Sponsors (5)
The bill shifts grizzly-bear management to state and local control, giving local communities more flexibility and faster responses but raising significant risks to conservation outcomes, public safety, and legal oversight by eliminating federal protections and judicial review.
State and local governments will regain regulatory authority over grizzly bears, allowing faster, locally driven decisions on livestock compensation and conflict response that can reduce delays for affected communities.
Residents and businesses near Yellowstone will face reduced federal restrictions on land use and hunting, likely easing economic constraints on ranching, recreation, and other local economic activities.
Farmers, tribes, conservation groups, states, and other stakeholders will be barred from judicial review of the delisting, removing court oversight and limiting legal recourse against potential statutory or scientific problems.
Grizzly bears and nearby rural communities will face reduced federal conservation oversight and potential cuts to recovery funding, increasing the risk of population declines or instability for the species.
People living near grizzly habitat will face higher public-safety risks if federal protections are removed and state rules permit expanded hunting or fewer protective measures.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced January 9, 2025 by Harriet Hageman · Last progress January 9, 2025
Requires the Department of the Interior to reissue, within 180 days of enactment, a prior final rule that removed the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bear population from the federal list of endangered and threatened species. The reissuance must occur “without regard to” other laws that normally apply to rulemaking, and the bill also bars any judicial review of that reissuance. A separate short provision only provides a short title for the law.