I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 677
To establish a process to expedite the review of appeals of certain decisions
by the Department of the Interior.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY23, 2025
Ms. H
AGEMANintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To establish a process to expedite the review of appeals
of certain decisions by the Department of the Interior.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Expedited Appeals Re-4
view Act’’ or the ‘‘EARA’’. 5
SEC. 2. EXPEDITED REVIEWS. 6
(a) R
EQUEST FOR EXPEDITEDREVIEW.—A party 7
that files an appeal of a Department of the Interior deci-8
sion described under section 4.1(b)(2) of title 43, Code 9
of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulations), 10
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with the Board of Land Appeals may submit to the Board 1
of Land Appeals written notice of such party’s intent to 2
seek expedited review of the appeal. If a party submits 3
such written notice, the Board of Land Appeals shall issue 4
a final decision on the appeal by not later than the date 5
that is 6 months after the date on which such written no-6
tice is received, except such deadline may not be earlier 7
than the date that is 18 months after the date on which 8
the appeal was initially filed with the Board of Land Ap-9
peals. 10
(b) N
OFINALDECISION.—If the Board of Land Ap-11
peals does not issue a final decision on an appeal by the 12
deadline described in subsection (a)— 13
(1) the Department of the Interior decision is 14
deemed to be a final agency action for purposes of 15
section 704 of title 5, United States Code; and 16
(2) judicial review of such decision shall be de 17
novo. 18
(c) A
PPLICABILITY.—This section shall apply to any 19
appeal described in subsection (a) that— 20
(1) is pending before the Board of Land Ap-21
peals as of the date of enactment of this Act; or 22
(2) is filed with the Board of Land Appeals 23
after the date of enactment of this Act. 24
Æ
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