16 U.S.C. § 8204 — Fish Habitat Partnerships

(a) Authority to recommend. The Board may recommend to Congress that certain entities be designated as Fish Habitat Partnerships. (b) Purposes. A Partnership's purposes are to (1) work with other regional habitat programs to boost cooperation and coordination for fish and fish habitats; (2) engage local and regional communities to build support; (3) involve a wide range of public and private partners; (4) build a strategic, scientifically sound vision and plan together; (5) leverage funding that supports local and regional partnerships; (6) use adaptive management, including checking whether projects work; (7) create local or regional habitat measures that match national ones; and (8) carry out local and regional priority projects that improve fish and fish habitat. (c) Criteria for designation. To be designated, an entity must (1) apply to the Board with whatever information the Board reasonably requires, and (2) show the Board it has (A) a focus on fish and fish habitat health, (B) the ability to coordinate priority projects that match Board goals within its boundary, (C) a self-governing structure that supports its strategic priorities, (D) the ability to build local and regional relationships to support fish habitat, (E) a strategic plan detailing needed investments that matches both its own and the Board's priorities, (F) the ability to carry out fish habitat projects matching those priorities, and (G) the ability to set science-based priorities, measure project results, and integrate its science and data work with the Board's. (d) Requirements for recommendation to Congress. The Board may recommend an applicant to Congress if it (1) meets the criteria in (c)(2); (2) identifies a diverse group of public and private partners — which may include state or local governments, nonprofits, Indian Tribes, or individuals — to help the Partnership work across public and private land; (3) is organized to protect important fish species and habitats, such as reservoirs, lakes, coastal and marine areas, coral reefs, and estuaries; (4) identifies its strategic fish habitat priorities as focus areas or key problems, to guide planning; (5) can address issues on a nationally significant scale; (6) has a governance structure that (A) reflects all its partners and (B) supports joint strategic planning; (7) has finished, or made real progress on, a strategic plan that tackles the root causes of fish population decline, not just symptoms, matching Board goals; and (8) supports building a scientifically sound and achievable strategic vision together. (e) Report to Congress. (1) By February 1 of the first fiscal year after October 30, 2020, and — subject to a limit in paragraph 3 — every February 1 after that, the Board must send Congress an annual report, called the "Report to Congress on Future Fish Habitat Partnerships and Modifications," that (A) names every entity that meets the (d) requirements and that the Board recommends for designation, (B) describes any proposed changes to existing Partnerships, and (C) for each recommended entity, describes as fully as practical its purpose and how it meets the (d) requirements. (2) The Board must make the report public, including online, and notify the right congressional committees and any affected state's agency that the report is available. (3) The Board only has to submit this report in years when it's actually proposing new designations or changes to existing Partnerships. (f) Designation or modification of Partnership. (1) Only Congress can designate or change a Partnership. (2) A Board recommendation is treated as automatically approved if Congress doesn't pass a joint resolution rejecting it within 90 days after the relevant committees receive the recommendation. (g) Existing partnerships. (1) Within five years after October 30, 2020, any partnership that was getting federal funds as of that date must go through a congressional designation review. (2) A partnership from paragraph (1) that Congress doesn't designate through that review becomes ineligible for federal funds under this chapter.