# 119-hr-1897: ESA Amendments Act of 2025

119-hr-1897, ESA Amendments Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Westerman, Bruce [R-AR-4] (R-AR) with 26 cosponsors; status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1897
- As of: 2026-09-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-1897
- Congress: 119
- Title: ESA Amendments Act of 2025
- Status: in_committee
- Introduced: 2025-03-06
- Sponsor: Rep. Westerman, Bruce [R-AR-4] (R-AR)
- Cosponsors: 26
- Policy area: Environmental Protection
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-21

## Summary

**Shifts how the Endangered Species Act would operate by prioritizing a national five-year listing work plan and formal Conservation Benefit Agreements.** It focuses decisions on prioritized listing schedules, state and tribal data, and private-land deals to shape protections and permits. - Private landowners and developers would gain a fast-track agreement process with a 30-day completeness check and a 120-day approval or rejection window. Agreements can include incidental-take authorizations, confidentiality protections, and limited exemptions from some consultation and NEPA review. - State, Tribal, and local governments would see their data formally counted in critical habitat and exclusion analyses and could craft recovery strategies that, if approved, limit federal protective regulations. Congress must be notified before designations or experimental releases exceeding 50,000 acres and decisions follow five-year review cycles. - Courts, conservation groups, and federal agencies face new transparency and fee rules. The bill creates a public database of federal litigation costs and allows fee awards with a $125 hourly baseline and a $200,000 cap per suit while narrowing some consultation standards and enforcement scope. *Would authorize specified annual appropriations for FY2026–FY2031, including about $288.0 million, $105.4 million, and $2.6 million plus smaller additions, increasing federal spending.*

## Cosponsors (26)

- Rep. Hageman, Harriet M. [R-WY-At Large] (R-WY), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Stauber, Pete [R-MN-8] (R-MN), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Tiffany, Thomas P. [R-WI-7] (R-WI), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Gosar, Paul A. [R-AZ-9] (R-AZ), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Hurd, Jeff [R-CO-3] (R-CO), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Newhouse, Dan [R-WA-4] (R-WA), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Bentz, Cliff [R-OR-2] (R-OR), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Fulcher, Russ [R-ID-1] (R-ID), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Begich, Nicholas J. [R-AK-At Large] (R-AK), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Ezell, Mike [R-MS-4] (R-MS), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Amodei, Mark E. [R-NV-2] (R-NV), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Hunt, Wesley [R-TX-38] (R-TX), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Maloy, Celeste [R-UT-2] (R-UT), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Biggs, Andy [R-AZ-5] (R-AZ), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. LaMalfa, Doug [R-CA-1] (R-CA), 2025-03-06T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Boebert, Lauren [R-CO-4] (R-CO), 2025-03-10T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. McDowell, Addison P. [R-NC-6] (R-NC), 2025-03-10T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Collins, Mike [R-GA-10] (R-GA), 2025-03-14T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Calvert, Ken [R-CA-41] (R-CA), 2025-03-14T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Walberg, Tim [R-MI-5] (R-MI), 2025-03-18T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Downing, Troy [R-MT-2] (R-MT), 2025-04-08T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Higgins, Clay [R-LA-3] (R-LA), 2025-05-15T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Grothman, Glenn [R-WI-6] (R-WI), 2025-05-20T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Latta, Robert E. [R-OH-5] (R-OH), 2025-05-20T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Rulli, Michael A. [R-OH-6] (R-OH), 2025-06-03T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Thompson, Glenn [R-PA-15] (R-PA), 2025-09-11T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Private-land agreements and State recovery: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would create Conservation Benefit Agreements (CBAs) that private owners, States, Tribes, and others could submit to the Secretary. The Secretary would check completeness within 30 days and must approve or reject complete CBAs within 120 days. Approved CBAs would include assuran…
- Caps on legal fee awards for plaintiffs: benefit, high. If enacted, courts would be allowed to award attorney and expert fees to eligible prevailing parties in ESA suits. Hourly attorney and expert fees would be capped at $125 per hour unless a court finds a higher rate justified. Total attorney and expert fees in a single suit would be capped at $200,0…
- New funding for species programs: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would authorize new annual appropriations for fiscal years 2026 through 2031. The amounts include $287.978 million per year, $105.4 million per year, $2.6 million per year, an additional $600,000 per year to a specified subsection, and an additional $9.9 million per year to ano…
- Easier trade rules for non-native species: benefit, medium. If enacted, export or import of threatened or endangered species not native to the U.S. that are listed in CITES Appendix I or II would be lawful without an ESA export/import permit when CITES and Act requirements are met. The Secretary could allow export, import, interstate transport, and sale of…
- More transparency for listings and lawsuits: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Secretary would have to give affected States the data used for listing decisions before making them. The Secretary would publish the scientific and commercial data behind listing and critical-habitat rules, excluding exact location coordinates, and grant State exemptions where State…
- New national listing plan and reviews: mixed, high. If enacted, the Secretary would publish a five-fiscal-year National Listing Work Plan with the annual budget, starting with the first budget at least 365 days after enactment. The plan would schedule listing decisions, court-ordered determinations, and critical-habitat actions and require the Secre…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-425: Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act
- 119-hres-719: Honoring the life and legacy of Charles Charlie James Kirk.
- 119-hr-38: Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2025
- 119-hr-452: Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act
- 119-hr-703: Main Street Tax Certainty Act
- 119-hr-1628: 761st Tank Battalion Congressional Gold Medal Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-1897 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1897)

## Related
- [119-hr-425: Repealing Big Brother Overreach Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-425)
- [119-hres-719: Honoring the life and legacy of Charles Charlie James Kirk.](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hres-719)
- [119-hr-38: Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-38)
- [119-hr-452: Miracle on Ice Congressional Gold Medal Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-452)
- [119-hr-703: Main Street Tax Certainty Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-703)
- [119-hr-1628: 761st Tank Battalion Congressional Gold Medal Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1628)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1897 (as of 2026-09-21).