S. 454: Commonsense Legislative Exceptional Events Reforms Act of 2017
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S. 454: Commonsense Legislative Exceptional Events Reforms Act of 2017
115th Congress · introduced 2017-02-27 · Environmental Protection · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
federal
Follow this bill, step by step
- Where it came from: introduced 2017-02-27 · official record
- Who proposed it: Sen. Flake, Jeff [R-AZ] · what a sponsor is
- What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
- Where it stands now: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. 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.
Official title
Commonsense Legislative Exceptional Events Reforms Act of 2017
Plain summary
Commonsense Legislative Exceptional Events Reforms Act of 2017 This bill amends the Clean Air Act to revise the criteria used by the Environmental Protection Agency in reviewing state air quality monitoring data influenced by exceptional events. Currently, an exceptional event affects air quality, is not reasonably controllable or preventable, and is caused by a natural event or by human activity that is unlikely to recur at a particular location. This bill allows an exceptional event to include a meteorological event involving high temperatures or lack of precipitation. Under current law, states may petition the EPA to exclude air quality monitoring data that are affected by an exceptional event in determining whether there were exceedances or violations of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The bill requires the criteria used by the EPA in determining whether an exceptional event was demonstrated by a state to be specific in order to minimize the discretion of the EPA in approving or disapproving the demonstration. The EPA must make a determination within 90 days after the submission of a petition by a state of an exceptional event demonstration. The demonstration is approved if the EPA does not make a determination by that deadline. A determination must be based on a preponderance of the evidence and give substantial deference to the findings of the state exceptional event demonstration. An appeal process for reviewing a disapproval of a demonstration is established.
Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), 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
Commonsense Legislative Exceptional Events Reforms Act of 2017
Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes
Officials and money
Sponsor: Sen. Flake, Jeff [R-AZ] · 2 cosponsors
Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.
Cosponsors on this site
Tom Cotton (R-AR)
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).
Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.
Sources
- Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
- Congress.gov
- Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-115s454.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/115/s>
Record fed-us-cong115-s454 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong115 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong115