Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB607 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 607
5	5	To provide procedures for appealing certain Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
6	6	Firearms, and Explosives rulings or determinations, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	JANUARY22, 2025
9	9	Mr. C
10	10	RENSHAW(for himself, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. MOOREof Alabama, Ms. VAN
11	11	D
12	12	UYNE, and Mr. VANORDEN) introduced the following bill; which was
13	13	referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To provide procedures for appealing certain Bureau of Alco-
16	16	hol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives rulings or deter-
17	17	minations, and for other purposes.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ATF Accountability 4
22	22	Act of 2025’’. 5
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25	25	•HR 607 IH
26	26	SEC. 2. PROCEDURES FOR APPEALING CERTAIN BUREAU 1
27	27	OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS AND EX-2
28	28	PLOSIVES RULINGS OR DETERMINATIONS. 3
29	29	(a) I
30	30	NGENERAL.—Section 923 of title 18, United 4
31	31	States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-5
32	32	lowing: 6
33	33	‘‘(m)(1) If a licensed manufacturer, licensed im-7
34	34	porter, or licensed dealer transmits to the Attorney Gen-8
35	35	eral a product classification request or a written question 9
36	36	regarding any regulatory matter, including but not limited 10
37	37	to the legal status or classification of a product, regulated 11
38	38	business practice, or a recordkeeping practice, under any 12
39	39	law administered, in whole or in part, by the Bureau of 13
40	40	Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Attorney 14
41	41	General shall, not later than 90 days after receipt of the 15
42	42	request or question, make a ruling or determination in 16
43	43	writing on the question, and transmit the ruling or deter-17
44	44	mination to the licensee. 18
45	45	‘‘(2)(A) Within 30 calendar days after receipt of a 19
46	46	copy of the ruling or determination, the licensee may ap-20
47	47	peal the ruling or determination (or a cease and desist 21
48	48	letter) by filing with any Director of Industry Operations 22
49	49	having jurisdiction over a premises of the licensee subject 23
50	50	to a license issued to the licensee under this chapter a 24
51	51	request for review of the ruling or determination, which 25
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55	55	shall include a statement of the reasons for the appeal, 1
56	56	and the relief requested. 2
57	57	‘‘(B) Within 30 calendar days after receipt of the re-3
58	58	quest for the appeal, the Director of Industry Operations 4
59	59	shall render a decision on the appeal in writing and trans-5
60	60	mit a copy of the decision to the licensee. 6
61	61	‘‘(3)(A) Notwithstanding whether the licensee ap-7
62	62	peals the ruling or determination to the Director of Indus-8
63	63	try Operations, the licensee may, within 75 calendar days 9
64	64	after receipt of a copy of the initial ruling or determination 10
65	65	or, within 14 days after receipt of the determination by 11
66	66	the Director of Industry Operations, which ever is later, 12
67	67	request for the appeal to be determined on the record after 13
68	68	opportunity for a hearing before an administrative law 14
69	69	judge. Upon such request the administrative law judge 15
70	70	shall— 16
71	71	‘‘(i) set a time and place for a hearing on the 17
72	72	appeal at a location convenient to the licensee within 18
73	73	90 days from the date of the request; and 19
74	74	‘‘(ii) at least 10 days before the date set for the 20
75	75	hearing, serve on the licensee and the Director of In-21
76	76	dustry Operations a notice of the hearing. 22
77	77	‘‘(B) The hearing shall be conducted in accordance 23
78	78	with the hearing procedures prescribed in subsections (b) 24
79	79	through (e) of section 556 and section 557(d) of title 5. 25
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82	82	•HR 607 IH
83	83	‘‘(C) Within 90 days after the conclusion of the hear-1
84	84	ing, the administrative law judge shall— 2
85	85	‘‘(i) render a decision on the appeal, which shall 3
86	86	consist of— 4
87	87	‘‘(I) a brief statement of the issues of fact 5
88	88	involved in the proceeding; 6
89	89	‘‘(II) the findings and conclusions of the 7
90	90	administrative law judge, and the reasons or 8
91	91	basis therefor with record references, on all ma-9
92	92	terial issues of fact, law, or discretion presented 10
93	93	on the record; and 11
94	94	‘‘(III) the decision of the administrative 12
95	95	law judge to reverse or affirm the ruling or de-13
96	96	termination involved; 14
97	97	‘‘(ii) certify to the complete record of the pro-15
98	98	ceeding; 16
99	99	‘‘(iii) forward the complete certified record and 17
100	100	a copy of the decision to the Director of Industry 18
101	101	Operations; 19
102	102	‘‘(iv) serve a copy of the decision on the licensee 20
103	103	or counsel for the licensee; and 21
104	104	‘‘(v) transmit a copy of the decision to the at-22
105	105	torney representing the United States in the pro-23
106	106	ceeding. 24
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110	110	‘‘(4) The decision of the administrative law judge or 1
111	111	the Director of Industry Operations, or the ruling of an-2
112	112	other officer or employee of the Bureau of Alcohol, To-3
113	113	bacco, Firearms, and Explosives, as the case may be, pur-4
114	114	suant to this subsection shall— 5
115	115	‘‘(A) constitute final agency action; 6
116	116	‘‘(B) be subject to judicial review under chapter 7
117	117	7 of title 5; and 8
118	118	‘‘(C) be binding on the United States and the 9
119	119	licensee. 10
120	120	‘‘(5) The submission of an administrative appeal pur-11
121	121	suant to paragraph (2) or (3) shall postpone the effective 12
122	122	date of the ruling or determination until the administra-13
123	123	tive appeal and any subsequent judicial process is com-14
124	124	plete. The effect shall be as if the ruling or determination 15
125	125	had not issued until such process is complete.’’. 16
126	126	(b) A
127	127	PPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub-17
128	128	section (a) shall apply with respect to determinations 18
129	129	made before, on, or after the date of enactment of this 19
130	130	Act. 20
131	131	Æ
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