Endangered Species Recovery Transparency Act

Endangered Species Recovery Transparency Act - Amends the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) to require the Department of the Interior to submit an annual report detailing federal expenditures for civil actions brought under the ESA containing claims that are based on the actions of Interior, the Forest Service, the National Marine Fisheries Service, the Bonneville Power Administration, the Western Area Power Administration, the Southwestern Power Administration, or the Southeastern Power Administration. Requires Interior to make the information available online in a searchable database.

Requires the report to include the total funds expended to respond to ESA lawsuits, the number of full-time employees dedicated to ESA lawsuits, and attorneys' fees awarded in the course of ESA lawsuits and settlements.

[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4316 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4316

 To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to improve the disclosure 
    of certain expenditures under that Act, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 27, 2014

 Mrs. Lummis (for herself, Mr. Hastings of Washington, Mr. Amodei, Mr. 
  Bishop of Utah, Mr. Collins of Georgia, Mr. Harris, Mr. Huizenga of 
     Michigan, Mr. Lankford, Mr. Luetkemeyer, Mr. Neugebauer, Mr. 
Southerland, Mr. Thompson of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Valadao) introduced 
  the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to improve the disclosure 
    of certain expenditures under 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 ``Endangered Species Recovery 
Transparency Act''.

SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF EXPENDITURES UNDER ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT OF 
              1973.

    (a) Requirement To Disclose.--Section 13 of the Endangered Species 
Act of 1973 (87 Stat. 902; relating to conforming amendments which have 
executed) is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 13. DISCLOSURE OF EXPENDITURES.

    ``(a) Requirement.--The Secretary of the Interior, in consultation 
with the Secretary of Commerce, shall--
            ``(1) not later than 90 days after the end of each fiscal 
        year, submit to the Committee on Natural Resources of the House 
        of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natural 
        Resources of the Senate an annual report detailing Federal 
        Government expenditures for covered suits during the preceding 
        fiscal year (including the information described in subsection 
        (b)); and
            ``(2) make publicly available through the Internet a 
        searchable database of the information described in subsection 
        (b).
    ``(b) Included Information.--The report shall include--
            ``(1) the case name and number of each covered suit, and a 
        hyperlink to the record or decision for each covered suit (if 
        available);
            ``(2) a description of the claims in each covered suit;
            ``(3) the name of each covered agency whose actions gave 
        rise to a claim in a covered suit;
            ``(4) funds expended by each covered agency (disaggregated 
        by agency account) to receive and respond to notices referred 
        to in section 11(g)(2) or to prepare for litigation of, 
        litigate, negotiate a settlement agreement or consent decree 
        in, or provide material, technical, or other assistance in 
        relation to, a covered suit;
            ``(5) the number of full-time equivalent employees that 
        participated in the activities described in paragraph (4); and
            ``(6) attorneys fees and other expenses (disaggregated by 
        agency account) awarded in covered suits, including any consent 
        decrees or settlement agreements (regardless of whether a 
        decree or settlement agreement is sealed or otherwise subject 
        to nondisclosure provisions), including the bases for such 
        awards.
    ``(c) Requirement To Provide Information.--The head of each covered 
agency shall provide to the Secretary in a timely manner all 
information requested by the Secretary to comply with the requirements 
of this section.
    ``(d) Limitation on Disclosure.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of this section, this section shall not affect any 
restriction in a consent decree or settlement agreement on the 
disclosure of information that is not described in subsection (b).
    ``(e) Definitions.--
            ``(1) Covered agency.--The term `covered agency' means any 
        agency of the Department of the Interior, the Forest Service, 
        or the National Marine Fisheries Service.
            ``(2) Covered suit.--The term `covered suit' means any 
        civil action containing a claim against the Federal Government, 
        in which the claim arises under this Act and is based on the 
        action of a covered agency.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in the first section 
of such Act is amended by striking the item relating to such section 
and inserting the following:

``Sec. 13. Disclosure of expenditures.''.
    (c) Prior Amendments Not Affected.--This section shall not be 
construed to affect the amendments made by section 13 of such Act, as 
in effect before the enactment of this Act.
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