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People & committees
Rep. Lieu, Ted [D-CA-36] · D–CA
Legislative record
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Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Mar 21, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-03-06 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
This bill would prohibit taking threatened wildlife for trophies within the United States and its territorial sea, and importing trophies of threatened wildlife. It would also prevent the responsible federal official from permitting trophy taking or trophy imports involving species listed under the Endangered Species Act. People seeking to obtain or import these trophies would be affected. The bill also extends an existing antiques exception to the new import prohibition.
It is unlawful for any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States— (1) to take for a trophy within the United States or the territorial sea of the United States any species of fish or wildlife listed under section 4 as a threatened species; or (2) to import into the United States any trophy of any species of fish or wildlife listed under section 4 as a threatened species.
(3) The Secretary may not permit or otherwise allow— (A) taking for a trophy any species of fish or wildlife listed under section 4; or (B) importing into the United States any trophy of any species of fish or wildlife listed under section 4, notwithstanding section 9(b).
(c) Antiques Section 10(h)(1) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1539(h)(1)) is amended by striking Sections 4(d), 9(a), and 9(c) do not apply and inserting Sections 4(d), 9(a), 9(c), and 9(h)(2) do not apply.
Section 1 names the proposal the Prohibiting Threatened and Endangered Creature Trophies Act of 2025, or ProTECT Act of 2025.
This Act may be cited as the Prohibiting Threatened and Endangered Creature Trophies Act of 2025 or the ProTECT Act of 2025.
Section 2 states Congress's proposed rationale: trophy hunting can harm wildlife conservation, sanctioned trophy hunting increases poaching, and legal wildlife trade can conceal illegal trade. These are findings asserted in the proposal, not effects established by this analysis.
The Congress finds the following: (1) Trophy hunting of imperiled species undermines efforts to conserve wildlife populations because trophy hunters routinely target the biggest, strongest males, and removing those individuals from the population can decrease genetic variation, decrease reproduction, alter social structures, increase infanticide, and cause unnatural evolutionary impacts.
(2) When trophy hunting of imperiled species is sanctioned, poaching activity increases, further threatening the survival of wildlife populations.
Legal trade in wildlife parts and products can provide cover for markets for illegal trade in wildlife products
The findings describe a gap the bill seeks to address: they say existing Endangered Species Act protections against taking and importing endangered species do not automatically extend to threatened species.
(4) While the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) currently prohibits the take and import of species listed under that Act as endangered species, it does not automatically extend those protections to species listed as threatened species.
Section 3(a) would make taking threatened fish or wildlife for a trophy unlawful within the United States or its territorial sea. This prohibition would apply to any person subject to United States jurisdiction.
It is unlawful for any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States— (1) to take for a trophy within the United States or the territorial sea of the United States any species of fish or wildlife listed under section 4 as a threatened species
Section 3(a) would separately prohibit people subject to United States jurisdiction from importing trophies of threatened fish or wildlife into the United States.
It is unlawful for any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States—
(2) to import into the United States any trophy of any species of fish or wildlife listed under section 4 as a threatened species.
Section 3(b) would restrict the Secretary's authority to grant exceptions: the Secretary could not permit or otherwise allow trophy taking or trophy imports involving any species listed under section 4. The import restriction would apply despite section 9(b), whose contents are not supplied.
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking The Secretary may permit and inserting Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the Secretary may permit
(3) The Secretary may not permit or otherwise allow— (A) taking for a trophy any species of fish or wildlife listed under section 4; or (B) importing into the United States any trophy of any species of fish or wildlife listed under section 4, notwithstanding section 9(b).
Section 3(c) would add the new threatened-species trophy import prohibition to the provisions that do not apply under the existing antiques exception. The bill does not reproduce the conditions for qualifying for that exception.
(c) Antiques Section 10(h)(1) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1539(h)(1)) is amended by striking Sections 4(d), 9(a), and 9(c) do not apply and inserting Sections 4(d), 9(a), 9(c), and 9(h)(2) do not apply.
Section 3(d) would define a trophy as a whole dead animal, or a readily recognizable animal part or derivative, whether raw, processed, or manufactured. It must have been obtained under a hunting license or another authorization issued by a State, foreign government, or private landowner.
(21) The term trophy means a whole dead animal, or a readily recognizable part or derivative of an animal, that— (A) is raw, processed, or manufactured; and (B) was obtained under a hunting license or other authorization issued by any State, foreign government, or private landowner.
The supplied actions snapshot, updated March 21, 2025, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Natural Resources on March 6, 2025. It does not establish subsequent legislative action or enactment.
Source snapshot updated 2025-03-21T16:33:36Z. 2025-03-06: Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources. 2025-03-06: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-03-06. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not cover other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not establish the absence of earmarks in other versions or accompanying materials.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
Findings to examine
The supplied introduced text contains a narrow exception related to its main trophy-import policy. Classification as a targeted benefit is not a judgment about its justification.
Importers of trophies qualifying under the existing antiques exception would receive an exemption from the new threatened-species trophy import prohibition. The amendment expressly adds that prohibition to the antiques exception, but does not supply the eligibility conditions needed to determine precisely which items qualify.
(c) Antiques Section 10(h)(1) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1539(h)(1)) is amended by striking Sections 4(d), 9(a), and 9(c) do not apply and inserting Sections 4(d), 9(a), 9(c), and 9(h)(2) do not apply.
(2) to import into the United States any trophy of any species of fish or wildlife listed under section 4 as a threatened species.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Mar 21, 2025. How PlainBill uses AI