A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to further develop a program for the designation and protection of additional natural areas throughout the Nation, and for other purposes.
Latest action. Referred to House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.
Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to maintain a listing of protected ecological and geological areas of National, State and local significance, to be known as the National Registry of Natural Areas. Provides for a program of matching grants-in-aid to States for acquiring additional natural areas, and requires statewide plans of natural areas preservation, periodic State reports, and State matching funds. Authorizes the Secretary to administer such natural areas, in cooperation with any appropriate Federal, State, or local agency. Authorizes the apportionment of grants to the States in accordance with the needs and opportunities disclosed by statewide survey and inventories. Prohibits grants for any survey or project that is already financially assisted under another Federal program. Prohibits any federal program or undertaking on any acquired natural area which may adversely affect such property, unless there is no feasible alternative and safeguarding provisions have been made. Establishes an Advisory Council on the preservation of natural areas to be composed of the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Defense, and Health, Education and Welfare; the Administrator of the General Services Administration; the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the President of the Natural Resources Council, and ten experienced persons appointed by the President from outside the Federal Government. Authorizes a term of five years, and designates the Secretary of the Interior as Chairman of the Council. Authorizes the Council to advise the President and the Congress on matters relating to the preservation of natural areas; to encourage and coordinate State and private activities directed toward preservation; and to report annually on preservation activities, with recommendations for legislative enactments. Empowers the Council to appoint additional personnel if necessary, and authorizes the appropriation of sums as necessary to carry out this Act.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on May 15, 1973. 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 May 15, 1973: Referred to House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.
- 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 93rd Congress (1973-74), 651 of the 23,396 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.8 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?
BEN BLACKBURN (R-GA) introduced it on May 15, 1973. No cosponsors are recorded.
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 May 15, 1973, 19476 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 19476 days ago, on May 15, 1973.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 93rd Congress has not finished by January 3, 1975 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