THE DAILY WHIP: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2016

**Members are advised that the House completed General Debate of H.R. 2406 on Thursday.

Complete Consideration of H.R. H.R. 2406 – Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act (Rep. Wittman – Natural Resources).  This bill would require the Interior Department and the U.S. Forest Service to provide access to lands managed by those agencies for hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting.  The bill also increases the allocation of excise taxes that are currently collected on firearms and ammunition to the construction or expansion of new target ranges. Additionally, the bill blocks the Administration’s rule to restrict trade in elephant ivory and allows the importation into the U.S. of polar bear hunting trophies taken prior to when polar bears were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The measure also amends the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating lead contained in bullets, angling lures, and other hunting and fishing equipment.  Lastly, the bill would prevent the Army Corps of Engineers from restricting firearms on Corps properties.

The Rule, which was adopted yesterday, makes in order 17 amendments, debatable for 10 minutes, equally divided between the offeror and an opponent.  The amendments are:

Wittman Manager’s Amendment. Deletes Title XII which has been enacted into law already, removes outdated year references in short titles, makes expenditures under the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act subject to appropriation, and adds the text of H.R. 3279, as passed by the House on a voice vote, as a new title XVII.
Beyer Amendment #2. Prevents an individual who is prohibited from possessing a firearm by the Gun Control Act from using a public target range.
Jackson-Lee Amendment. Strikes Title III of the underlying bill.  Title III allows the importation of approximately 40 Polar Bear trophies killed despite warnings from the Fish and Wildlife Service that a ban on the importation of Polar Bears as part of global conservation efforts was imminent.
Bustos Amendment. Adds the Administrator of U.S. Small Business Administration or a designated representative to the membership of the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council Advisory Committee created by the bill.
Smith (MO) Amendment #5. Requires hunting closures on public lands to be clearly marked with signs and the dates of closures, but prohibits any physical barriers to restrict access (such as gates or chains).
Meng Amendment. Permits more than one U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Law Enforcement Officer to be placed in a U.S. diplomatic or consular post in an African country with a significant population of African elephants in order to assist local wildlife rangers in the protection of such elephants.
Huffman Amendment #7. Requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study examining the effect of a ban of the trade of fossilized ivory from mammoths and mastodons on the illegal importation and trade of African and Asian elephant ivory within the United States.
Beyer Amendment #8. Strikes language in the underlying bill that requires state approval of federal fishing regulations in waters under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service and the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.
Smith (MO) Amendment #9. Prohibits Forest Service from issuing restrictions and regulations on hunting and recreational fishing in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri.
Newhouse Amendment. Requires the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service to publish a notice and justification in the Federal Register if the agency closes any public road on Forest System lands.
Fleming Amendment. Requires the Forest Administrator to amend the travel plan for the Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana to allow Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV) access on roads nominated by the Secretary of Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries, except when such designation would pose an unacceptable safety risk. If a road is denied, the Forest Administrator must publish a notice in the Federal Register with a justification for the closure.
Griffith Amendment. Weakens current federal law and pre-empts state law to allow a person who is not prohibited from possessing, transporting, shipping, or receiving a firearm or ammunition to transport such firearm or ammunition for any lawful purpose from any place where the person may lawfully possess, carry, or transport these items to any other such place if, during the transportation, the firearm is unloaded.  
Heck/Hardy/Amodei Amendment. Adds the text of H.R. 373, the Good Samaritan Search and Recovery Act, to the end of the bill. Expedites access to federal lands for volunteer search and rescue groups to assist in recovering the remains of a deceased individual believed to be located on federal lands.
Ribble/Lummis/Benishek/Peterson Amendment. Reissues the 2011 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to delist the gray wolf in the Western Great Lakes and Wyoming from the Endangered Species Act.
Young (AK) Amendment. Prohibits the Fish and Wildlife Service from issuing a final rule that restricts hunting and trapping on federal lands in Alaska. Withdraws a final rule issued by the National Park Service on the same issue.
Huffman Amendment #16. Designates the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a federal wilderness area and a part of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
Lowenthal Amendment. Authorizes the Department of Interior, after public comment and if approved unanimously by the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, to raise the price of the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (“Duck Stamp”) by the rate of inflation, in order to preserve waterfowl habitat.

Bill Text for H.R. 2406:
PDF Version

Background for H.R. 2406:
House Report (HTML Version)
House Report (PDF Version)