mr. chairman , i rise in support of h.r. 3824 . 
this legislation is a reasonable , balanced response that i think will address many of the unintended difficulties and consequences that have arisen since the passage of the original act . 
over 30 years have passed since that time . 
that has given us an awful good opportunity to see what sort of insight and experience in terms of what has worked in preserving and protecting endangered species and habitat and what just as importantly has not worked . 
california faces numerous challenges in complying with the endangered species act , like many parts of our country . 
in california , we have 293 threatened and endangered species in the state , the second largest number in the nation . 
we also have 11 million acres of designated critical habitat of which 30 percent of it is privately owned . 
in kern county , part of which lies in my district , we have more listed species than any other county in the state of california . 
to relay an anecdotal story of which there have been many here today , in 1995 , we had a chinese immigrant farmer who , believe it or not , was jailed and prosecuted due to an accidental taking of a species on his land that he had farmed for years . 
as a matter of fact , his tractor had been confiscated as corroborating evidence . 
as a result of that , i and others in the california legislature led a successful effort to change the law to ensure that that would not happen again . 
during the committee markup last week , i successfully passed two amendments that clarify local governments ' role in participating in the development of habitat conservation planning . 
as we know , many of the habitat conservation plans have had difficulty in their adoption . 
the on-the-ground information from our local governments and water agencies and land use agencies is beneficial in the crucial input in the listing process and for trying to provide recovery efforts that are successful . 
mr. chairman , the endangered species act needs improvement , and i think this bill is a step in that direction . 
it obviously is a work in progress , but we should understand that the dilemma that we face in america today is that while we all want to protect native plants and species , the dilemma is that our population growth has threatened the habitats for many of those plants and animals , and therein lies the dilemma . 
we must continue to work on efforts that i think are included in this legislation , realizing that we are going to have to revisit them in future years . 
i applaud the bipartisan efforts of the gentleman from california ( mr. pombo ) xz4003220 and the ranking member , the gentleman from west virginia ( mr. rahall ) xz4003310 and their staff for working with all the members of the committee , and the gentleman from california ( mr. cardoza ) xz4000650 for addressing the problems of the original bill . 
i urge my colleagues to vote for its passage . 
mr. chairman , i would like to enter into a colloquy with the chairman of the committee on resources . 
my amendment that i referenced a moment ago that was accepted by the committee is meant to assure that states and units of local government have fair input in the listing process for threatened and endangered species . 
local governments , we know , often have the best on-the-ground information on the status of communities of plants and animals that are in the area . 
this bill would formally recognize the local governments ' rights to comment on the listing process and the acquisition of the best available scientific data . 
in many areas of california , we have water districts that are an extremely active part of the local governmental units that are involved in the species recovery process . 
the contributions that they make are many . 
in order to understand the status and the challenges of the various species that are listed , is it the chairman 's understanding that the reference to units of local government in section 8 of the bill would include water districts ? 
