Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5341 To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act with respect to citizen suits and the specification of disposal sites, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 6, 2019 Mr. RICE of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. AMODEI, Mr. BANKS, Mr. CAL- VERT, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. FLORES, Mr. GIANFORTE, Mr. HARRIS, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. HOLLINGSWORTH, Mr. KELLY of Mississippi, Mr. MARCHANT, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, Mr. NOR- MAN, Mr. OLSON, Mr. PALAZZO, Mr. PERRY, Mr. ROUZER, Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. STEWART, Mrs. WALORSKI, Mr. YOHO, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. BUDD, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. BROOKS of Alabama, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. SMITH of Nebraska, and Mr. WEBER of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act with respect to citizen suits and the specification of disposal sites, 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 ‘‘Discouraging Frivolous 4 Lawsuits Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5341.IH H5341 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5341 IH SEC. 2. CITIZEN SUITS. 1 (a) COSTS OF LITIGATION.—Section 505(d) of the 2 Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1365(d)) 3 is amended to read as follows: 4 ‘‘(d) The court, in issuing any final order in any ac- 5 tion brought pursuant to this section, shall award costs 6 of litigation (including reasonable attorney and expert wit- 7 ness fees) to the prevailing party. For purposes of this 8 subsection, the prevailing party shall be considered to be 9 the party, if any, that prevails on more than half of the 10 claims at issue in the action. The court may, if a tem- 11 porary restraining order or preliminary injunction is 12 sought, require the filing of a bond or equivalent security 13 in accordance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.’’. 14 (b) RESTRICTION ON CERTAIN SETTLEMENTS.—Sec- 15 tion 505(c) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 16 (33 U.S.C. 1365(c)) is amended by adding at the end the 17 following: 18 ‘‘(4) RESTRICTION ON CERTAIN ORDERS AND 19 SETTLEMENTS.—A Federal court may not order, or 20 approve a settlement requiring, in an action brought 21 pursuant to this section, a governmental entity to 22 carry out, or otherwise provide for, compensatory 23 mitigation with respect to a permit applied for by, 24 or issued to, the entity under section 404 in excess 25 of the requirements for such mitigation under parts 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5341.IH H5341 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5341 IH 320, 323, 325, and 332 of title 33, Code of Federal 1 Regulations, and part 230 of title 40, Code of Fed- 2 eral Regulations.’’. 3 SEC. 3. ELIMINATING DUPLICATIVE OVERSIGHT. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 404(c) of the Federal 5 Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344(c)) is re- 6 pealed. 7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 404(b) of 8 the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 9 1344(b)) is amended— 10 (1) by striking ‘‘Subject to subsection (c) of 11 this section, each such disposal site’’ and inserting 12 ‘‘Each such disposal site’’; and 13 (2) by striking ‘‘the Administrator, in conjunc- 14 tion with’’. 15 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON EXCESS MITIGATION. 16 Section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control 17 Act (33 U.S.C. 1344) is amended by adding at the end 18 the following: 19 ‘‘(u) No governmental entity may carry out, or other- 20 wise provide for, compensatory mitigation, with respect to 21 a permit issued to the entity under this section, in excess 22 of the requirements for such mitigation under parts 320, 23 323, 325, and 332 of title 33, Code of Federal Regula- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5341.IH H5341 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5341 IH tions, and part 230 of title 40, Code of Federal Regula- 1 tions.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:10 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5341.IH H5341 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS