This legislation makes critical reforms to the ESA to clarify existing definitions and establish an environmental baseline to measure successful outcomes. It will incentivize the recovery of listed species, promote species conservation on private and public lands and create greater transparency and accountability in the ESA regulatory process. It also:

• Codifies the listing work plan structure to create flexibility in times where too many petitions are being submitted relative to federal agencies’ capacity to process them
  
• Gives regulatory certainty that critical habitat will not be designated if a private landowner is working to implement a plan that conserves the listed species in question.
  
• Allow states to develop and submit recovery strategies for species that are candidates for listing or listed as threatened.
• Requires agencies to act on 5-year review determinations of listed species.
• Prohibits judicial review within the 5-year monitoring period after a species is delisted.
• Requires agencies disclose to Congress all costs associated with ESA-related lawsuits.
• Places a cap on attorney’s fees to successful litigants in line with the Equal Access to Justice Act.
• Clarifies federal agencies or project applicants cannot be required to fully mitigate or offset impacts to listed species caused by an action.
• Requires federal agencies to establish objective, incremental recovery goals for threatened species, decrease stringent regulations as recovery goals are met, and provide for state management of that species in preparation for delisting.

Legislation

H.R. 9533- To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to optimize conservation through resource prioritization, incentivize wildlife conservation on private lands, provide for greater incentives to recover listed species, create greater transparency and accountability in recovering listed species, and limit reasonable and prudent measures.

Press Releases

Resources

ESA Amendments Act of 2024 Toolkit