Congress creates voluntary interstate fishery commission to manage shared river basin.
H.R. 1514 — Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission Act of 2025 · Filed by Mike Ezell (R-MS) · 10 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 24, 2025 · Hearing held
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What it does
This bill creates a new Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission—a multi-state, multi-agency coordinating body housed in the Department of Interior—to manage fisheries and control invasive species across 31 states and 2 Canadian provinces. The Commission will adopt existing interstate management plans, award grants to states and other entities for fishery projects, and issue annual reports to Congress. Membership is voluntary; the Commission's authority is nonbinding, and states retain full power to set their own fishery laws.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to establish a voluntary, nonbinding multi-state commission to coordinate fishery management and invasive species control across the Mississippi River Basin. It is a governance and coordination mechanism, not a regulatory or enforcement instrument.
What the text implies
- The Commission's nonbinding authority means states can ignore its recommendations; effectiveness depends entirely on voluntary state participation and buy-in, not legal obligation.
- Grant program (sections 7) may create incentive for states to align with Commission priorities, but only if funding is appropriated; no mandatory funding mechanism exists.
- Invasive species control (section 6(b)(3)) is a shared ecological problem, but the Commission has no enforcement power to compel action across state lines.
- The 30-year reexamination requirement (section 6(b)(5)) creates a long-term review cycle, but Congress retains power to modify or defund the Commission at any time.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Citizens benefit from coordinated management of a shared resource (the Mississippi River Basin fishery) that spans 31 states and supports economically and culturally significant subsistence, commercial, and recreational fisheries. The bill creates a nonbinding collaborative framework that does not override state authority, funds research and management projects, and targets invasive species that threaten both native ecosystems and economic activity. No restrictions on citizen rights or remedies
Who stands to gain
- State fishery agencies (formula and competitive grants)
- Nongovernmental organizations (competitive grants)
- Public and private institutions of higher education (competitive grants)
- Federal agencies (USGS, USFWS, Army Corps of Engineers, TVA) as eligible members
Named in the bill
Mississippi River Basin Fishery Commission, Department of the Interior, 31 Mississippi River Basin States (Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ka, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, United States Geological Survey, United States Army Corps of Engineers, Tennessee Valley Authority, Bureau of Reclamation, Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource Association (MICRA), Chippewa-Cree Tribe, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Tribes (general)
Where it stands
10 cosponsors: 6 Democrats, 4 Republicans.
- Feb 24, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 24, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
- Nov 19, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Hearings Held”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $50,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 35 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Mike Ezell, the sponsor, reported $480,431 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership — $50,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (16,509 characters) on Sep 28, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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