I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6355 
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to define petition backlogs 
and provide expedited means for discharging petitions during such a backlog. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 12, 2018 
Mr. WESTERMAN (for himself, Mr. BIGGS, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. CRAMER, 
Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. ABRA-
HAM, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Mr. SMITH of Missouri, Mr. BANKS of Indi-
ana, Mrs. NOEM, Mr. STEWART, Mr. COLLINS of Georgia, Mr. MCCLIN-
TOCK, Mr. ESTES of Kansas, Mr. GOHMERT, and Mr. NEWHOUSE) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
Resources 
A BILL 
To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to define 
petition backlogs and provide expedited means for dis-
charging petitions during such a backlog. 
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 ‘‘Providing ESA Timing 
Improvements That Increase Opportunities for Nonlisting 
Act of 2018’’ or the ‘‘PETITION Act of 2018’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The number and type of species-listing peti-
tions received by the United States Fish and Wild-
life Service (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Service’’) 
during the last two decades under the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) rou-
tinely outstrip the capacity of the agency to process 
all such petitions within the timeframes required by 
that statute, constituting a petition backlog. 
(2) A significant portion of petitions in the 
backlog would ultimately be rejected as having failed 
to contain substantial information, or containing 
substantial information but not meriting a listing of 
a species as an endangered species or threatened 
species, if the Service were to issue findings on 
them. 
(3) The petition system has been overloaded 
with influxes of petitions submitted by well-funded 
petitioners with the express intention of creating a 
backlog that causes the Service to fail to adhere to 
timeframes established in the Endangered Species 
Act of 1973. 
(4) The deficit between total received petitions 
and petitions processed within statutory timeframes 
results in the Federal Government being exposed to 
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legal liability on the basis of such a backlog, in ac-
cordance with such intention of petitioners. 
(5) Ensuing litigation initiated by such peti-
tioners results in the Service agreeing to or being 
court-ordered to adhere to adverse timeframes, list-
ing decisions, and settlements. 
(6) Such litigation secures listings for species 
and habitat designations for which the Service would 
otherwise not issue a positive finding on the basis of 
its regular, procedural evaluation of a petition. 
(7) Accordingly, such listings and designations 
are agreed or adhered to contrary to the public in-
terest insofar as the public benefits from faithful 
execution of duly passed laws. 
(8) A statutory remedy is necessary to address 
the backlog of the Service and to prevent such statu-
tory abuse while maintaining proper open channels 
for qualifying species to be listed as threatened spe-
cies or endangered species. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are the fol-
lowing: 
(1) To maintain safeguards and pathways to 
listing of species as endangered species or threat-
ened species, along with all corresponding protec-
tions thereof, for any imperiled species. 
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‘‘(B) under section 4(b)(3)(H) following 
the declaration of a 12-month petition backlog. 
‘‘(5) PETITIONED-FOR SPECIES.—The term ‘pe-
titioned-for species’ means a species that has been 
identified in a petition presented under subpara-
graph (A) or (B) of section 4(b)(3).’’. 
SEC. 4. BACKLOG DECLARATION AND PROCEDURES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4(b)(3) of the Endan-
gered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(b)(3)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(E)(i) The Secretary shall— 
‘‘(I) declare a 90-day petition backlog 
at any time the total number of species for 
which a petition is presented to the Sec-
retary under subparagraph (A) that has 
not been the subject of a finding by the 
Secretary within the timeframe established 
under such subparagraph exceeds 5 per-
cent of the number of species for which 
such petitions have been presented during 
the preceding 15 years; 
‘‘(II) submit a backlog schedule for 
such backlog to— 
‘‘(aa) the President; 
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‘‘(bb) the Chairman and ranking 
minority Member of the Committee on 
Environment and Public Works of the 
Senate; and 
‘‘(cc) the Chairman and ranking 
minority Member of the Committee on 
Natural Resources of the House of 
Representatives; and 
‘‘(III) comply with backlog procedures 
under subparagraph (G) during the period 
such backlog is in effect. 
‘‘(ii) The Secretary shall— 
‘‘(I) declare a 12-month petition back-
log at any time the total number of species 
for which a petition is being considered by 
the Secretary under subparagraph (B) that 
has not been the subject of a finding by 
the Secretary within the timeframe estab-
lished under such subparagraph exceeds 5 
percent of the number of species for which 
such petitions have been presented during 
the preceding 15 years; 
‘‘(II) submit a backlog schedule for 
such backlog to— 
‘‘(aa) the President; 
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‘‘(bb) the Chairman and ranking 
minority Member of the Committee on 
Environment and Public Works of the 
Senate; and 
‘‘(cc) the Chairman and ranking 
minority Member of the Committee on 
Natural Resources of the House of 
Representatives; and 
‘‘(III) comply with backlog procedures 
under subparagraph (H) during the period 
such declaration is in effect. 
‘‘(iii) Not later than 90 days after declar-
ing a 90-day petition backlog or 12-month peti-
tion backlog, and every 90 days thereafter dur-
ing the period such backlog is in effect, the Sec-
retary shall submit to the recipients under 
clause (ii)(II) and (iii)(II), respectively, an up-
dated backlog schedule that contains— 
‘‘(I) a list of petitioned-for species for 
which a finding had been made since the 
last submission of the backlog schedule 
under such clause; 
‘‘(II) the outcomes of findings for all 
petitioned-for species for which a finding 
has been made since the last submission of 
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the backlog schedule under such clause; 
and 
‘‘(III) a summary of the bases of all 
findings for any petitioned-for species for 
which a finding has been made since the 
preceding submission of the backlog. 
‘‘(F) The Secretary shall terminate a 90- 
day petition backlog or 12-month petition back-
log at such time as the requirements for declar-
ing such backlog under subparagraph (E)(i) or 
(E)(ii), respectively, are not fulfilled. 
‘‘(G) During the effective period of a 90- 
day petition backlog— 
‘‘(i) the requirement under subpara-
graph (A) to make a finding within 90 
days shall not apply with respect to any 
species that is the subject of a petition in-
cluded 
in 
the 
list 
under 
section 
2(b)(3)(A)(i); 
‘‘(ii) except as provided in clause (iii), 
the Secretary shall not make any finding 
under subparagraph (A) with respect to 
any species included in the list under sec-
tion 2(b)(3)(A)(i) in the applicable backlog 
schedule, until the earlier of— 
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‘‘(I) the date the Secretary termi-
nates the backlog under subparagraph 
(F); 
‘‘(II) the date the applicable 
backlog schedule consists of only the 
list under such section; or 
‘‘(III) the date the only peti-
tioned-for species in the backlog 
schedule to which the Secretary has 
not devoted sufficient resources so as 
to issue such a finding within 90 days 
are those in the list under such sec-
tion; and 
‘‘(iii) the Secretary is deemed to have 
made finding under subparagraph (A) that 
each petition for a species included in the 
list under section 2(b)(3)(A)(i) in the ap-
plicable backlog schedule does not present 
substantial scientific or commercial infor-
mation indicating that the petitioned ac-
tion may be warranted, effective upon the 
expiration of the 180-day period beginning 
on the date the petition was submitted. 
‘‘(H) Except as provided in subparagraph 
(I)— 
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‘‘(i) after declaring a 12-month peti-
tion backlog under subparagraph (E)(ii) 
and before taking any actions under clause 
(ii) of this subparagraph, the Secretary 
shall assign each petition and petitioned- 
for species to be considered under such 
clause to one of the five priority bins re-
ferred to in the notice issued by the United 
States Fish and Wildlife Service entitled 
‘Methodology for Prioritizing Status Re-
views and Accompanying 12-month find-
ings on Petitions for Listing Under the 
Endangered Species Act (81 Fed. Reg. 
49248 (July 27, 2016))’; and 
‘‘(ii) during the effective period of 
such 12-month petition backlog under sub-
paragraph (E)(ii)— 
‘‘(I) the requirement under sub-
paragraph (B) to make a finding 
within 12 months shall not apply with 
respect to any species that is the sub-
ject of a petition included in the list 
under section 2(b)(3)(A)(i); 
‘‘(II) the Secretary shall consider 
under this paragraph only petitions 
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for species included in the list under 
section 2(b)(3)(A)(ii) in the applicable 
backlog schedule, that were submitted 
more than 12 months before the es-
tablishment of the backlog; 
‘‘(III) except as provided in sub-
clause (IV), the Secretary shall not 
make any finding under subparagraph 
(B) with respect to any species in-
cluded in the list under section 
2(b)(3)(A)(i) in the applicable backlog 
schedule, until the earlier of— 
‘‘(aa) the date the Secretary 
terminates the backlog under 
subparagraph (F); 
‘‘(bb) the date the applicable 
backlog schedule consists of only 
the list under such section; or 
‘‘(cc) the date the only peti-
tioned-for species in the backlog 
schedule to which the Secretary 
has not devoted sufficient re-
sources so as to issue such a 
finding within 12 months are 
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those in the list under such sec-
tion; and 
‘‘(IV) the Secretary is deemed to 
have made a finding under subpara-
graph (B)(i) for each species included 
in the list under section 2(b)(3)(A)(i) 
that the petitioned action is not war-
ranted— 
‘‘(aa) effective upon the ex-
piration of the 18-month period 
beginning on the date the peti-
tion was submitted, if the Sec-
retary has not assigned the spe-
cies to the ‘Highest Priority— 
Critically 
Imperiled’, 
‘Strong 
Data Already Available on Sta-
tus’ priority bin or ‘New Science 
Underway to Inform Key Uncer-
tainties’ priority bin referred to 
in the notice referred to in clause 
(i); or 
‘‘(bb) effective upon the ex-
piration of the 24-month period 
beginning on the date the peti-
tion was submitted, if the Sec-
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retary has assigned the species to 
the ‘Strong Data Already Avail-
able on Status’ priority bin or 
‘New Science Underway to In-
form Key Uncertainties’ priority 
bin referred to in the notice re-
ferred to in clause (i). 
‘‘(I)(i) In the case of the first 12-month 
petition backlog under subparagraph (E)(ii)— 
‘‘(I) 
item 
(aa) 
of 
subparagraph 
(H)(ii)(IV) shall be applied by substituting 
‘30-month’ for ‘18-month’; and 
‘‘(II) item (bb) of subparagraph 
(H)(ii)(IV) shall be applied by substituting 
‘36-month’ for ‘24-month’. 
‘‘(ii) The Secretary may not under sub-
paragraph (H)(i) change the assignment of a 
petition or petitioned-for species from one pri-
ority bin to another priority bin. 
‘‘(J) In the case of findings under sub-
paragraph (G)(iii) and (H)(ii)(IV), the publica-
tion under subparagraph (A) or (B)(i), respec-
tively, may consist solely of a notice of each 
finding. 
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‘‘(K)(i) Except as otherwise provided in 
this Act, the Secretary shall regularly maintain 
on the internet site of the United States Fish 
and Wildlife Service a publically available data-
base of petitions referred to in this paragraph 
and species otherwise evaluated under sub-
section (a). 
‘‘(ii) The database shall contain informa-
tion about each petitioned-for species includ-
ing— 
‘‘(I) the date a petition for such spe-
cies was submitted; 
‘‘(II) the person who submitted the 
petition; 
‘‘(III) the current status of the peti-
tion within the statutory and agency proc-
ess, including the most recent agency ac-
tion taken; 
‘‘(IV) a web link to any documents re-
ceived under this paragraph that con-
stituted the petition for such species; 
‘‘(V) a web link to any materials the 
Secretary has received from State or local 
governments pertaining to petitions to list 
such species; 
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‘‘(VI) the outcomes of all prior peti-
tioning or listing procedures for such spe-
cies; and 
‘‘(VII) the outcomes of all prior litiga-
tion against the Federal Government on 
the basis of a petition for or listing of such 
species, including actions or agreements by 
the Federal Government to— 
‘‘(aa) dispense monies to liti-
gating parties or counsel; 
‘‘(bb) promulgate rules as a di-
rect or indirect result of litigation out-
comes or agreements; 
‘‘(cc) resolve any matter related 
to the petition or a petitioned-for spe-
cies by a certain date, or otherwise; 
‘‘(dd) conduct further research or 
analysis related to the petition or peti-
tioned-for species; or 
‘‘(ee) engage in any other activity 
as a result of the terms of litigation 
settlements or court-orders related to 
such petitions or petitioned-for spe-
cies. 
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‘‘(L)(i) Except as provided in clauses (ii) 
and (iii), any negative finding described in sub-
paragraph (A) and any finding described in 
clause (i) or (ii) of subparagraph (B) shall be 
subject to judicial review. 
‘‘(ii) A petition in the list under section 
2(a)(3)(A)(i) of the backlog schedule for a 12- 
month petition backlog is not subject to judicial 
review— 
‘‘(I) on the basis of a negative finding 
by the Secretary under subparagraph 
(H)(ii)(IV); or 
‘‘(II) on the basis that the Secretary 
has failed to make a finding within the 12- 
month timeframe established under sub-
paragraph (B). 
‘‘(iii) 
Notwithstanding 
subparagraph 
(C)(ii), a finding by the Secretary under sub-
paragraph (G)(iii), and any failure by the Sec-
retary in the effective period of a 90-day peti-
tion backlog to make a finding under subpara-
graph (A) with respect to any species included 
in the list under section 2(b)(3)(A)(i) in the ap-
plicable backlog schedule, is not subject to judi-
cial review.’’. 
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(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 4(b)(3)(C) 
of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
1533(b)(3)(C)) is amended— 
(1) by striking clause (ii); and 
(2) by redesignating clause (iii) as clause (ii). 
Æ 
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