H.R. 1142: To amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to require consideration of economic impact in making a listing decision with respect to the list of threatened and endangered species, and for other purposes.

This bill limits when the Department of the Interior or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) may add a species to the endangered or threatened species list and revises the process to list species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Specifically, Interior and NOAA may not add a species to the list if listing the species would cause significant economic harm to any state or locality.

In addition, the bill allows Interior and NOAA to prioritize the consideration of petitions to list a species as endangered or threatened other than in the order in which the petitions are received. However, Interior and NOAA may not give general priority to petitions to add species to the list over petitions to remove a species.

Written by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.