Sponsors (2)
The bill increases protections for grant recipients and tightens oversight and accountability of EPA officials while constraining EPA's flexibility in enforcement and rulemaking, raising litigation exposure, administrative delays, and uncertainty that could affect taxpayers, regulated entities, and program beneficiaries.
State and local governments, nonprofits, and small businesses keep awarded federal grant funds and avoid sudden termination or negative reporting while legal or administrative disputes proceed, preserving program continuity and recipients' reputations.
Congress gains formal oversight of EPA decisions to dismiss or withdraw certain carcinogen-related enforcement claims, increasing legislative review and democratic accountability over high-stakes agency outcomes.
Individuals harmed by agency violations can obtain faster, stronger remedies — injunctions, compensatory/punitive damages (or $1,000 per violation), trebling for bad-faith violations, and recovery of attorney fees — improving accountability and access to justice.
Requiring congressional approval before EPA may dismiss or withdraw certain carcinogen claims curtails agency discretion, risks politicizing scientific and enforcement decisions, delays settlements, and increases legal uncertainty for regulated entities.
The bill sunsets key authorities on Jan 20, 2029, creating significant uncertainty for individuals and organizations that depend on the Act's provisions and risking disruption of services or funding unless Congress acts to extend them.
Creating a new private right of action with per-violation damages, trebling for bad faith, and fee-shifting meaningfully increases government liability and litigation risk, raising potential taxpayer costs and encouraging opportunistic suits.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Requires congressional approval before EPA dismisses certain suits or withdraws DOJ referrals, restricts grant terminations and deobligation during litigation, creates private cause of action, and binds EPA to specific economic-guidance editions.
Official title: To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to seek congressional approval prior to dismissing lawsuits, or withdrawing referrals to the Department of Justice of claims, relating to the release of certain carcinogens, and for other purposes.
Introduced April 22, 2026 by Troy Carter · Last progress April 22, 2026
Requires the EPA Administrator to get an enacted joint resolution of Congress before dismissing certain EPA-filed lawsuits or withdrawing referrals to DOJ, and creates expedited congressional procedures to consider those resolutions. It also restricts the Administrator’s ability to terminate grants or deobligate funds without prior Office of General Counsel (OGC) review, freezes certain deobligations while litigation or administrative processes are pending, and bars negative grant closeout treatment while challenges proceed. Creates a private right of action with statutory damages and fee-shifting for people harmed by violations, authorizes a court to cut the Administrator’s basic pay to $1 for violations, binds EPA economic analyses to specified OMB/EPA guidance editions, and sunsets all provisions on January 20, 2029.