Sponsor
Tom McClintock
Representative · R-CA
Representative · R-CA
Official title: To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require publication on the internet of the basis for determinations that species are endangered species or threatened species, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 3, 2025 by Tom McClintock · Last progress January 3, 2025
The bill increases transparency, local involvement, and predictability in ESA litigation fees—benefiting public oversight and some stakeholders—but does so at the cost of higher administrative burden, confidentiality and proprietary risks, potential delays or weakening of species protections, and reduced incentives for private enforcement.
The public (researchers, conservationists, landowners, and other stakeholders) will gain greater access to the underlying scientific and commercial data used for ESA listings and critical-habitat rules, increasing transparency and the ability to review and comment on agency decisions.
State, Tribal, and local governments will receive underlying data before listing decisions and have their submissions explicitly treated as "data," giving local information more weight and improving coordination with federal agencies.
Fee awards in ESA litigation will be determined under established federal fee-shifting statutes (EAJA and 5 U.S.C. §504), creating clearer, uniform standards for who can recover fees and making agency exposure more predictable for budgeting and case management.
Providing full underlying data to States and others before final determinations could lengthen review and allow extended challenges, delaying ESA listings and critical protections for at-risk species.
Changing fee rules may reduce the ability of prevailing plaintiffs to recover ESA litigation costs, which could lower incentives for private enforcement and result in fewer suits that help force agency compliance with species protections.
Agencies (FWS/NOAA/Interior and others) will face increased administrative workload and costs to collect, review, and publish datasets and monthly litigation data, potentially diverting staff time from conservation work and increasing costs for taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Mandates online publication of data behind ESA listings, pre-decision sharing with States, public reporting of federal ESA litigation spending, and applies EAJA/5 U.S.C. §504 to ESA fee awards.
Requires the Department of the Interior to publish online the "best scientific and commercial data" used to support Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing and critical-habitat rules and to share those data with affected States before making listing determinations. It also requires annual, public reporting and a searchable monthly database of federal expenditures and fees in ESA litigation and administrative fee awards, and makes ESA fee awards subject to the Equal Access to Justice Act and the fee statute for adjudications.