Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act

Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act

This bill revises requirements concerning (1) citizen suits under the Clean Water Act, (2) permits for wetlands, and (3) wetland mitigation.

Litigation costs (including reasonable attorney and expert witness fees) must be awarded to the prevailing party, thus the bill removes a court's discretion to award the fees. A prevailing party is defined as the party that prevails on more than half of the claims at issue.

In addition, the bill repeals the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deny or restrict the use of any area as a disposal site for dredged or fill material when the discharge of those materials would have an unacceptable adverse effect on municipal water supplies, shellfish beds and fishery areas, wildlife, or recreational areas.

Finally, the bill revises mitigation requirements. Current law requires compensatory mitigation to replace the loss of aquatic resource functions in a watershed when a permit to discharge dredged or fill materials into navigable waters has unavoidable impacts on aquatic resources. This bill prohibits government entities from carrying out compensatory mitigation in excess of existing regulatory requirements.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5341 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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. 
   Calvert, 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. Norman, 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits 
Act''.

SEC. 2. CITIZEN SUITS.

    (a) Costs of Litigation.--Section 505(d) of the Federal Water 
Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1365(d)) is amended to read as 
follows:
    ``(d) The court, in issuing any final order in any action brought 
pursuant to this section, shall award costs of litigation (including 
reasonable attorney and expert witness fees) to the prevailing party. 
For purposes of this subsection, the prevailing party shall be 
considered to be the party, if any, that prevails on more than half of 
the claims at issue in the action. The court may, if a temporary 
restraining order or preliminary injunction is sought, require the 
filing of a bond or equivalent security in accordance with the Federal 
Rules of Civil Procedure.''.
    (b) Restriction on Certain Settlements.--Section 505(c) of the 
Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1365(c)) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) Restriction on certain orders and settlements.--A 
        Federal court may not order, or approve a settlement requiring, 
        in an action brought pursuant to this section, a governmental 
        entity to carry out, or otherwise provide for, compensatory 
        mitigation with respect to a permit applied for by, or issued 
        to, the entity under section 404 in excess of the requirements 
        for such mitigation under parts 320, 323, 325, and 332 of title 
        33, Code of Federal Regulations, and part 230 of title 40, Code 
        of Federal Regulations.''.

SEC. 3. ELIMINATING DUPLICATIVE OVERSIGHT.

    (a) In General.--Section 404(c) of the Federal Water Pollution 
Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344(c)) is repealed.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 404(b) of the Federal Water 
Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1344(b)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``Subject to subsection (c) of this 
        section, each such disposal site'' and inserting ``Each such 
        disposal site''; and
            (2) by striking ``the Administrator, in conjunction with''.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON EXCESS MITIGATION.

    Section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 
1344) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(u) No governmental entity may carry out, or otherwise provide 
for, compensatory mitigation, with respect to a permit issued to the 
entity under this section, in excess of the requirements for such 
mitigation under parts 320, 323, 325, and 332 of title 33, Code of 
Federal Regulations, and part 230 of title 40, Code of Federal 
Regulations.''.
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