H.R. 281, Grizzly Bear State Management Act

H.R. 281 would direct the Department of the Interior, without regard to other provisions of law, to reissue the final rule, “Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Removing the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem Population of Grizzly Bears From the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife.” The bill also would exempt that reissued rule from judicial review. The rule was submitted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), published in the Federal Register on June 30, 2017, and took effect on July 31, 2017. A court order in 2018 reinstated protection of the grizzly bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Under H.R. 281, the reinstated rule would again remove grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem from protection under the ESA.

Under current law, USFWS collects permitting fees for lawful activities that involve protected species, including scientific research, conservation, and unintentional taking of animals while performing permitted activities. Under H.R. 281, permits would no longer be required for such activities involving grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Permitting fees are recorded in the budget as offsetting receipts (that is, as reductions in direct spending) and are available to be spent without further appropriation. Using information from USFWS, CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 281would reduce those receipts and the consequent spending by an insignificant amount over the 2025-2035 period so that the net increase in direct spending would be negligible.

Violators of the ESA are subject to civil and criminal penalties, which are recorded in the budget as revenues; those penalties can be spent without further appropriation. Using information from USFWS, CBO estimates that any reductions in penalties and the associated spending would be insignificant because of the small number of related cases expected to occur over the 2025-2035 period.

Under current law, plaintiffs who challenge the federal government under the ESA may be entitled to the repayment of attorneys’ fees. Such payments are made from the federal government’s Judgment Fund, which has a permanent indefinite appropriation. CBO expects that by prohibiting judicial review, H.R. 281 could reduce the number of civil actions that otherwise would be filed and thus the potential for payments from the fund. Based on the amount of such payments in the past, CBO estimates that any decrease in direct spending for those payments would be insignificant over the 2025-2035 period.

Finally, using information from USFWS, CBO estimates that the administrative costs to reissue the regulation under H.R. 281 would be insignificant; any related spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

H.R. 281 would impose an intergovernmental and private-sector mandate, as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA), by eliminating a right of action for entities to seek a judicial review of the administrative rule required by the bill. Because the rights of action precluded under the bill do not generally result in monetary damages, CBO estimates that the cost of the mandates would fall well below the intergovernmental and private-sector thresholds established in UMRA ($103 million and $206 million in 2025, respectively, adjusted annually for inflation).

The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Lilia Ledezma (for federal costs) and Erich Dvorak (for mandates). The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.