H.R. 1897
ESA Amendments Act of 2025
Sponsor: Bruce Westerman
26 cosponsors
- Michael A. Rulli
- Andy Biggs
- Celeste Maloy
- Cliff Bentz
- Dan Newhouse
- Doug LaMalfa
- Harriet M. Hageman
- Jeff Hurd
- Mark E. Amodei
- Mike Ezell
- Nicholas J. Begich III
- Paul A. Gosar
- Pete Stauber
- Russ Fulcher
- Thomas P. Tiffany
- Wesley Hunt
- Troy Downing
- Addison P. McDowell
- Lauren Boebert
- Glenn Thompson
- Ken Calvert
- Mike Collins
- Clay Higgins
- Tim Walberg
- Glenn Grothman
- Robert E. Latta
Official summary
Written by the Congressional Research Service.
ESA Amendments Act of 2025
This bill reauthorizes through FY2031 the Endangered Species Act and generally narrows protections provided under the act.
The bill directs the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service to submit a National Listing Work Plan that establishes a five-year schedule and plan for addressing listing of endangered or threatened species and designation of critical habitats for such species. Under the plan, the bill gives the Services flexibility on the timing of acting on listing petitions and eliminates the requirement for the Services to act within 12 months on listing petitions.
The bill limits what land may be designated as critical habitat for an endangered or threatened species.
It also limits protections provided to threatened species and allows a state to regulate the recovery of such species if the Services determine the state's proposed recovery strategy would conserve the species.
The bill provides statutory authority for Conservation Benefit Agreements, which allow private landowners to voluntarily enter agreements to reduce threats to candidate species in exchange for being allowed to continue their operations if the species is later listed.
The bill also modifies the permitting process for certain other voluntary conservation agreements, including by exempting incidental take permits (e.g., permits to harm or kill a species) from environmental review requirements.
The bill also makes a variety of other changes to the act, including limiting consultation requirements, judicial review, and awards for attorneys’ fees in certain cases.
Text of the bill
I Optimizing conservation through resource prioritization
II Incentivizing wildlife conservation on private lands
III Providing for greater incentives to recover listed species
IV Creating greater transparency and accountability in recovering listed species
Where this section came from
Not in the first version (Introduced in House, Mar 6).
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Mar 24, 2026 · Reported in House Marked up by House Committee on Natural Resources, Dec 17 Reported by House Committee on Natural Resources, Mar 24 Committee members' individual votes aren't in our records.
What is a markup?
A markup is a committee meeting where members go through a bill and vote on changes before sending it to the full chamber.
Section 4(b) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1533(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
(9)
(A) The Secretary shall make publicly available on the website of the applicable department the best scientific and commercial data available that is used as the basis for each regulation, including each proposed regulation, promulgated under paragraphs (1) and (3) of subsection (a).
(B) If a Governor, agency, or legislature of a State determines that public disclosure of any best scientific and commercial data available described in subparagraph (A) is prohibited by a law or regulation of the State, including such a law or regulation requiring the protection of personal information—
(i) the Governor, agency, or legislature of the State may submit to the Secretary a request to exempt such best scientific and commercial data available from the application of subparagraph (A); and
(ii) the Secretary shall so exempt such best scientific and commercial data available.
(C) Subparagraph (A) does not apply with respect to global positioning system coordinates or other geographically specific species location information.
(D) Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this paragraph, the Secretary shall execute an agreement with the Secretary of War that prevents the disclosure under this paragraph of classified information pertaining to Department of War personnel, facilities, lands, or waters.
V Streamlining permitting process
VI Eliminating barriers to conservation
VII Restoring congressional intent