Sponsors (2)
Bars individuals who were fossil fuel company executives, fossil fuel lobbyists, or senior trade group officers within the prior 10 years from certain cabinet and political appointments.
Official title: Prohibit the appointment of former fossil fuel executive officers and fossil fuel lobbyists as the heads of certain departments, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 21, 2025 by Edward John Markey · Last progress January 21, 2025
The bill strengthens transparency and reduces potential fossil-fuel industry influence in energy and climate policymaking, at the trade-off of narrowing the pool of experienced industry appointees and imposing additional compliance and scrutiny costs on officials and advocacy groups.
Taxpayers and the public: Federal energy and climate policymaking will be overseen by appointees without recent fossil-fuel industry ties, reducing perceived industry capture and conflicts of interest.
Taxpayers and the public: Removing conflicted appointees may increase public confidence in climate and emissions regulation and strengthen the perceived legitimacy of related national-security and regulatory decisions.
Federal employees, nonprofits, and taxpayers: Federal ethics and conflict rules will more clearly identify which department heads and political appointees are covered and will narrow the definition of 'fossil fuel lobbyist' and related trade association scope, improving transparency and making enforcement scope clearer.
Federal employees and the energy sector: Removing appointees with recent fossil-fuel ties shrinks the pool of experienced energy executives available for leadership roles, which can reduce in-house technical expertise, slow policymaking, and raise costs if agencies must rely on outside consultants.
Nonprofits, lobbyists, federal officials, and taxpayers: Expanding or clarifying Lobbying Disclosure Act references and publishing a broad list of covered department heads increases registration, reporting, and compliance obligations, creating higher administrative costs and paperwork burdens.
Energy companies, their lobbyists, and related nonprofits: Labeling entities and lobbyists tied to fossil fuel extraction may stigmatize those organizations and subject them to stricter scrutiny, potentially chilling advocacy or business operations.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Bars people who were senior officers at fossil fuel companies, registered fossil fuel lobbyists, or senior officers at fossil fuel trade groups from serving as specified cabinet-level department heads or certain political appointees if they held those industry roles at any time during the prior 10 years. The ban applies to a defined list of covered department head positions and covered political appointees across multiple executive agencies, and it defines key terms like "fossil fuel entity," "fossil fuel lobbyist," and "executive officer."