The ESA Amendments Act of 2024 makes significant changes to the Endangered Species Act, primarily aimed at streamlining the listing process, incentivizing private land conservation, and increasing transparency. The bill requires the Fish and Wildlife Service to create a five-year national work plan prioritizing species for listing decisions based on urgency, and it establishes new Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances that let landowners, states, and other parties voluntarily commit to conservation measures in exchange for protection from future regulatory burdens if a species is later listed. It limits critical habitat designations on private land covered by qualifying conservation plans, requires economic and national security impact analyses for listing decisions, and mandates public disclosure of the scientific data behind listings as well as detailed reporting on government litigation costs and expenditures related to the law. The bill also caps the scope of mitigation measures agencies can require during environmental consultations and codifies several Trump-era regulatory definitions, including for terms like "habitat" and "foreseeable future." It authorizes roughly $302 million to $430 million annually in related funding for fiscal years 2025 through 2030, and primarily affects federal wildlife agencies, private landowners, states, and businesses involved in activities that intersect with endangered species protections.
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