| Sponsor | Rep. Miller, Jeff |
| Committee | Natural Resources |
| Date | April 17, 2012 (112th Congress, 2nd Session) |
| Staff Contact | Andy Koenig |
On Tuesday, April 17, 2012, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 4089 under a rule. H.R. 4089 was introduced by Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL) on February 27, 2012, and was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources, which reported the bill as amended by a vote of 27-16 on February 29, 2012. The rule for consideration of H.R. 4089 provides for one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Natural Resources. The rule also makes eight amendments in order, each of which is debatable for ten minutes. Each amendment is summarized below. For a summary of the underlying legislation, please see the Legislative Digest for April 17, 2012.
Amendment No. 1—Rep. Hastings (R-WA): The Manager’s Amendment would add provisions that were included in the individual components of HR 4089 when they were marked up in committee as separate bills. The amendment would add shooting ranges to the list of valid uses of public land and would clarify the term “wilderness areas” by adding “including Wilderness Areas, Wilderness Study Areas, or lands administratively classified as wilderness eligible or suitable and primitive or semi-primitive areas.” The amendment would state that the protection given to hunting in wilderness areas is not intended to permit motorized recreation or mineral extraction. The amendment would also make a technical change to correct a conflict between Title I and Title II over certain Bureau of Land Management land and makes other technical and enrollment changes.
Amendment No. 2—Rep. Holt (D-NJ): The amendment would provide that all units of the National Park System are exempt from Title I of the underlying bill which requires federal public land management officials to use their authority to facilitate access to federal lands and waters for fishing, sport hunting, and recreational shooting.
Amendment No. 3—Rep. Grijalva (D-AZ): The amendment would only allow the implementation of Title I and Title II “when less than 75 percent of Federal public land is available for hunting, fishing, or recreation shooting, as determined by the Secretary of the Interior.”
Amendment No. 4—Rep. Peters (D-MI): The amendment would strike Title III from the underlying bill. Title III would require the Secretary of the Interior to issue a permit to allow the importation of any polar bear trophies from a polar bear legally taken in a sport hunt in Canada prior to May 15, 2008, the date polar bears were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Amendment No. 5—Rep. Fleming (R-LA): The amendment would prohibit the Forest Service from banning hunters using dogs in deer hunting activities on Kisatchie National Forest unless such restrictions apply to the smallest practicable portions of the National Forest and are necessary to reduce trespass onto land adjacent to such unit.
Amendment No. 6—Rep. Bishop (D-NY): The amendment would prohibit the Secretary of Interior from banning or limiting fishing for Atlantic Striped Bass in the Block Island Sound transit zone. The amendment would provide an exemption to allow the Secretary to establish seasonal or other temporary limitations on fishing that are specifically necessary for the conservation and management of Atlantic striped bass.
Amendment No. 7—Rep. Heinrich (D-NM): The amendment would specify that nothing in this Act shall be construed to allow oil and gas development, mining, logging, or motorized activity on Federal public land designated or managed as wilderness.
Amendment No. 8—Rep. Foxx (R-VA): The amendment would require Presidential monument designations provided for under the Antiquities Act to be approved by the state legislatures and governors in states where the proposed monument is located.