and commercial data 
available’ includes all such data submitted by a State, trib-
al, or county government.’’. 
(c) REQUIREMENT TO PUBLISH ON THE INTERNET 
THE BASIS FOR LISTINGS.—Section 4(b) of the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(b)) is amended by add-
ing at the end the following: 
‘‘(9) The Secretary shall make publicly available on 
the Internet the best scientific and commercial data avail-
able that are the basis for each regulation, including each 
proposed regulation, promulgated under subsection (a)(1), 
except that, at the request of a Governor or legislature of 
a State, the Secretary shall not make available under this 
paragraph information regarding which the State has de-
termined public disclosure is prohibited by a law of that 
State relating to the protection of personal information.’’. 
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