jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2016-07-14 00:00:00

Invasive Fish and Wildlife Prevention Act of 2016

This bill sets forth a regulatory process for preventing the introduction and establishment in the United States of certain injurious wildlife that is likely to cause harm to: (1) humans; (2) interests in agriculture, horticulture, or forestry; or (3) wildlife or wildlife resources.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) may: (1) designate certain wildlife as injurious, and (2) make immediate and temporary emergency designations if the injurious wildlife poses an imminent threat. Interested persons may petition the USFWS to designate wildlife as injurious.

The bill: (1) gives the Department of the Interior the primary authority to prevent the importation and sale of wildlife pathogens and harmful parasites, and (2) establishes requirements that address those pathogens and parasites.

The bill prohibits: (1) importing into the United States, or transporting between states, injurious wildlife or wildlife not in trade; and (2) possessing or releasing into the wild such wildlife.

The USFWS may issue permits that authorize the importation or transport of injurious wildlife for scientific, zoological, medical research, or educational purposes.

The USFWS must establish user fees for live wildlife imports.

The bill establishes civil and criminal penalties for violations.

Interior must establish a grant program for supporting states and Indian tribes in: (1) inspecting and monitoring interstate transport of wildlife, and (2) assessing risks associated with the intentional importation of wildlife.

 The bill establishes the Injurious Wildlife Prevention Fund to carry out this bill. Revenues generated by user fees and penalties must be deposited into the fund.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2016-09-08 00:00:00

Limiting Inhumane Federal Trapping for Public Safety Act

This bill prohibits any personnel of the Department of the Interior or the Department of Agriculture (USDA), in performing their duties, from using, recommending, training in the use of, or planning for the use of, any body-gripping trap used to kill or capture an animal. This prohibition does not apply to training in the dismantling of body-gripping traps that have been illegally placed.

No person shall use or possess any body-gripping trap on property under the administrative jurisdiction of Interior or USDA, except in Indian country, regardless of whether the person is employed by, or is working under a contract with, Interior or USDA.

Such prohibitions shall not apply to the use of a body-gripping trap to:

 control documented, invasive species to achieve resource management objectives where alternative methods have failed; or protect a species that is listed as an endangered or threatened species or treated by the Forest Service as a sensitive species. Such exceptions shall not apply unless:

 such use of a body-gripping trap is in accordance with state and federal law; prior to using such a trap, all available and viable nonlethal methods for such control or protection have been attempted; and such attempts have been documented in writing, and the documentation is maintained at the headquarters of the department that employs the individual engaging in such attempt. The bill imposes criminal penalties for violating the prohibitions in this bill.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2016-11-16 00:00:00

Coral Reef Sustainability Through Innovation Act of 2016

This bill amends the Coral Reef Conservation Act to authorize the 12 federal agencies on the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, which includes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to carry out, either individually or cooperatively, prize competitions that promote coral reef research and conservation. The prize competitions should be designed to help the United States achieve its goal of developing new and effective ways to advance the understanding, monitoring, and sustainability of coral reef ecosystems.

Priority is given to establish programs that address communities, environments, or industries that are in distress due to the decline or degradation of coral reef ecosystems.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2016-11-17 00:00:00

Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act

This bill amends the Animal Welfare Act to establish a prohibition on the use of exotic or wild animals in performances (e.g., circus, ride, carnival, or parade) of a traveling animal act. The prohibition does not apply to the use of animals in: (1) zoos; (2) aquariums; (3) research facilities; (4) film, television, or advertising, if the performance is not before a public studio audience; or (5) rodeos. The prohibition also does not apply to domestic animals or farm animals.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2016-12-02 00:00:00

Safeguard Aquaculture Farmers Act

This bill provides the force and effect of law for certain regulations that allow for the taking of double-crested cormorants (birds) that eat fish at aquaculture facilities.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2016-12-07 00:00:00

Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act of 2016

This bill establishes a National Wildlife Corridors System for:

 conserving and restoring habitats that support native fish, wildlife, and plant species that have experienced or may experience habitat loss, degradation, fragmentation, or obstructions of connectivity; providing long-term habitat connectivity for the native species for migration, dispersal, adaptation to environmental change, and genetic exchange; and facilitating coordinated landscape- and seascape-scale connectivity planning and management across departmental jurisdictions. The Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, the Interior, and Transportation must: (1) each create a process for designating lands and waters under their respective administration and control as national wildlife corridors; and (2) manage corridors in a manner that contributes to the long-term connectivity, persistence, resilience, and adaptability of native species.

The bill establishes safety and mitigation requirements for corridors that intersect, adjoin, or cross local, state, or federal roads or highways.

The departments may acquire land to establish and enhance corridors and the land may be purchased with amounts from the Land and Water Conservation Fund or the Wildlife Corridors Stewardship and Protection Fund.

The U.S. Geological Survey must establish and make available to the public a comprehensive National Native Species Habitats and Corridors Geographic Information System Database.

The bill establishes a Wildlife Corridors Stewardship and Protection Fund, which may be used by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for enhancing the management and the protection of corridors and other lands and waters identified as important to further the purposes of the corridor.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Crime and law enforcement
Date: 2015-01-06 00:00:00

Wildlife Trafficking Enforcement Act of 2015

This bill applies provisions of the federal criminal code concerning money laundering and racketeering to wildlife trafficking violations of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the African Elephant Conservation Act, and the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act of 1994, if the endangered or threatened species of fish or wildlife, products, items, or substances involved in the violation and relevant conduct have a total value of more than $10,000. Violators would be subject to increased fines and years of imprisonment.

The amounts generated from penalties for those wildlife violations must be used for the benefit and conservation of impacted species.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2015-01-07 00:00:00

Migratory Bird Treaty Amendment Act of 2013

This bill amends the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to allow an agricultural producer, or a hunter with the producer's permission, to take migratory game birds by the aid of baiting, if: (1) the manipulation occurs on the producer's land on which a crop was not harvestable during the current or immediately preceding crop year due to a natural disaster, and (2) a local representative of the Department of Agriculture confirms that the crop has been destroyed and that it would not be economically practicable to harvest the crop.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2015-01-07 00:00:00

Common Sense in Species Protection Act of 2015

This bill amends the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require the Department of the Interior or the Department of Commerce to exclude an area from designation as a critical habitat to conserve an endangered or threatened species if the benefits of exclusion outweigh the benefits of including the area, unless the failure to designate the area as critical habitat will result in the extinction of the species.

At the time a proposed rule to designate a critical habitat is published, the appropriate department must make available for public comment a draft analysis that: (1) examines the incremental and cumulative economic effects of all actions to protect the species and its habitat upon each state and locality that is affected by the proposed designation; (2) includes consideration of economic effects on possible uses of land and property values, employment, revenues available for state and local governments, and the provision of water, power, or other public services; and (3) assesses those effects on a quantitative and qualitative basis.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2015-01-28 00:00:00

21st Century Endangered Species Transparency Act 

This bill amends the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require the Department of the Interior or the Department of Commerce, as appropriate, to make publicly available on the Internet the best scientific and commercial data available that are the basis for the determination of whether a species is an endangered species or a threatened species, including each proposed regulation for the listing of a species.

The departments are prohibited from making the information publicly available when: (1) the public disclosure of the information is prohibited by state law relating to the protection of personal information, and (2) the state makes a request to a department to withhold the information.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-02-05 00:00:00

Bipartisan Sportsmen's Act of 2015

This bill revises a variety of existing programs to expand access to, and opportunities for, hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting.

The Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act is reauthorized through FY2025. The North American Wetlands Conservation Act and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Establishment Act are reauthorized through FY2020.

Components of firearms and ammunition and sport fishing equipment and its components (such as lead sinkers) are exempted from regulations of chemical substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

The proportion of funding from the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act that states may use for public target ranges is increased.

Interior must issue permits for the importation of polar bear parts taken in sports hunts in Canada before May 15, 2008, which is the date the species was listed as threatened.

The bill revises standards for determining what a baited area is for purposes of the prohibition on taking migratory game birds.

Federal public land management officials must facilitate hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting on certain federal public land. Land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management or the Forest Service must be open for hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting unless the managing agency acts to close the land.

This bill provides special rules to expand access to federal land and waterways for film crews of five people or fewer.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may not prohibit individuals from possessing a firearm in public areas of a water resources development project. The National Park Service may not prohibit individuals from transporting bows and crossbows if certain requirements are met.

Funds from the Land and Water Conservation Fund are allocated for priority projects that secure public access to federal public lands for hunting, fishing, and other recreational purposes.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2015-02-11 00:00:00

Sage-Grouse and Mule Deer Habitat Conservation and Restoration Act of 2015

This bill provides a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) for a vegetation management project by the Bureau of Land Management or the Forest Service involving removal or treatment of any Pinyon or Juniper tree to conserve or restore the habitat of the greater sage-grouse or mule deer.

Under NEPA a categorical exclusion is a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and which have been found to have no such effect in procedures adopted by a federal agency in implementing environmental regulations. Therefore, neither an Environmental Assessment nor an Environmental Impact Statement is required.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2015-02-25 00:00:00

Polar Bear Conservation and Fairness Act of 2015

This bill amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to direct Department of the Interior to issue a permit for the importation of a polar bear part (other than an internal organ) from a bear taken in a sport hunt in Canada to any permit applicant who has submitted proof that the polar bear was: (1) legally harvested by the applicant before the May 15, 2008, listing of the polar bear as threatened, and (2) harvested from an approved polar bear population. Interior must issue these permits without regard to limits on importing marine mammals with depleted populations.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2015-02-26 00:00:00

Hunter and Farmer Protection Act of 2015

This bill amends the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to revise standards for determining what constitutes baiting for purposes of the prohibition on taking migratory game birds.

A baited area, in the case of waterfowl, cranes, and coots, includes a standing, unharvested crop that has been manipulated through activities such as mowing, discing, or rolling, unless the activities are normal agricultural practices. An area is not considered to be a baited area if it: (1) has been treated with a normal agricultural practice, (2) has standing crops that have not been manipulated, or (3) has standing crops that have been or are flooded.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) must submit to the Department of the Interior a report on changes to normal agricultural practices across the range of crops grown by agricultural producers in each region of the United States in which USDA harvest practice recommendations are provided to agricultural producers.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2015-03-04 00:00:00

This bill prohibits the Department of the Interior from using any funds to make a determination on the listing of the northern long-eared bat (myotis septentrionalis) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Interior proposed in October 2013 to list the northern long-eared bat as endangered.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2015-03-11 00:00:00

This bill amends the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act to delay by 10 years until 2026 the date after which interest from the wildlife conservation and restoration fund is available for apportionment.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2015-03-12 00:00:00

State, Tribal, and Local Species Transparency and Recovery Act

This bill amends the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require the Department of the Interior or the Department of Commerce, as appropriate, to provide to affected states all data that is used as the basis of a determination on whether a species is an endangered species or a threatened species before making a determination.

The appropriate Department must use data submitted by a state, tribal, or county government in making such a determination.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2015-03-24 00:00:00

Endangered Species Management Self-Determination Act

Amends the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) to require the consent of the governor of a state in which a species is present for: (1) a determination of endangered or threatened species status by regulation, and (2) listing of the species as endangered or threatened by the Department of the Interior upon a determination by the Department of Commerce.

Eliminates a rulemaking procedure involving the petitioning by an interested person for adding a species to, or removing a species from, the lists of endangered and threatened species.

Defines "best scientific and commercial data," for purposes of determinations, to include any scientific evidence made available by any state agency.

Subjects determinations by Interior and Commerce to list species as endangered or threatened to congressional approval by joint resolution. Requires removal of each species listed on an approved list five years after the joint resolution is enacted. Provides a procedure for re-submission by Interior, in consultation with the governor of each state in which the endangered or threatened species is present, of a list including a species so removed and subjects that list to approval by joint resolution.

 Eliminates the requirement for guidelines concerning petitions.

Establishes a process for exclusive state regulation of endangered or threatened species determined by a state governor to be present only within that state. Precludes judicial review of any such action. Subjects the following to the process of intrastate regulation: (1) issuance of species conservation regulations, (2) recovery plan implementation, (3) species recovery monitoring, and (4) establishment of agency guidelines.

Requires the Bonneville, Southeastern, Southwestern, and Western Area Power Administrations, except with respect to intrastate species regulation, to include in customer monthly billing statements information on the share of costs to the customer incurred as a result of ESA compliance.

Allows an owner or lessee of any real property to submit to Interior an application that includes any proposed use of the real property for a determination of whether the use will violate ESA. Deems the use to be compliant if Interior fails to respond within 90 days. Allows the owner or lessee to seek compensation (150% of the property's fair market value) if the use is determined to violate ESA and an action of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service diminishes the fair market value of any real property by at least 50% with respect to the intended use.

Eliminates the award of attorney fees in citizen suits under ESA.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2015-04-22 00:00:00

Sage-Grouse Protection and Conservation Act

This bill addresses the management of the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and the Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus) in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

If the Department of Agriculture (USDA) or the Department of the Interior receives, or has already received, from one of those states a statewide conservation and management plan for the protection and recovery of those sage-grouse species, the appropriate department must take steps during the next six years to: (1) allow for appropriate monitoring and collection of data, and (2) assess the state plan's success.

The appropriate department must: (1) share data with states and assist them in developing and implementing plans; (2) require states that opt to have plans in lieu of federal endangered species plans to monitor and report on relevant data, including population trends; (3) use statewide plans as the basis for all relevant determinations under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969; and (4) stay any land use planning activities relating to federal management of sage-grouse species on public land or National Forest System land within those states that have plans.

The appropriate department may extend the provisions of the bill for six more years with the consent of the relevant state.

Interior must fully implement for at least six years Secretarial Order 3336 to prevent and suppress rangeland fire and restore sagebrush landscapes impacted by fire across the Western United States.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2015-04-23 00:00:00

Refuge from Cruel Trapping Act

 Amends the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 to prohibit the use or possession of body-gripping traps in the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Imposes on persons who possess or use such traps in the System: (1) for a first offense, a civil fine of up to $500 for each body-gripping trap possessed or used; and (2) for subsequent offenses, a civil fine of up to $1,000 for each body-gripping trap possessed or used, imprisonment for up to 180 days, or both such a civil fine and imprisonment.

Subjects to civil forfeiture any body-gripping traps that are possessed or used in violation of this Act, and any wildlife captured by the use of such traps, including the pelts and raw fur.

Requires persons found to be in violation of such prohibition to pay all associated court costs.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2015-04-28 00:00:00

Prevent All Soring Tactics Act of 2015 or the PAST Act 

This bill amends the Horse Protection Act to establish a new system for inspecting horses for soring, revise penalties for violations of the Act, and modify enforcement procedures. The soring of horses is any of various actions taken on a horse's limb to produce a higher gait that may cause pain, distress, inflammation, or lameness.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) must establish requirements to license, train, assign, and oversee persons hired by the management of horse shows, exhibitions, sales, or auctions to detect and diagnose sore horses. A license may not be issued to a person with conflicts of interest, and USDA must give preference to veterinarians. USDA may revoke a license for unsatisfactory performance. USDA must assign licensed inspectors after receiving notice that management intends to hire the inspectors. An inspector must issue a citation for violations and notify USDA of violations. USDA must publish information on violations of this bill and disqualify a horse that is sore.

The bill prohibits a person in any horse show, exhibition, sale, or auction from causing or directing a horse to become sore for the purpose of showing, exhibiting, selling, or auctioning the horse.

The bill prohibits the use of specified devices on a Tennessee Walking, a Racking, or a Spotted Saddle horse at a show, exhibition, sale, or auction.

The bill increases the maximum criminal and civil liability penalties for certain violations. USDA may disqualify violators from specified activities related to horse shows, exhibitions, sales, and auctions.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2015-04-30 00:00:00

Native Species Protection Act

This bill prohibits an intrastate species from being: (1) considered to be in interstate commerce; and (2) subject to regulation under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, or any other provision of law under which regulatory authority is based on the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce under the Commerce Clause.

An intrastate species is any species of plant or fish or wildlife that is: (1) found entirely within the borders of a single state, and (2) not part of a national market for any commodity.