jiayi-li23/proxann_data huggingface dataset:
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2013-03-14 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The expanded summary of the House reported version is repeated here.)

 Permanent Electronic Duck Stamp Act of 2013 - Grants the Secretary of the Interior permanent authority to authorize any state to issue electronic duck stamps.

Sets forth state electronic duck stamp application requirements. Allows the Secretary to determine the number of new states permitted per year to participate in the electronic duck stamp program.

Instructs the Secretary to require electronic stamp revenue and customer information collected by each state to be transmitted in accordance with a written agreement between the Secretary and the state.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2013-03-20 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on June 17, 2013. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Amends the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 to extend through FY2017 the authorization of appropriations for volunteer services for programs conducted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), community partnership projects for national wildlife refuges, and refuge education programs.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2013-03-21 00:00:00

Amends the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require the Secretary of the Interior, within 30 days after being served with a complaint in an action alleging a failure to perform an act or duty related to an endangered species or threatened species determination, to publish the complaint. Prohibits the failure of the Secretary to meet such deadline from being the basis for such an action. Sets forth requirements concerning the intervention in such actions by affected parties and referral to a mediation program.

Authorizes the court, in issuing any final order in such an action, to award litigation costs to any party. Prohibits the court from: (1) awarding litigation costs in any proposed covered settlement, (2) granting a motion that is based on a proposed covered settlement or other consent decree that includes payment for litigation costs, (3) approving a proposed covered settlement unless each state and county in which the Secretary believes a species occurs approves it, or (4) granting a motion that is based on a proposed covered settlement unless such settlement is approved by each such state and county. Requires the courts to ensure that such a settlement is approved by each such state and county.

Requires the Secretary to provide notice of a proposed covered settlement to each such state and county. Authorizes a court to approve such a settlement or grant such a motion if, within 45 days of notification: (1) a state or county fails to respond, and (2) each state or county that responds approves the covered settlement, or (3) all of the states and counties fail to respond.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2013-03-21 00:00:00

Marine Turtle Conservation Reauthorization Act of 2013 - Amends the Marine Turtle Conservation Act of 2004 to provide for its applicability to the United States (currently, the Act applies to foreign countries).

Authorizes appropriations to the Marine Turtle Conservation Fund for FY2014-FY2018. Authorizes an increase in the amount available from the Fund for administrative expenses. Requires not less than 20% of amounts made available from the Fund for any fiscal year to be used for projects relating to the conservation of marine turtles in the United States.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Government operations and politics
Date: 2013-03-21 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

 Wildlife Refuge System Conservation Semipostal Stamp Act of 2013 - Directs the United States Postal Service (USPS) to issue and sell, at a premium, a Wildlife Refuge System Conservation Semipostal Stamp. Requires the use of such stamp to be voluntary on the part of postal patrons.

Requires proceeds from the sale of the semipostal stamp to be transferred to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to help fund the maintenance backlog and operational shortfall of the National Wildlife Refuge System. Prohibits such proceeds from being taken into account in any decision relating to the level of appropriations or other federal funding to be furnished to the USFWS or allocated to the System.

Requires the stamp to be made available to the public for at least two years.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2013-04-11 00:00:00

Prevent All Soring Tactics Act of 2013 or the PAST Act - Amends the Horse Protection Act (HPA) to replace the Designated Qualified Persons program responsible for inspecting horses for soring with a new inspection system. (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.) Directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to prescribe regulatory requirements to license, train, assign, and oversee persons who are to be hired by the management of horse shows, exhibitions, sales, or auctions and are qualified to detect and diagnose sore horses or otherwise inspect horses at such events.

Prohibits issuing a license to any person unless such person is free from conflicts of interest. Authorizes USDA to revoke a license for unsatisfactory performance. Requires USDA to give a preference to persons who are licensed or accredited veterinarians in issuing the licenses.

Requires USDA to assign USDA-licensed inspectors after receiving notice that management intends to hire the inspectors.

Directs an inspector to issue a citation for violations and notify USDA of the violations within five days of the citation being issued.

Requires USDA to: (1) publish on the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's website information on violations of such Act; and (2) disqualify a horse that is sore for specified time periods that increase after the first, second, and third instance.

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

 Prohibits showing, exhibiting, selling, or auctioning a Tennessee Walking, a Racking, or a Spotted Saddle horse with: (1) an action device that causes friction by rotating around a horse's leg or sliding up and down the leg or strikes the hoof, coronet band, fetlock joint, or pastern of the horse; or (2) a weighted shoe, pad, wedge, hoof band, or other device or material if it is constructed to artificially alter a horse's gait and is not strictly protective or therapeutic.

Increases the maximum criminal penalties and maximum civil liability penalties for certain HPA violations.

Authorizes USDA to disqualify a violator from: (1) transporting or arranging for the transportation of a horse to or from a show, exhibition, sale, or auction; (2) personally giving instructions to an exhibitor; or (3) being knowingly present in a warm-up area, inspection area, or other area that spectators are not permitted.

 Permits USDA to permanently disqualify a person with at least three violations after notice and an opportunity for a hearing.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2013-04-25 00:00:00

Multispecies Habitat Conservation Plan Implementation Act - Amends P.L. 99-548, commonly known as the Mesquite Lands Act of 1986, to require proceeds from sales in the fourth area to be used for the implementation of a multispecies habitat conservation plan for the Virgin River in Clark County, Nevada, including any associated groundwater monitoring plan.

Amends the Lincoln County Land Act of 2000 to require implementation of a multispecies habitat conservation plan in Lincoln County, Nevada.

Extends, until November 29, 2021, withdrawal and purchase authority with respect to the fifth and sixth areas.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2013-04-26 00:00:00

Cormorant Management and Natural Resources Protection Act - Amends the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to delegate the authority of the Secretary of the Interior under such Act with respect to double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) to a state on the date the Secretary approves a cormorant management plan submitted by such state.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) approve or disapprove a management plan within 60 days of the plan's submission, (2) approve such plan if it is in accordance with U.S. obligations under treaties and federal law, (3) provide to the relevant governor the reasons for disapproving a plan and an opportunity to revise and resubmit the plan, (4) review each approved state management plan every five years, and (5) revoke such approval and delegation if the plan or the governor's exercise of delegated authority is not in accordance with such Act or any treaty implemented by such Act. Deems a management plan approved if the Secretary doesn't approve or disapprove it within 60 days after submission.

Applies an approved management plan in lieu of regulations issued under such Act.

Requires the Secretary to conduct educational and informational activities for the owners and operators of aquaculture facilities to improve their efforts to prevent cormorants from consuming aquatic species being reared in such facilities.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2013-04-26 00:00:00

Maine Coastal Islands Wilderness Act of 2013 - Designates specified lands in Maine within the Cross Island National Wildlife Refuge, to be known as the Cross Island Wilderness, and within the Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge, to be known as the Maine Coastal Islands Wilderness, as wilderness and as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2013-04-26 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Polar Bear Conservation and Fairness Act of 2013 - Amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to direct the Secretary of the Interior to issue a permit for the importation of any polar bear part (other than an internal organ) from a polar bear taken in a sport hunt in Canada to any person who submits proof that the polar bear was legally harvested before May 15, 2008 (currently by February 18, 1997), when polar bears were listed as a threatened species by the Department of the Interior.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2013-04-26 00:00:00

Restoration of the U.S.-Russia Polar Bear Conservation Fund Act of 2013 - Amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to allow the importation of polar bear parts taken legally in sport hunts in Canada.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Crime and law enforcement
Date: 2013-04-30 00:00:00

Protecting Lakes Against Quaggas Act of 2013 or the PLAQ Act of 2013 - Amends the federal criminal code to prohibit the importation or shipment of the species of mussels of the genus Dreissena (thus covering quagga mussels). (Currently, the prohibition applies to only the zebra mussel of the species Dreissena polymorpha.)
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2013-05-07 00:00:00

Enhancement of Species Survival Act - Amends the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to define the term "enhancement of propagation or survival" to mean directly or indirectly improving a species' sustainability in the wild.

Requires the Secretary (Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Commerce, or the Secretary of Agriculture, as the case may be) (who under existing law is already authorized) to allow certain prohibited acts for scientific purposes or to enhance the propagation or survival of endangered species of fish or wildlife or plants, including, but not limited to, acts necessary for the establishment and maintenance of experimental populations of such species.

Authorizes the appropriate Secretary to allow the otherwise prohibited taking of any such species within the United States or the U.S. territorial sea if it is incidental to, and not the purpose of, carrying out of an otherwise lawful activity.

Directs the appropriate Secretary to permit the importation of a sport-hunted trophy or other specimen that was legally taken from a population of a species not native to the United States (including a domestic population of such species), if it is listed as an endangered or threatened species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and all trade in the trophy or specimen is in accordance with Convention requirements and relevant resolutions and quotas adopted by the Convention.

 Requires also permission to import a sport-hunted trophy or other specimen of a marine mammal that has been legally taken from a depleted population stock listed as an endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Water resources development
Date: 2013-05-09 00:00:00

More Water and Security for Californians Act - Deems requirements of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 relating to operations of the Central Valley Project and the California State Water Project to be satisfied with regard to the species and their critical habitat covered by the biological opinions for the operations of such Projects issued by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) if:

 the alternatives described in that portion of the biological opinions entitled "Reasonable and Prudent Alternatives" are implemented; and the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce ensure that: (1) between December 1 and June 30, neither such biological opinion shall restrict flow in Old and Middle Rivers to a 14-day average of the mean daily flow to achieve flow less negative than -5,000 cubic feet per second; (2) between April 1 and May 31, rates of pumping at the C.W. "Bill" Jones Pumping Plant and Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant shall not be reduced pursuant to such NMFS opinion, except as required to implement California State Water Resources Control Board Water Rights Decision 1641 or a superseding water rights decision; and (3) between September 1 and November 30, a monthly average x2 (salinity zone index) of no greater than 74 km from the Golden Gate shall be maintained only to the extent that such action does not diminish the capability of either the Central Valley Project or the California State Water Project to make water available for other authorized project purposes. Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to modify such mandates  upon recommendations of the National Research Council Committee on Sustainable Water and Environmental Management in the California Bay-Delta, if such modifications would: (1) provide greater benefits to the species covered by such biological opinions, and (2) not reduce the water delivery capability of such Projects more than their delivery capability allowed under such mandates.

Requires such Secretaries to: (1) establish a fish hatchery program or refuge to preserve and restore the delta smelt in collaboration with the governor of California; (2) implement a habitat program under which each Secretary shall identify, prioritize, and implement key ecosystem restoration and fish passage projects in the ecosystem of, and on tributaries to, the California Bay-Delta to help ensure the viability of at-risk species and  threatened or endangered species; and (3) install the Head of Old River Barrier during the April-May pulse flow, as set forth in California State Water Resources Control Board Water Rights Decision 1641.

Preempts any state law that authorizes the imposition of restrictions on the operation of the Projects in a manner that is more restrictive than this Act.

Terminates this Act on March 1, 2020.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2013-05-15 00:00:00

Big Cats and Public Safety Protection Act - Amends the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 to prohibit any person from importing, exporting, transporting, selling, receiving, acquiring, purchasing in interstate or foreign commerce, breeding, or possessing any prohibited wildlife species (current law prohibits importing, exporting, transporting, selling, receiving, acquiring, or purchasing such a species in interstate or foreign commerce). Includes among exemptions to such prohibition the breeding transportation, or possession of such species by authorized persons.

Defines "breeding" as facilitating the propagation or reproduction (whether intentionally or negligently), or failing to prevent the propagation or reproduction, of a prohibited wildlife species or other animal.

Removes from the list of persons authorized to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, purchase, breed, or possess such species a person that is licensed or registered, and inspected, by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) or any other federal agency with respect to such species. Includes in such list:

 an institution accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) or certified related facilities that coordinate with an AZA Species Survival Plan for breeding of species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973; a wildlife sanctuary that cares for such species, is a tax exempt corporation, does not commercially trade in or propagate such species, does not allow direct contact between the public and animals, and does not allow the transportation and display of such species off-site; a person that is in possession of animals of such species that were born before the date of this Act's enactment and that are registered with APHIS within 180 days after such regulations are promulgated; and a traveling circus that regularly travels in interstate commerce to conduct performances featuring live prohibited wildlife species and multiple trained human entertainers, that does not allow members of the public to be in direct contact with or unsafe proximity to a prohibited wildlife species of any age, and that, during the three years preceding this Act's enactment, has not been determined by the Secretary of Agriculture to have violated the Animal Welfare Act by reason of jeopardizing the health and well-being of a prohibited wildlife species. Establishes civil and criminal penalties and forfeiture requirements for violations of this Act.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Agriculture and food
Date: 2013-05-21 00:00:00

Transparency for Lethal Control Act - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA), through the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, to submit an annual report to Congress (and make such report publicly available on the Internet) on the animals killed during the preceding year under the wildlife services program or by a state or local entity acting in cooperation with or on behalf of such program.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Animals
Date: 2013-05-23 00:00:00

Expedited Departure of Certain Snake Species Act - Eases restrictions on transporting invasive animals under the Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 for the transport of the Burmese python, Indian python, Northern African python, Southern African python, and Yellow anaconda. Allows an intermediate stop during the transport of those snakes if: (1) the stop is made in a designated airport in the course of transport that begins at a designated airport and ends at a place outside of the United States no later than 48 hours after the transport begins, (2) the transport does not include a stop in Hawaii, or (3) the snake is in a qualified secure container during transport between aircraft used to transport the snake outside of the United States.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Environmental protection
Date: 2013-06-06 00:00:00

Infrastructure Facilitation and Habitat Conservation Act of 2013 - Requires the Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary) to establish a program to provide loans and loan guarantees to enable state political subdivisions  to acquire interests in real property pursuant to habitat conservation plans approved by the Secretary of the Interior under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Requires the Secretary to: (1) submit loan applications for the Secretary of the Interior's review, which shall include a determination that the subdivision has adopted a complementary plan for sustainable infrastructure development that provides for the mitigation of environmental impacts; and (2) give preference to such subdivisions located in biologically rich regions in which rapid growth and development threaten successful implementation of approved habitat conservation plans.
Topic: Environment — Species & Forest
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Date: 2013-06-20 00:00:00

(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act - Amends the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act to: (1) authorize a state to pay up to 90% of the costs of acquiring land for, expanding, or constructing a public target range; (2) authorize a state to elect to allocate 10% of a specified amount apportioned to it from the federal aid to wildlife restoration fund for such costs; (3) limit the federal share of such costs under such Act to 90%; and (4) require amounts provided for such costs under such Act to remain available for expenditure and obligation for five fiscal years.

Shields the United States from any civil action or claim for money damages for injury to or loss of property, personal injury, or death caused by an activity occurring at a public target range that is funded by the federal government pursuant to such Act or located on federal land, except to the extent provided under the Federal Tort Claims Act with respect to the exercise or performance of a discretionary function.

 Urges the Chief of the Forest Service and the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to cooperate with state and local authorities and other entities to carry out waste removal and other activities on any federal land used as a public target range to encourage its continued use for target practice or marksmanship training.