Bill to Prohibit Lead Ammunition/Tackle Ban on Federal Land

IB Union Calendar No. THCONGRESS STSESSION H. R. 556 [Report No. 119–385, Part I] To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture from prohibiting the use of lead ammunition or tackle on certain Federal land or water under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY16, 2025 Mr. WITTMAN(for himself, Mr. MCGUIRE, Mr. WEBERof Texas, Mr. AUSTIN SCOTTof Georgia, Ms. DELACRUZ, Mrs. WAGNER, Mr. BEANof Flor-ida, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. ZINKE, Mr. STAUBER, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. GUEST, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr. ROGERSof Alabama, Mr. WEB-STERof Florida, Mr. FINSTAD, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. WALBERG, Mr. MOOREof Alabama, Mr. BIGGSof Arizona, Mrs. KIGGANSof Virginia, Mr. FULCHER, Mr. BOST, Mr. HUDSON, Ms. HAGEMAN, Ms. BOEBERT, Mr. CLINE, Mr. CARTERof Georgia, Mr. TIF-FANY, Mr. WILLIAMSof Texas, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr. BALDERSON, Mr. MESSMER, Mrs. FISCHBACH, Mr. FITZGERALD, Ms. LETLOW, and Mr. FLEISCHMANN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-diction of the committee concerned NOVEMBER25, 2025 Additional sponsors: Mr. GOSAR, Mr. OWENS, Mr. SELF, Mr. CARTERof Texas, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mrs. BIGGSof South Carolina, Mr. FALLON, Mr. HURDof Colorado, Mr. LANGWORTHY, Mr. BABIN, Mr. MOOREof North Carolina, Mr. WOMACK, Mr. MCDOWELL, Mr. ESTES, Mr. RUTHERFORD, Mr. FRY, Mr. JOHNSONof South Dakota, Mr. KUSTOFF, Mr. RULLI, Mr. DONALDS, Mr. MANN, Mrs. HINSON, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. HARRIGAN, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. WIED, Mr. DOWNING, Mr. HAMADEHof Arizona, Mr. CRANK, Mr. LATTA, Mr. CRENSHAW, Ms. VANDUYNE, Mr. PFLUGER, VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:17 Nov 25, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H556.RH H556

Mr. STEUBE, Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS, Mr. HARRISof North Carolina, Mr. DESJARLAIS, Mr. EVANSof Colorado, Mr. JACKSONof Texas, Mr. MIL-LERof Ohio, Mr. ROY, and Mr. NEHLS NOVEMBER25, 2025 Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with an amendment [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] NOVEMBER25, 2025 Committee on Agriculture discharged; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 16, 2025] A BILL To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture from prohibiting the use of lead ammuni-tion or tackle on certain Federal land or water under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:17 Nov 25, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H556.RH H556

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Access for 4 Hunters and Anglers Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PROTECTING ACCESS FOR HUNTERS AND ANGLERS 6 ON FEDERAL LAND AND WATER. 7 (a) INGENERAL.—Except as provided in section 20.21 8 or 20.108 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations (as in 9 effect on the date of enactment of this Act), and subsection 10 (b), the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Direc-11 tor of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service or the 12 Director of the Bureau of Land Management, and the Sec-13 retary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest 14 Service (referred to in this section as the ‘‘applicable Sec-15 retary’’), may not— 16 (1) prohibit the use of lead ammunition or tackle 17 on Federal land or water that is— 18 (A) under the jurisdiction of the applicable 19 Secretary; and 20 (B) made available for hunting or fishing 21 activities; or 22 (2) issue regulations relating to the level of lead 23 in ammunition or tackle to be used on Federal land 24 or water described in paragraph (1). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:17 Nov 25, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H556.RH H556

(b) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to a 1 prohibition or regulations described in that subsection that 2 are limited to a specific unit of Federal land or water, if 3 the applicable Secretary determines that— 4 (1) a decline in wildlife population at the spe-5 cific unit of Federal land or water is primarily 6 caused by the use of lead in ammunition or tackle, 7 based on the field data from the specific unit of Fed-8 eral land or water; and 9 (2) the prohibition or regulations, as applicable, 10 are— 11 (A) consistent with the law of the State in 12 which the specific Federal land or water is lo-13 cated; 14 (B) consistent with an applicable policy of 15 the fish and wildlife department of the State in 16 which the specific Federal land or water is lo-17 cated; or 18 (C) approved by the applicable fish and 19 wildlife department of the State in which the 20 specific Federal land or water is located. 21 (c) FEDERALREGISTERNOTICE.—The applicable Sec-22 retary shall include in a Federal Register notice with re-23 spect to any prohibition or regulations that meet the re-24 quirements of paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (b) an 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:17 Nov 25, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H556.RH H556

explanation of how the prohibition or regulations, as appli-1 cable, meet those requirements. 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:17 Nov 25, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H556.RH H556

Union Calendar No. THCONGRESS STSESSION H. R. 556 [Report No. 119–385, Part I] A BILL To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture from prohibiting the use of lead ammunition or tackle on certain Federal land or water under the jurisdiction of the Sec-retary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agri-culture, and for other purposes. NOVEMBER25, 2025 Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with an amendment NOVEMBER25, 2025 Committee on Agriculture discharged; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:17 Nov 25, 2025 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H556.RH H556