Sponsor
Michael A. Rulli
Representative · R-OH
Representative · R-OH
The bill reduces potential taxpayer and agency legal costs through caps and stricter documentation, but the same limits and requirements make fee recovery smaller, more uncertain, and more administratively burdensome—potentially discouraging experienced counsel and meritorious challenges to federal agency actions.
Nonprofits, small businesses, and other fee applicants face clearer, standardized billing and documentation rules when seeking fee awards, making petitions more transparent and easier for agencies and courts to evaluate.
Taxpayers and the federal government face lower potential liability because aggregate fee awards for many claimants are capped (e.g., $300,000 per party per year), which limits very large payouts.
Federal agencies and defendants benefit from caps on attorney and expert rates (including a cap on expert pay tied to government rates), which can reduce litigation and expert costs and help control agency legal spending.
Nonprofits, small businesses, and many organizations risk receiving substantially less compensation because of the $300,000 per-party, one-year ceiling on fee awards, which may limit full recovery and discourage legal challenges against government actions.
Capping attorney hourly rates (e.g., $125 or $175) risks undercompensating counsel, making it harder for plaintiffs to obtain experienced attorneys and weakening representation quality in complex or high‑stakes cases against federal agencies.
Tightened documentation and detailed billing requirements increase administrative burden and upfront compliance costs for fee applicants and their counsel, adding time and expense to bring fee petitions.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Tightens fee-recovery rules against the U.S.: stricter billing proof, caps attorney/expert rates, and adds a $300,000 per-party annual cap for many private parties.
Official title: To amend chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, and chapter 161 of title 28, United States Code, to provide a maximum amount for the fees and other expenses that may be awarded in connection with an agency adjudication, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 11, 2026 by Michael A. Rulli · Last progress June 11, 2026
Sets tighter limits and documentation rules for court and agency fee awards by changing fee recovery rules under the Equal Access to Justice framework and related agency-adjudication law. It caps total fee awards per party to $300,000 per year for many private parties, narrows what counts as recoverable fees and expenses, requires greater billing detail, and imposes per-hour caps on attorney and expert fees with special lower caps for VA and Social Security matters. Applies to both agency adjudications and civil litigation against the United States by amending 5 U.S.C. § 504 and 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). Some hourly-fee caps and indexing begin immediately while higher caps for many agencies take effect in the first fiscal year beginning five years after enactment; indexing to CPI-U is provided for later adjustments. Certain nonprofits (501(c)(3)s) remain exempt from the new one-year aggregate cap provision.