H.R. 4149: Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act

114th Congress · introduced 2015-12-01 · Environmental Protection · Latest: Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.

federal

Follow this bill, step by step

Where it came from: introduced 2015-12-01 · official record
Who proposed it: Rep. Rice, Tom [R-SC-7] · what a sponsor is
What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
Where it stands now: Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.

What does this mean?

Official title

Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act

Plain summary

Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to revise requirements concerning citizen suits. 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. 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 such materials would have an unacceptable adverse effect on municipal water supplies, shellfish beds and fishery areas, wildlife, or recreational areas. 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 Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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A “Nay” vote

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What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)

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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Rice, Tom [R-SC-7] · 30 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Mike Rogers (R-AL), Rick W. Allen (R-GA), David Schweikert (R-AZ), Joe Wilson (R-SC), David Rouzer (R-NC), Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), Randy K. Weber, Sr. (R-TX), Tom McClintock (R-CA)

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Words on this page, explained (1)

Bill: A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).

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Sources

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
Congress.gov
Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-114hr4149.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/114/hr>

Record fed-us-cong114-hr4149 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong114 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong114