Full Committee Hearing: Full Committee Legislative Hearing

Date: Tuesday, September 9, 2014 Time: 10:00 AM

WHAT: Full Committee Legislative Hearing on:

  • ?H.R. 1314 (Flores),?To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to establish a procedure for approval of certain settlements;
  • ?H.R. 1927 (Costa), ?To provide congressional direction for implementation of the Endangered Species Act as it relates to operation of the Central Valley Project and the California State Water Project and for water relief in the State of California. ?"More Water and Security for Californians Act;"
  • ?H.R. 4256 (Stewart), ?To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require, in counting the number of a species in a State for purposes of determining whether the species is an endangered or threatened species, inclusion of the number of the species on State and private lands as determined by the State, and for other purposes. ?"Endangered Species Improvement Act of 2014;"
  • ??H.R. 4284 (Neugebauer), ?To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to encourage greater State input and authority over species and habitat management by allowing States to propose and implement State Protective Action before species are listed under that Act, and for other purposes. ?"ESA Improvement Act of 2014;"
  • ??H.R. 4319 (Crawford), ?To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require the Secretary of the Interior to publish and make available for public comment a draft economic analysis at the time a proposed rule to designate critical habitat is published. ?"Common Sense in Species Protection Act of 2014;" ?and
  • ?H.R. 4866 (Mullin), ?To reverse the Department of the Interior's listing of the lesser prairie chicken as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, to prevent further consideration of listing of such species as a threatened species or endangered species under that Act pending implementation of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies' Lesser Prairie-Chicken Range-Wide Conservation Plan and other conservation measures, and for other purposes. ?"Lesser Prairie Chicken Voluntary Recovery Act of 2014."

WHERE: 1324 Longworth House Office Building, US Capitol Complex, Washington DC
WHEN: 10AM, Tuesday, September 9, 2014

WITNESSES:

PANEL I

The Honorable Todd Staples (H.R. 4284)
Commissioner
Texas Department of Agriculture
Austin, Texas

Mr. Randy Veach (H.R. 4319)
President
Arkansas Farm Bureau
Little Rock, Arkansas

Mr. Robert L. Fischman
Professor of Law
Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Bloomington, Indiana

Mr. Gary Frazer
Assistant Director for Ecological Services
United State Fish and Wildlife Service
Department of the Interior
Washington, DC

Mr. Tom Ray (H.R. 1314)
Water Resources Program Manager
Hicks-Ray Associates
Texas Water Conservation Assoc. and the Western Coalition of Arid States (WESTCAS)
Waco, Texas

PANEL II

The Honorable Dave Miller (H.R. 4256)
Commissioner
Iron County, Utah
Cedar City, Utah

Mr. Robin Jennison (H.R. 4866)
Secretary
Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks & Tourism
Topeka, Kansas

Mr. Ya-wei Li
Director
Endangered Species Conservation
Defenders of Wildlife
Washington, DC

Ms. Donna Wieting
Director
Office of Protected Resources
National Marine Fisheries Service
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Washington, DC

Mr. Gary Frazer
Assistant Director for Ecological Services
United State Fish and Wildlife Service
Department of the Interior
Washington, DC

Mr. Thomas W. Birmingham (H.R. 1927)
General Manager/General Counsel
Westlands Water District
Fresno, California