Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act
This bill amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 to authorize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to issue one-year permits allowing Washington, Oregon, Idaho, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, and the Cowlitz Indian Tribe to kill sea lions in a portion of the Columbia River or certain tributaries in order to protect fish from sea lion predation. Permits may be issued to kill sea lions only if the sea lions are part of a population that is not depleted.
The permits may authorize the lethal taking of 100 sea lions or fewer. The cumulative annual taking of sea lions each year under all such permits is limited to 10% of the annual potential biological removal level.
Permit holders must be trained in natural resource management. These permits are exempted from environmental review requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for five years.
NOAA may suspend the issuance of the permits if, after five years, lethal removal authority is no longer necessary to protect fish from sea lion predation.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to House without amendment" stage on September 5, 2017. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on June 27, 2018: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) introduced it on April 8, 2017, and 4 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 1 Democrat, 3 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on April 8, 2017, 3442 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2997 days ago, on June 27, 2018.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers