Refuge System Protection Act
Latest action · Jun 19, 2019 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJun 19, 2019
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Refuge System Protection Act
This bill authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ), at the request of the Department of the Interior, to bring in a district court a civil action against any individual or entity that destroys, causes the loss of, causes Interior to make risk mitigation efforts with respect to, or injures any resource that is within the boundaries of any land or water that is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The bill also authorizes DOJ, at the request of Interior, to bring in a district court an in rem action against any instrumentality (e.g., a vessel, vehicle, or aircraft) that destroys, causes the loss of, causes Interior to make risk mitigation efforts with respect to, or injures any such system resource.
Among others, it shall be an affirmative defense in either type of action that the destruction of, loss of, risk mitigation regarding, or injury to a system resource was caused by an otherwise legal act or omission that occurred outside the boundaries of the resource.
In either type of action, the court may award response costs and damages.
Cosponsors 1
Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Jun 19, 2019.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-CO | Cory Gardner | Original | Jun 19, 2019 |
Committees 1
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| Senate | Environment and Public Works Committee | Referred Jun 19, 2019 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jun 19, 2019Introduced in Senate
- Jun 19, 2019Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 3370 | Refuge System Protection Act | Identical bill | Jul 1, 2019 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- A bill to authorize the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to seek compensation for injuries to trust resources and to use funds received as that compensation to restore, replace, or acquire equivalent resources, and for other purposes.
- Short Title(s) as Introduced
- Refuge System Protection Act
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources.
- Administrative remedies
- Civil actions and liability
- Crimes against animals and natural resources
- Department of the Interior
- Environmental assessment, monitoring, research
- Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
- Judicial review and appeals
- Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
- Oil and gas
- Pollution liability
- Public Lands and Natural Resources
- Water quality
- Wilderness and natural areas, wildlife refuges, wild rivers, habitats
- Wildlife conservation and habitat protection
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jun 19, 2019Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
