Official name: Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (various bill numbers)
Citation: e.g. H.R. 2773, 117th Congress (passed House 14 June 2022, 231-190; died in the Senate); later reintroductions including S.1149, 118th Congress
Year / status: Idea / recurring unenacted bill. Not in force. As of 2026 it remained a campaign and a drafting exercise, not a signed statute. Confirm any new Congress on congress.gov before treating a fresh number as live.
What it does
Versions would send large, dedicated sums: on the order of a billion dollars a year in the House-passed 2022 text: to state fish-and-wildlife agencies and Tribes to implement State Wildlife Action Plans and recover species before they need ESA emergency listing. It is a funding design, not a new listing statute.
Where it applies / status
Nowhere as law. If enacted it would be U.S. federal appropriations architecture tied to Pittman-Robertson-style accounts.
Documented benefits or intended effects
Intended effect: fund proactive conservation so fewer species hit the ESA. Advocates still publish that case. There is no RAWA expenditure record because there is no RAWA.
Caveats
This card is an idea, even though a text once passed one chamber. A House vote is not a law. Do not put RAWA on the Existing shelf. Do not invent a 2026 public-law number.
Sources
Congress.gov H.R. 2773 (117th) and S.1149 (118th); NWF 2026 briefing that still treats passage as future tense.