Sponsors (3)
The bill protects states from federal sanctions when foreign or otherwise uncontrollable emissions prevent air‑quality attainment—reducing penalties and short‑term costs for states—at the expense of potentially slower local air‑quality improvements, cost‑shifting of mitigation, and added administrative and legal burdens.
State and local governments (and the communities they serve) can avoid federal sanctions when ozone or PM nonattainment is demonstrably caused by out‑of‑country emissions or other uncontrollable/exceptional events, reducing the risk of punitive federal actions while states continue local control measures.
State air programs and transportation partners face reduced financial penalties when mobile‑source emissions beyond their control cause failure to attain standards, lowering immediate fiscal burdens on state compliance efforts.
Urban communities and the public may experience slower improvements in air quality (ozone and particulate matter), prolonging exposure-related health harms if sanctions are suspended or delayed.
Utilities, industrial sources, and some local governments may receive regulatory relief that effectively shifts pollution mitigation costs to other jurisdictions or the federal government, producing uneven distribution of cleanup burdens and potential economic impacts on downstream communities.
States and local governments face added administrative complexity and recurring demonstration renewals (including potential litigation), increasing compliance costs and delaying final resolution of attainment status.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Bars certain EPA nonattainment designations and sanctions when foreign, exceptional, or uncontrollable mobile-source emissions prevent meeting NAAQS and requires a 5-year renewal for state demonstrations.
Prevents the EPA from labeling an area as nonattainment and from imposing certain sanctions when a state shows it would meet the air quality standard except for pollution coming from outside the United States, from exceptional events, or from mobile-source emissions that the state cannot control but is already addressing. It amends existing Clean Air Act provisions and adds a new provision that applies relief for Severe/Extreme ozone and Serious particulate matter areas, while requiring states to renew their demonstrations at least every five years and still adopt measures where they are able to do so.
Introduced December 3, 2025 by August Pfluger · Last progress April 17, 2026