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H.R. 6409: FENCES Act

119th Congress · introduced 2025-12-03 · Environmental Protection · Latest: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

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Official title

FENCES Act

Plain summary

Foreign Emissions and Nonattainment Clarification for Economic Stability Act or the FENCES Act This bill modifies standards under the Clean Air Act to exempt states from penalties for emissions outside of the state’s control. The bill provides that certain nonattainment areas (i.e., those classified as severe or extreme for ozone or as serious for particulate matter) are not subject to sanctions for implementation plan deficiencies or for fees for failing to attain national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) if the state demonstrates it would have avoided deficiencies or attained its standards but for emissions outside of its control (e.g., emissions from an exceptional event like a wildfire). A state must renew its demonstration at least once every five years for exemption from the sanctions or fees to continue to apply. The bill specifies that an area within a state may not be designated as a nonattainment area regarding any new or revised NAAQS for a pollutant if the state demonstrates it would be in attainment but for emissions emanating from outside of the country, regardless of whether the emissions resulted from human activity. For purposes of approving a state implementation plan or meeting certain NAAQS, current law provides that a state may demonstrate to the Environmental Protection Agency that but for emissions emanating from outside of the country, it would have attained applicable NAAQS by the attainment date for certain pollutants. The bill specifies that such emissions emanating from outside the country may include emissions that result from human activity.

Congressional Research Service summary (Reported to House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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Alternatives

Needs sources: no published alternatives yet (for example a different bill, a law instead of an amendment, or keeping current law). We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Pfluger, August [R-TX-11] · 2 cosponsors

Money: No cost estimate published yet. No linked contracts or vendors yet.

Recorded votes

• House roll call 115 (2026): On Motion to Recommit, H R 6409 (2026-04-16): Failed
• House roll call 116 (2026): On Passage, H R 6409 (2026-04-16): Passed

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Reported to House)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-119hr6409.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/119/hr>

Record fed-us-cong119-hr6409 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong119 · updated 2026-11-03 by psicol fed-bills