119-hr849

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 849 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 849

 To provide limitations for Federal agencies entering into settlement 
 agreements and consent decrees, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 January 31, 2025

Mr. Cloud (for himself, Mr. Ogles, Mr. Higgins of Louisiana, Mr. Crane, 
 Mr. Tiffany, and Mr. Perry) introduced the following bill; which was 
 referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To provide limitations for Federal agencies entering into settlement 
 agreements and consent decrees, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``No Regulation Through Litigation Act 
of 2025''.

SEC. 2. SETTLEMENT AGREEMENTS AND CONSENT DECREES.

    (a) Limitation on Consent Decrees.--The head of a Federal agency 
may not enter into a consent decree that exceeds the authority of the 
court that enters the order related to such decree.

    (b) Limitation on Attorneys' Fees and Litigation Costs.--A 
settlement agreement or consent decree resulting in a regulation or 
guidance document with respect to which a Federal agency is a party may 
not include the payment of attorneys' fees or litigation costs.
            (c) === Definitions. ===
-In this Act:

    (1) Guidance document.--The term ``guidance document''--
        (A) means an agency statement of general 
 applicability (other than a regulation that has the 
 force and effect of law promulgated in accordance with 
 the notice and public procedure under 

section 553 of 
 title 5, United States Code) that--
            (i) does not have the force and effect of 
 law; and
            (ii) sets forth--
            (I) an agency decision or a policy 
 on a statutory, regulatory, or 
 technical issue; or
            (II) an interpretation of a 
 statutory or regulatory issue; and
        (B) may include--
            (i) a memorandum;
            (ii) a notice;
            (iii) a bulletin;
            (iv) a directive;
            (v) a news release;
            (vi) a letter;
            (vii) a blog post;
            (viii) a no-action letter;
            (ix) a speech by an agency official;
            (x) an advisory;
            (xi) a manual;
            (xii) a circular; or
            (xiii) any combination of the items 
 described in clauses
            (i) through
            (xii) .

    (2) Regulation.--The term ``regulation''--
        (A) means an agency statement of general 
 applicability and future effect, which the agency 
 intends to have the force and effect of law, that is 
 designed to implement, interpret, or prescribe law or 
 policy or to describe the procedure or practice 
 requirements of an agency;
        (B) includes regulations issued pursuant to--
            (i) an informal rulemaking under 

section 553 of title 5, United States Code;
            (ii) a formal rulemaking under sections 556 
 and 557 of title 5, United States Code; and
            (iii) any combination of the informal 
 rulemaking described in clause
            (i) and the 
 formal rulemaking described in clause
            (ii) ; and
            (C) does not include--
            (i) regulations that pertain to a military 
 or foreign affairs function of the United 
 States, other than procurement regulations and 
 regulations involving the import or export of 
 non-defense articles and services;
            (ii) regulations or regulations that are 
 limited to agency organization, management, or 
 personnel matters; or
            (iii) any other category of regulations 
 exempted by the Administrator of Office of 
 Information and Regulatory Affairs.
            (d) Severability.--If any provision of this Act or the application 
of any provision of this Act to any person or circumstance, is held 
invalid, the application of such provision to other persons or 
circumstances, and the remainder of this Act, shall not be affected 
thereby.
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