No Regulation Through Litigation Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3045 To provide limitations for Federal agencies entering into settlement agreements and consent decrees, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 7, 2021 Mr. GOOD of Virginia (for himself, Mr. BUDD, Mr. PERRY, and Mr. BIGGS) 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Regulation 4 Through Litigation Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. SETTLEMENT AGREEMENTS AND CONSENT DE- 6 CREES. 7 (a) LIMITATION ON CONSENT DECREES.—The head 8 of a Federal agency may not enter into a consent decree 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jun 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3045.IH H3045 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3045 IH that exceeds the authority of the court that enters the 1 order related to such decree. 2 (b) LIMITATION ON ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND LITIGA- 3 TION COSTS.—A settlement agreement or consent decree 4 resulting in a regulation or guidance document with re- 5 spect to which a Federal agency is a party may not include 6 the payment of attorneys’ fees or litigation costs. 7 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 8 (1) GUIDANCE DOCUMENT.—The term ‘‘guid- 9 ance document’’— 10 (A) means an agency statement of general 11 applicability (other than a regulation that has 12 the force and effect of law promulgated in ac- 13 cordance with the notice and public procedure 14 under section 553 of title 5, United States 15 Code) that— 16 (i) does not have the force and effect 17 of law; and 18 (ii) sets forth— 19 (I) an agency decision or a policy 20 on a statutory, regulatory, or tech- 21 nical issue; or 22 (II) an interpretation of a statu- 23 tory or regulatory issue; and 24 (B) may include— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jun 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3045.IH H3045 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3045 IH (i) a memorandum; 1 (ii) a notice; 2 (iii) a bulletin; 3 (iv) a directive; 4 (v) a news release; 5 (vi) a letter; 6 (vii) a blog post; 7 (viii) a no-action letter; 8 (ix) a speech by an agency official; 9 (x) an advisory; 10 (xi) a manual; 11 (xii) a circular; or 12 (xiii) any combination of the items de- 13 scribed in clauses (i) through (xii). 14 (2) REGULATION.—The term ‘‘regulation’’— 15 (A) means an agency statement of general 16 applicability and future effect, which the agency 17 intends to have the force and effect of law, that 18 is designed to implement, interpret, or prescribe 19 law or policy or to describe the procedure or 20 practice requirements of an agency; 21 (B) includes regulations issued pursuant 22 to— 23 (i) an informal rulemaking under sec- 24 tion 553 of title 5, United States Code; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jun 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3045.IH H3045 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3045 IH (ii) a formal rulemaking under sec- 1 tions 556 and 557 of title 5, United States 2 Code; and 3 (iii) any combination of the informal 4 rulemaking described in clause (i) and the 5 formal rulemaking described in clause (ii); 6 and 7 (C) does not include— 8 (i) regulations that pertain to a mili- 9 tary or foreign affairs function of the 10 United States, other than procurement 11 regulations and regulations involving the 12 import or export of non-defense articles 13 and services; 14 (ii) regulations or regulations that are 15 limited to agency organization, manage- 16 ment, or personnel matters; or 17 (iii) any other category of regulations 18 exempted by the Administrator of Office of 19 Information and Regulatory Affairs. 20 (d) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act or 21 the application of any provision of this Act to any person 22 or circumstance, is held invalid, the application of such 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jun 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3045.IH H3045 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3045 IH provision to other persons or circumstances, and the re- 1 mainder of this Act, shall not be affected thereby. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:16 Jun 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3045.IH H3045 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS