Sponsor
Tom McClintock
Representative · R-CA
Representative · R-CA
The bill increases transparency and local government access to the data behind ESA listings and standardizes litigation fee rules—giving the public and subnational authorities more insight and predictability—while imposing new administrative costs, raising confidentiality and proprietary-data risks, and potentially reducing private enforcement and slowing protections for some species.
Researchers, conservationists, landowners, and the public will gain greater access to the underlying scientific and commercial data used for ESA listings and critical-habitat rules, improving transparency and the ability to review and comment on federal decisions.
State, Tribal, and county governments will receive underlying data before listing decisions and have their submissions explicitly recognized as 'data,' increasing the practical influence of local information on species assessments and improving federal–local coordination.
Taxpayers, agencies, and the public can track federal spending on ESA litigation through annual reports and a searchable monthly database, improving oversight of legal costs, settlements, and staff resource use.
Federal wildlife agencies (FWS/NOAA/Interior) will face substantial new administrative burdens to collect, review, redact where appropriate, and publish datasets and monthly litigation reporting, increasing costs, diverting staff time, and potentially delaying rulemaking and conservation actions.
Shifting ESA fee awards into EAJA/§504 may reduce or eliminate recoveries that some prevailing plaintiffs previously obtained under ESA-specific rules, lowering incentives for private enforcement and likely leading to fewer suits to enforce species protections.
Making underlying commercial data publicly available risks revealing proprietary or sensitive business and operational information for utilities, developers, and other private parties (and possibly agencies), harming businesses' confidentiality and competitive positions.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Requires DOI to post and share the scientific/commercial data behind ESA listings, broaden the statutory definition of data to include State/Tribal/county submissions, disclose federal ESA litigation spending, and align fee awards with EAJA/5 U.S.C. §504.
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
Requires the Interior Department to publicly post the scientific and commercial data underlying endangered-species listing and critical-habitat rules, to share those data with affected States before final determinations, and to expand the statutory definition of “data” to explicitly include submissions from State, Tribal, and county governments. Creates annual public reporting and a searchable online database of federal expenditures and case information for lawsuits and administrative proceedings under the Endangered Species Act involving specified federal agencies. Also aligns attorney-fee awards under the ESA with the Equal Access to Justice Act and 5 U.S.C. §504 and preserves limited nondisclosure for classified DoD information and state-law-protected information.