Sponsors (37)
The bill preserves hunters' access to lead tackle and reinforces state control over lead restrictions, but does so at the expense of broader federal ability to reduce lead exposure—raising risks to public health and wildlife and potentially increasing costs and delays in protections.
State fish and wildlife agencies retain primary authority to approve unit-specific restrictions on lead ammunition and tackle, preserving state management prerogatives and limiting federal preemption.
Hunters and anglers who use most Federal lands keep access to lead ammunition and fishing tackle, avoiding immediate costs to replace equipment with non-lead alternatives.
Wildlife and conservation outcomes could worsen because federal land managers' ability to implement broad, landscape-scale lead-reduction measures is curtailed, increasing the risk of lead poisoning for species and complicating recovery efforts.
People living near affected public lands (particularly in rural communities) could face higher local lead exposure and associated health risks if federal lead limits are blocked or delayed.
Taxpayers and federal/state resource programs may incur higher costs and slower protections because agencies must gather unit-specific field data and secure state consistency before imposing lead restrictions, making rulemaking more complex and time-consuming.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Prevents Interior and Agriculture agencies from banning or regulating lead ammunition or fishing tackle on federal lands/waters open to hunting and fishing, with a narrow unit-level exception tied to local field data and state concurrence.
Official title: Prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture from prohibiting the use of lead ammunition or tackle on certain Federal land or water under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 12, 2025 by Steve Daines · Last progress February 12, 2025
Prohibits the Interior and Agriculture Departments (through their land management agencies) from banning or regulating lead ammunition or lead fishing tackle on federal lands and waters open to hunting or fishing, and from setting lead-level standards for such gear, with a narrow exception for unit-level actions. Unit-level prohibitions are allowed only if the agency finds a wildlife decline at that specific unit primarily caused by lead based on field data and the measure is consistent with or approved by the relevant state fish and wildlife authority, and the agency publishes a Federal Register notice explaining those findings. The bill does not create new funding or broad program authorizations; it changes regulatory authority by limiting agency-level restrictions on lead ammunition and tackle while preserving a limited site-specific exception tied to state coordination and documented local field data.