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Today, Congressman Bill Huizenga (MI-02), Congressman Cresent Hardy (NV-04), and other members of the House Endangered Species Working Group, announced the introduction of H.R. 2109, The Endangered Species Litigation Reasonableness Act. For years, litigating attorneys haven taken advantage of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by filing meritless lawsuits against the federal government, costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Rep Huizenga's legislation places reasonable caps on attorneys' fees that may be awarded under the ESA, bringing them in line with current law.

“The goal of the Endangered Species Act is to enhance wildlife preservation, not line the pockets of trial attorneys with taxpayer dollars,” said Rep. Huizenga. “Every taxpayer dollar spent on litigation is a dollar that could have been spent protecting the environment. This commonsense reform deserves bipartisan support because it ensures that taxpayer dollars designated for species protection and recovery are used for their intended purpose. It’s time to make the Endangered Species Act more effective and ensure the same reasonable limits apply to everyone when taxpayer dollars are on the line.”

“In our overly litigious society, hardworking Americans are seeing their tax dollars go toward exorbitant attorney fees instead of responsible conservation efforts," Rep. Hardy said. "This runs entirely against the spirit of ESA, which is why I am pleased to join Congressman Huizenga in introducing the Endangered Species Litigation Reasonableness Act.”

Background:

The Equal Access to Justice Act limits the hourly rate of prevailing attorneys to $125 per hour. Unfortunately, no such fee cap currently exists under the ESA. As a result, attorneys are being awarded huge sums of taxpayer dollars. In many cases, special interest litigation attorneys are charging $300, $400, and even $500 per hour, in ESA-related lawsuits against the federal government. The current litigation rates negatively impact ESA funding and endanger species protection. Placing this reasonable cap will allow funding to be used as intended for species preservation and protection.

In May of 2013, Congressman Huizenga was selected to join the Endangered Species Act Working Group. Since the last reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act took place over 25 years ago, this group was created to examine the ESA from all angles and look for potential ways to improve the act for both society and species. The Endangered Species Act was signed into law in 1973 and was last reauthorized in 1988.

In July of 2014, the House passed ESA reform legislation, which included Congressman Huizenga’s bill, by a vote of 233 to 190. The legislation was not acted on in the Democrat-controlled Senate.