| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 849 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To provide limitations for Federal agencies entering into settlement |
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| 6 | 6 | | agreements and consent decrees, and for other purposes. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 8 | 8 | | JANUARY31, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. C |
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| 10 | 10 | | LOUD(for himself, Mr. OGLES, Mr. HIGGINSof Louisiana, Mr. CRANE, |
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| 11 | 11 | | Mr. T |
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| 12 | 12 | | IFFANY, and Mr. PERRY) introduced the following bill; which was |
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| 13 | 13 | | referred to the Committee on the Judiciary |
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| 14 | 14 | | A BILL |
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| 15 | 15 | | To provide limitations for Federal agencies entering into |
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| 16 | 16 | | settlement agreements and consent decrees, and for other |
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| 17 | 17 | | purposes. |
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| 18 | 18 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 19 | 19 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 20 | 20 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 21 | 21 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Regulation 4 |
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| 22 | 22 | | Through Litigation Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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| 23 | 23 | | SEC. 2. SETTLEMENT AGREEMENTS AND CONSENT DE-6 |
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| 24 | 24 | | CREES. 7 |
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| 25 | 25 | | (a) L |
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| 26 | 26 | | IMITATION ONCONSENTDECREES.—The head 8 |
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| 27 | 27 | | of a Federal agency may not enter into a consent decree 9 |
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| 30 | 30 | | •HR 849 IH |
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| 31 | 31 | | that exceeds the authority of the court that enters the 1 |
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| 32 | 32 | | order related to such decree. 2 |
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| 33 | 33 | | (b) L |
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| 34 | 34 | | IMITATION ONATTORNEYS’ FEES ANDLITIGA-3 |
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| 35 | 35 | | TIONCOSTS.—A settlement agreement or consent decree 4 |
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| 36 | 36 | | resulting in a regulation or guidance document with re-5 |
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| 37 | 37 | | spect to which a Federal agency is a party may not include 6 |
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| 38 | 38 | | the payment of attorneys’ fees or litigation costs. 7 |
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| 39 | 39 | | (c) D |
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| 40 | 40 | | EFINITIONS.—In this Act: 8 |
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| 41 | 41 | | (1) G |
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| 42 | 42 | | UIDANCE DOCUMENT .—The term ‘‘guid-9 |
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| 43 | 43 | | ance document’’— 10 |
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| 44 | 44 | | (A) means an agency statement of general 11 |
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| 45 | 45 | | applicability (other than a regulation that has 12 |
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| 46 | 46 | | the force and effect of law promulgated in ac-13 |
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| 47 | 47 | | cordance with the notice and public procedure 14 |
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| 48 | 48 | | under section 553 of title 5, United States 15 |
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| 49 | 49 | | Code) that— 16 |
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| 50 | 50 | | (i) does not have the force and effect 17 |
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| 51 | 51 | | of law; and 18 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (ii) sets forth— 19 |
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| 53 | 53 | | (I) an agency decision or a policy 20 |
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| 54 | 54 | | on a statutory, regulatory, or tech-21 |
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| 55 | 55 | | nical issue; or 22 |
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| 56 | 56 | | (II) an interpretation of a statu-23 |
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| 57 | 57 | | tory or regulatory issue; and 24 |
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| 58 | 58 | | (B) may include— 25 |
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| 61 | 61 | | •HR 849 IH |
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| 62 | 62 | | (i) a memorandum; 1 |
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| 63 | 63 | | (ii) a notice; 2 |
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| 64 | 64 | | (iii) a bulletin; 3 |
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| 65 | 65 | | (iv) a directive; 4 |
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| 66 | 66 | | (v) a news release; 5 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (vi) a letter; 6 |
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| 68 | 68 | | (vii) a blog post; 7 |
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| 69 | 69 | | (viii) a no-action letter; 8 |
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| 70 | 70 | | (ix) a speech by an agency official; 9 |
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| 71 | 71 | | (x) an advisory; 10 |
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| 72 | 72 | | (xi) a manual; 11 |
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| 73 | 73 | | (xii) a circular; or 12 |
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| 74 | 74 | | (xiii) any combination of the items de-13 |
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| 75 | 75 | | scribed in clauses (i) through (xii). 14 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (2) R |
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| 77 | 77 | | EGULATION.—The term ‘‘regulation’’— 15 |
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| 78 | 78 | | (A) means an agency statement of general 16 |
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| 79 | 79 | | applicability and future effect, which the agency 17 |
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| 80 | 80 | | intends to have the force and effect of law, that 18 |
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| 81 | 81 | | is designed to implement, interpret, or prescribe 19 |
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| 82 | 82 | | law or policy or to describe the procedure or 20 |
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| 83 | 83 | | practice requirements of an agency; 21 |
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| 84 | 84 | | (B) includes regulations issued pursuant 22 |
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| 85 | 85 | | to— 23 |
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| 86 | 86 | | (i) an informal rulemaking under sec-24 |
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| 87 | 87 | | tion 553 of title 5, United States Code; 25 |
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| 90 | 90 | | •HR 849 IH |
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| 91 | 91 | | (ii) a formal rulemaking under sec-1 |
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| 92 | 92 | | tions 556 and 557 of title 5, United States 2 |
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| 93 | 93 | | Code; and 3 |
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| 94 | 94 | | (iii) any combination of the informal 4 |
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| 95 | 95 | | rulemaking described in clause (i) and the 5 |
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| 96 | 96 | | formal rulemaking described in clause (ii); 6 |
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| 97 | 97 | | and 7 |
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| 98 | 98 | | (C) does not include— 8 |
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| 99 | 99 | | (i) regulations that pertain to a mili-9 |
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| 100 | 100 | | tary or foreign affairs function of the 10 |
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| 101 | 101 | | United States, other than procurement 11 |
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| 102 | 102 | | regulations and regulations involving the 12 |
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| 103 | 103 | | import or export of non-defense articles 13 |
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| 104 | 104 | | and services; 14 |
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| 105 | 105 | | (ii) regulations or regulations that are 15 |
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| 106 | 106 | | limited to agency organization, manage-16 |
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| 107 | 107 | | ment, or personnel matters; or 17 |
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| 108 | 108 | | (iii) any other category of regulations 18 |
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| 109 | 109 | | exempted by the Administrator of Office of 19 |
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| 110 | 110 | | Information and Regulatory Affairs. 20 |
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| 111 | 111 | | (d) S |
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| 112 | 112 | | EVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act or 21 |
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| 113 | 113 | | the application of any provision of this Act to any person 22 |
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| 114 | 114 | | or circumstance, is held invalid, the application of such 23 |
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| 117 | 117 | | •HR 849 IH |
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| 118 | 118 | | provision to other persons or circumstances, and the re-1 |
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| 119 | 119 | | mainder of this Act, shall not be affected thereby. 2 |
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| 120 | 120 | | Æ |
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