Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB689 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 689
55 To require each agency to evaluate the permitting system of the agency,
66 to consider whether permitting by rule could replace that system, and
77 for other purposes.
88 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
99 JANUARY23, 2025
1010 Ms. M
1111 ALOY(for herself, Mr. FINSTAD, Mr. MOOREof Utah, Mr. VALADAO,
1212 Mr. A
1313 RRINGTON, Mr. OWENS, Mr. PFLUGER, Mr. CISCOMANI, Mr.
1414 S
1515 TAUBER, Mrs. FISCHBACH, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. COLLINS, Mr.
1616 M
1717 OYLAN, Mr. YAKYM, Mr. FONG, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. FULCHER, and Mr.
1818 K
1919 ENNEDYof Utah) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
2020 the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
2121 A BILL
2222 To require each agency to evaluate the permitting system
2323 of the agency, to consider whether permitting by rule
2424 could replace that system, and for other purposes.
2525 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2626 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2727 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2828 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Full Responsibility and 4
2929 Expedited Enforcement Act’’ or the ‘‘FREE Act’’. 5
3030 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
3131 Congress finds the following: 7
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3535 (1) Agencies near unanimously operate under a 1
3636 permitting system that gives agencies broad discre-2
3737 tion and requires the Government to review each 3
3838 permitting application. 4
3939 (2) Agencies near unanimously operate under a 5
4040 permitting system that either does not have time 6
4141 constraints, or has time constraints that agencies do 7
4242 not follow. 8
4343 (3) The combination of broad discretion and the 9
4444 lack of time constraints often results in a tedious, 10
4545 time consuming, and often expensive permitting sys-11
4646 tem for the Government and applicants. Moreover, 12
4747 agencies will sometimes use their discretion and the 13
4848 time consuming nature of permitting to stall or dis-14
4949 courage permit issuance. 15
5050 (4) There is a compelling interest in avoiding 16
5151 unnecessary delay and expense in Federal permit-17
5252 ting. 18
5353 (5) Permit by rule is a process that seeks to 19
5454 overcome agency delay and the cumbersome cost of 20
5555 agency review to Government and private interests. 21
5656 (6) Permit by rule is a process of permitting 22
5757 that includes specific written standards for obtaining 23
5858 a permit, a simple requirement for an applicant to 24
5959 certify compliance with each of the standards, and 25
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6363 a streamlined approval process with a prompt dead-1
6464 line for agency action on applications that only al-2
6565 lows the Government to verify that all conditions are 3
6666 met. The Government retains the right and responsi-4
6767 bility to audit and enforce compliance with permit-5
6868 ting requirements. Focusing upon permittees who 6
6969 are violating the law or standards rather than 7
7070 gatekeeping will make permitting more efficient 8
7171 while allowing an agency to protect the compelling 9
7272 interests for which permitting systems are intended. 10
7373 SEC. 3. PERMITTING BY RULE. 11
7474 (a) R
7575 EPORT TOCONGRESSREQUIRED.— 12
7676 (1) S
7777 UBMISSION OF REPORT .—Not later than 13
7878 240 days after the date of the enactment of this sec-14
7979 tion, the head of each agency shall submit to Con-15
8080 gress, including any committee of Congress with ju-16
8181 risdiction over permits for that agency, and the 17
8282 Comptroller General a report on the following: 18
8383 (A) A list and description of each type of 19
8484 permit issued by the agency. 20
8585 (B) The statutory and regulatory require-21
8686 ments for obtaining each such type of permit. 22
8787 (C) For each type of permit issued by the 23
8888 agency, a specific description of each step the 24
8989 agency follows to review a permit application. 25
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9393 (D) For each type of permit issued by the 1
9494 agency, an estimate of the time the agency typi-2
9595 cally takes to review an application, beginning 3
9696 on the date on which an application is sub-4
9797 mitted and ending on the date on which a suc-5
9898 cessful application is granted. 6
9999 (E) For each type of permit issued by the 7
100100 agency, a description of each action typically 8
101101 taken for a case in which an application is 9
102102 found not to meet statutory or regulatory re-10
103103 quirements for the issuance of a permit. 11
104104 (F) A list of primary interests that each 12
105105 type of permit is intended to foster or protect. 13
106106 (G) An individual determination for each 14
107107 type of permit issued by the agency of whether 15
108108 permitting by rule could in whole or in part re-16
109109 place the current system for issuing the type of 17
110110 permit. 18
111111 (H) For each type of permit issued by the 19
112112 agency for which permitting by rule could in 20
113113 whole or in part replace the current system for 21
114114 issuing the type of permit, an identification of 22
115115 any administrative or other practical challenges 23
116116 the head of the agency anticipates in 24
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120120 transitioning to permitting by rule for the type 1
121121 of permit. 2
122122 (I) An identification of each type of permit 3
123123 for which the head of the agency has deter-4
124124 mined the agency could not reasonably, in 5
125125 whole or in part, issue permits by rule under 6
126126 current facts and circumstances, describing 7
127127 with particularity each reason why permitting 8
128128 by rule could not reasonably be used for any 9
129129 such permit and what legal or practical meas-10
130130 ures could be pursued to eliminate or mitigate 11
131131 said reason. 12
132132 (2) P
133133 UBLIC COMMENT.—In preparing the re-13
134134 port required pursuant to paragraph (1), the head of 14
135135 an agency may solicit and consider public comment 15
136136 regarding the report. 16
137137 (3) E
138138 XTENSION OF SUBMISSION DEADLINE .—In 17
139139 the case that the head of an agency is not able to 18
140140 submit the report required pursuant to paragraph 19
141141 (1), the deadline to submit the report shall be ex-20
142142 tended by an additional 90 days if the head of the 21
143143 agency submits to Congress, including any com-22
144144 mittee of Congress with jurisdiction over permits for 23
145145 that agency, and the Comptroller General a notifica-24
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149149 tion of the intended extension of the deadline under 1
150150 this paragraph. 2
151151 (4) A
152152 TTORNEY FEES.—If the head of an agency 3
153153 does not file the report required pursuant to para-4
154154 graph (1) by the applicable deadline under this sub-5
155155 section, the agency shall pay, from any funds made 6
156156 available to the agency by appropriation or other-7
157157 wise, the attorney fees and costs of an applicant for 8
158158 a claim filed by the applicant for the failure or delay 9
159159 of the agency to take action with respect to an appli-10
160160 cation for a permit submitted to the agency by the 11
161161 applicant if— 12
162162 (A) the claim is filed against the agency in 13
163163 an appropriate United States district court dur-14
164164 ing the period beginning on the expiration of 15
165165 the applicable deadline under this subsection 16
166166 and ending on the date on which the agency 17
167167 files the report; 18
168168 (B) the court determines that the agency 19
169169 unreasonably delayed such action; and 20
170170 (C) the applicant prevails in the claim. 21
171171 (b) E
172172 STABLISHMENT OF PROCESSES FOR PERMIT-22
173173 TING BYRULE.— 23
174174 (1) A
175175 PPLICATION FOR AND APPROVAL OF PER -24
176176 MITS.—Not later than 12 months after the date on 25
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180180 which the report is submitted pursuant to subsection 1
181181 (a), for each type of permit issued by the agency for 2
182182 which the head of the agency determined under sub-3
183183 section (a)(1)(G) that permitting by rule could in 4
184184 whole or in part replace the current system for 5
185185 issuing the type of permit, the head of each agency 6
186186 shall establish by rule a permitting by rule applica-7
187187 tion process that does the following: 8
188188 (A) Specifies in writing each requirement 9
189189 and substantive standard that must be certified 10
190190 to be met by an applicant who files an applica-11
191191 tion to qualify for a permit under permitting by 12
192192 rule. 13
193193 (B) Allows an applicant to file an applica-14
194194 tion that contains only each required certifi-15
195195 cation described in subparagraph (A) and any 16
196196 supporting documentation the applicant chooses 17
197197 to submit in support of each such certification. 18
198198 (C) Deems an application for a permit 19
199199 under permitting by rule granted if— 20
200200 (i) the application contains each cer-21
201201 tification described in subparagraph (A); 22
202202 and 23
203203 (ii) a period of 180 days after the 24
204204 date on which the completed application 25
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208208 was submitted has expired and the head of 1
209209 the agency has not otherwise approved or 2
210210 disapproved the application. 3
211211 (2) C
212212 ORRECTION OF APPLICATION .—The head 4
213213 of an agency shall contact an applicant within 7 5
214214 days after the date on which an application is sub-6
215215 mitted under paragraph (1) if any required certifi-7
216216 cation is missing from the application. 8
217217 (3) A
218218 UDIT OF APPLICATION.—The head of an 9
219219 agency may audit an application for a permit under 10
220220 permitting by rule and verify certifications of compli-11
221221 ance with requirements and substantive standards 12
222222 for permitting by rule and may include reasonable 13
223223 requests for documentation. 14
224224 (4) D
225225 ISAPPROVAL OF APPLICATION AND EN -15
226226 FORCEMENT.— 16
227227 (A) R
228228 EASON FOR DISAPPROVAL .—The 17
229229 head of an agency may only disapprove an ap-18
230230 plication submitted for a permit under permit-19
231231 ting by rule if the head of the agency identifies 20
232232 a requirement or substantive standard described 21
233233 in paragraph (1)(A) that was not met by the 22
234234 application, informs the applicant of how to cor-23
235235 rect the application, provides a reasonable op-24
236236 portunity for the applicant to make such correc-25
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240240 tion before the final action of the agency on the 1
241241 application, and states with particularity in any 2
242242 final action disapproving the application the 3
243243 facts and reasoning for such denial. 4
244244 (B) A
245245 UDIT OF COMPLIANCE AND EN -5
246246 FORCEMENT FOLLOWING GRANT OF A PERMIT 6
247247 UNDER PERMITTING BY RULE .— 7
248248 (i) A
249249 UDIT.—The head of an agency 8
250250 may audit a permit granted under permit-9
251251 ting by rule and verify compliance with re-10
252252 quirements and substantive standards for 11
253253 permitting by rule, which may include rea-12
254254 sonable requests for documentation. 13
255255 (ii) E
256256 NFORCEMENT.—The head of an 14
257257 agency may require corrective action, sus-15
258258 pend, or revoke a permit granted under 16
259259 permitting by rule at any time if the head 17
260260 of the agency finds that a requirement or 18
261261 substantive standard under permitting by 19
262262 rule is not being met by the recipient of 20
263263 the permit. 21
264264 (C) D
265265 IRECT APPEAL.—An applicant whose 22
266266 application for a permit under permitting by 23
267267 rule is disapproved, of whom corrective action is 24
268268 required under a permit granted under permit-25
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272272 ting by rule, or whose permit granted under 1
273273 permitting by rule is suspended or revoked may 2
274274 appeal such disapproval, corrective action, sus-3
275275 pension, or revocation in an appropriate United 4
276276 States district court. 5
277277 (D) B
278278 URDEN OF PROOF .—In an appeal 6
279279 under subparagraph (C), the agency shall bear 7
280280 the burden of proof to show that an application 8
281281 was lawfully disapproved or that the agency 9
282282 lawfully required corrective action or suspended 10
283283 or revoked a permit. 11
284284 (E) A
285285 TTORNEY FEES.—If the court finds 12
286286 for the applicant or permit holder under this 13
287287 paragraph and that the agency was not sub-14
288288 stantially justified in disapproving, requiring 15
289289 corrective action under, suspending, or revoking 16
290290 a permit, the agency shall pay the attorney fees 17
291291 and costs of the applicant from any funds made 18
292292 available to the agency by appropriation or oth-19
293293 erwise. 20
294294 (c) C
295295 ONGRESSIONALOVERSIGHT.—Not later than 2 21
296296 years after the date on which the report is submitted pur-22
297297 suant to subsection (a), the head of each agency shall sub-23
298298 mit to Congress a report on the implementation by the 24
299299 agency of permitting by rule for each type of permit issued 25
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303303 by the agency for which the head of the agency determined 1
304304 under subsection (a)(1)(G) that permitting by rule could 2
305305 in whole or in part replace the current system for issuing 3
306306 the type of permit. 4
307307 (d) C
308308 ONCURRENT USE OFPREVIOUSPERMITTING 5
309309 S
310310 YSTEM.—If the head of the agency determines in the re-6
311311 port submitted pursuant to subsection (a) that the permit-7
312312 ting system in effect at the agency before the date of the 8
313313 enactment of this Act for any type of permit provides 9
314314 value that permitting by rule does not, but that permitting 10
315315 by rule could in whole or in part replace the current sys-11
316316 tem for issuing the type of permit, the head of the agency 12
317317 may maintain for that type of permit both the permitting 13
318318 system previously in effect and permitting by rule, and 14
319319 the applicant may choose which system to use to apply 15
320320 for a permit of that type from the agency. 16
321321 (e) GAO R
322322 EPORTS.— 17
323323 (1) R
324324 EPORT ON ACCURACY OF AGENCY RE -18
325325 PORTS.—Not later than 90 days after the expiration 19
326326 of the deadline to submit the reports required under 20
327327 subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall submit 21
328328 to Congress a report on the completeness and accu-22
329329 racy of the reports, including the recommendations 23
330330 of the Comptroller General concerning legal or prac-24
331331 tical measures that could be pursued to eliminate or 25
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335335 mitigate any legal or practical challenges to the 1
336336 transition by agencies to permitting by rule for any 2
337337 type of permit. 3
338338 (2) R
339339 EPORT ON PROGRESS BY AGENCIES .—Not 4
340340 later than 180 days after submission by the agencies 5
341341 of the reports required under subsection (c), the 6
342342 Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a re-7
343343 port on the progress by agencies in the implementa-8
344344 tion of this Act, including any recommendation con-9
345345 cerning legal or practical measures that could be 10
346346 pursued to eliminate or mitigate any remaining legal 11
347347 or practical challenges to the transition by agencies 12
348348 to issuance of permits under permitting by rule for 13
349349 any type of permit. 14
350350 (3) S
351351 UPPLEMENTS TO THE REPORTS .—The 15
352352 Comptroller General may submit supplements to the 16
353353 report described in paragraph (1) or (2) with regard 17
354354 to a report submitted by the head of an agency after 18
355355 the Comptroller General submits the report required 19
356356 pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2). 20
357357 (f) D
358358 EFINITIONS.—In this section: 21
359359 (1) A
360360 GENCY; RULE.—The terms ‘‘agency’’ and 22
361361 ‘‘rule’’ have the meaning given those terms in sec-23
362362 tion 551 of title 5, United States Code. 24
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366366 (2) COMPLETED APPLICATION .—The term 1
367367 ‘‘completed application’’ means an application sub-2
368368 mitted under subsection (b) that contains certifi-3
369369 cations that the applicant meets each requirement 4
370370 and substantive standard specified under subsection 5
371371 (b)(1)(A). 6
372372 (3) P
373373 ERMITTING BY RULE.—The term ‘‘permit-7
374374 ting by rule’’ means the application process that an 8
375375 agency establishes by rule for granting a certain 9
376376 type of permit described in subsection (b). 10
377377 (4) S
378378 UBSTANTIVE STANDARD .—The term ‘‘sub-11
379379 stantive standard’’ means all qualities, statuses, ac-12
380380 tions, benchmarks, measurements, or other written 13
381381 descriptions that would qualify a party to perform 14
382382 the permitted action. 15
383383 Æ
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