Title: LOCAL Act of 2019
Policy area: Environmental Protection

Summary:
Land Ownership Collaboration Accelerates Life Act of 2019 or the LOCAL Act of 2019
This bill provides statutory authority for conservation agreements involving threatened or endangered species, including by providing for the legal treatment of species included in conservation agreements, setting forth the requirements of certain conservation agreements, and establishing safe harbor provisions for these agreements.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5467 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5467

 To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to increase transparency, 
 to support regulatory certainty, and to reauthorize that Act, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 17, 2019

  Mr. Tipton introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to increase transparency, 
 to support regulatory certainty, and to reauthorize that Act, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Land Ownership Collaboration 
Accelerates Life Act of 2019'' or the ``LOCAL Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. CONSERVATION AGREEMENTS AS REGULATORY MECHANISMS.

    Section 4(f) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(6) Treatment.--
            ``(A) In general.--A conservation agreement (including any 
        agreement described in subparagraph (B)) entered into or 
        endorsed by the Secretary shall be considered to be a 
        regulation for purposes of determining whether to include a 
        species on the list of threatened species or endangered species 
        pursuant to this section.
            ``(B) Description of agreements.--An agreement referred to 
        in subparagraph (A) includes--
                    ``(i) a voluntary wildlife conservation agreement 
                under paragraph (3);
                    ``(ii) a candidate conservation agreement with 
                assurances under paragraph (4);
                    ``(iii) a candidate conservation agreement; or
                    ``(iv) a plan that--
                            ``(I) relates to the conservation of a 
                        species;
                            ``(II) affects the viability of the 
                        species; and
                            ``(III) is implemented, or proposed to be 
                        implemented, by--
                                    ``(aa) a State;
                                    ``(bb) 2 or more States;
                                    ``(cc) a unit of local government; 
                                or
                                    ``(dd) 2 or more units of local 
                                government.''.

SEC. 3. VOLUNTARY WILDLIFE CONSERVATION AGREEMENTS.

    Section 4(f) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
1533(f)) is further amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Voluntary wildlife conservation agreements.--
                    ``(A) Establishment.--The Secretary shall establish 
                procedures for developing and entering into voluntary 
                wildlife conservation agreements, including by 
                establishing conservation goals and other criteria for 
                the agreements, with 1 or more entities, including--
                            ``(i) a State, Tribal, or local government;
                            ``(ii) a private landowner;
                            ``(iii) a lessee;
                            ``(iv) a private third-party conservation 
                        organization; or
                            ``(v) any other entity that the Secretary 
                        determines appropriate.
                    ``(B) Inclusions.--A voluntary wildlife 
                conservation agreement entered into under this 
                paragraph shall include provisions establishing that--
                            ``(i) a party to the agreement that is in 
                        compliance with the agreement shall not be 
                        required to carry out any additional mitigation 
                        measure for a species covered by the agreement, 
                        if the additional measure would require--
                                    ``(I) any additional expenditure of 
                                resources by the party to the 
                                agreement; or
                                    ``(II) the adoption of any 
                                additional use, development, or 
                                management restriction on land, water, 
                                or a water-related right of the party 
                                to the agreement that would otherwise 
                                be available under the agreement; and
                            ``(ii) a conservation agreement or an 
                        activity proposed to be carried out under such 
                        an agreement may be modified only--
                                    ``(I) under extraordinary 
                                circumstances; and
                                    ``(II) with the consent of all 
                                parties to the agreement.
                    ``(C) Streamlining requirements.--To reduce the 
                time and expense required to enter into a voluntary 
                wildlife conservation agreement under this paragraph, 
                the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent 
                practicable--
                            ``(i) implement standard procedures and 
                        encourage widespread use of templates in 
                        developing the agreements;
                            ``(ii) simplify the application and 
                        approval processes relating to the agreements;
                            ``(iii) reduce the burdens associated with 
                        reporting and monitoring under the agreements; 
                        and
                            ``(iv) provide for the protection of 
                        sensitive personal and business-related 
                        information of any party to the agreements.''.

SEC. 4. CANDIDATE CONSERVATION AGREEMENTS WITH ASSURANCES.

    (a) In General.--Section 4(f) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
(16 U.S.C. 1533(f)) (as amended by section 4) is amended by adding at 
the end the following:
            ``(4) Candidate conservation agreements with assurances.--
        Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in entering into or 
        carrying out any candidate conservation agreement under this 
        Act, the Secretary--
                    ``(A) shall honor the terms of the agreement, as in 
                existence before March 21, 2017;
                    ``(B) shall enact regulations--
                            ``(i) to expedite the process for entering 
                        into a conservation agreement; and
                            ``(ii) to protect sensitive personal and 
                        business-related information of each party to 
                        the agreement;
                    ``(C) may not take into consideration whether the 
                implementation of the agreement, in the Secretary's 
                judgement, will provide a net conservation benefit to a 
                species covered by the agreement;
                    ``(D) shall take into consideration whether the 
                implementation of the agreement, in the Secretary's 
                judgement, will preclude or remove any need to list a 
                species covered by the agreement as a threatened 
                species or an endangered species under this section; 
                and
                    ``(E) may not preclude a party to the agreement 
                from receiving Federal funds under any other 
                conservation program.''.
    (b) Effect on Regulations.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
law--
            (1) the amendments to part 17 of title 50, Code of Federal 
        Regulations, made by the final rule promulgated by the 
        Secretary of the Interior entitled ``Endangered and Threatened 
        Wildlife and Plants; Revisions to the Regulations for Candidate 
        Conservation Agreements With Assurances'' (81 Fed. Reg. 95053 
        (December 27, 2016)) shall have no force or effect;
            (2) such part shall be in effect as if those amendments had 
        not been made; and
            (3) the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of the 
        Interior shall not make any amendments to such part that are 
        substantially similar to the amendments made by the final rule 
        described in paragraph (1), unless specifically authorized to 
        do so by Act of Congress.

SEC. 5. SAFE HARBOR AGREEMENTS.

    Section 4(f) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
1533(f)) (as amended by section 5(a)) is amended by adding at the end 
the following:
            ``(5) Safe harbor agreements.--The Secretary may offer to 
        enter into an agreement, to be known as a `safe harbor 
        agreement', with 1 or more entities, including a State or local 
        government, a private landowner, a lessee, private third-party 
        conservation organization, or any other entity that the 
        Secretary determines appropriate, that--
                    ``(A) shall provide for the taking of any 
                additional threatened species or endangered species 
                that--
                            ``(i) is not covered under another 
                        agreement under this subsection; and
                            ``(ii) is drawn to the property covered by 
                        that agreement due to the improved conditions 
                        on that property generated by recovery 
                        activities for the benefit of the species 
                        covered by the agreement; and
                    ``(B) may provide for the taking of any threatened 
                species or endangered species covered under another 
                agreement under this subsection and any additional 
                threatened species or endangered species not covered 
                under that agreement that is drawn to an adjacent 
                property not covered by the agreement due to the 
                improved conditions on the property covered by the 
                agreement generated by recovery activities for the 
                benefit of the species covered by the agreement.''.
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