I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 525

To provide for the defense of the environment, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 3, 1999

Mr. WAXMAN (for himself, Mr. GEPHARDT, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. FARR of California,

Mr. OLVER, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. MEEHAN, Ms. WOOLSEY,

Ms. WATERS, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. FILNER,

Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, Mrs. CHRISTIAN-CHRISTENSEN, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Ms. PELOSI, Mr.

RUSH, Ms. RIVERS, Mr. PAYNE, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. LEWIS

of Georgia, Ms. NORTON, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. FATTAH, Mr.

CUMMINGS, Mr. DIXON, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr.

GEJDENSON, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. EVANS, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms.

LOFGREN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr.

KUCINICH, Ms. LEE, Mr. FORD, Mr. OWENS, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. TOWNS,

Mr. STARK, Mr. FROST, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. VENTO, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr.

BONIOR, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. BROWN

of Ohio, Mr. CONYERS, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. BROWN of California, Mr. MATSUI, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. MOORE,

Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. BORSKI, Mr.

FALEOMAVAEGA, Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr.

MARTINEZ, Mr. CLAY, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. OBEY,

Mr. ALLEN, and Mr. GREEN of Texas) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Rules, and in addition to the

Committee on Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
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A BILL

To provide for the defense of the environment, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Defense of the Envi5 ronment Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that provisions that

8 reduce protection of the environment have been included

9 in legislation without adequate consideration and an op10 portunity for Members to vote on the provisions.

11 (b) PURPOSE.—The purposes of this Act are to—

12 (1) require Members of Congress to vote in the

13 House of Representatives and the Senate on provi14 sions included in legislation that reduce protection of

15 the environment; and

16 (2) require the Office of Management and

17 Budget to ensure that each department or agency

18 makes available to Congress and the public informa19 tion to assist in assessing whether provisions in20 cluded in legislation would reduce protection of the

21 environment.
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1 SEC. 3. APPLICABLE PROVISIONS.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—This Act shall apply to any provi3 sion in a bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference

4 report before Congress that reduces protection of the envi5 ronment.

6 (b) PROVISIONS REDUCING PROTECTION.—A provi7 sion shall be considered to reduce protection of the envi8 ronment if the provision meets the criteria of one or more

9 of the following paragraphs:

10 (1) DEFENSE OF CLEAN AIR AND WATER.—The

11 provision may allow increased pollution of ambient

12 air, indoor air, surface water, ground water, the

13 oceans, or other terrestrial or aquatic resources.

14 (2) DEFENSE OF NATIONAL PARKS AND PUBLIC

15 LANDS.—The provision may—

16 (A) cause adverse impacts on the environ17 mental quality of national parks or other public

18 lands, including the effect of decreasing the

19 quantity or quality of outdoor educational or

20 recreational opportunities on such lands; or

21 (B) diminish protection of species that

22 may be endangered.

23 (3) DEFENSE OF CHILDREN’S ENVIRONMENTAL

24 HEALTH.—The provision may increase children’s ex25 posure to environmental contaminants and other en26 vironmental risks.
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1 (c) OTHER PROVISIONS.—A provision shall also be

2 considered to reduce protection of the environment if the

3 provision may have the effect of shielding any violators

4 of environmental laws from penalties or limiting judicial

5 review of agency action under the authority of any envi6 ronmental law.

7 (d) BASELINE FOR EFFECTS.—The baseline for de8 termining the effects of a provision described in subsection

9 (b) or (c) shall be the circumstances that would exist if

10 the provision were not enacted.

11 SEC. 4. DUTIES OF CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—When a committee of the House

13 of Representatives or Senate or a committee of conference

14 reports a bill or joint resolution of public character that

15 includes any provision that reduces protection of the envi16 ronment, the report of the committee accompanying the

17 bill or joint resolution (or the statement of managers ac18 companying the conference report) shall contain each of

19 the following:

20 (1) An identification and description of any

21 provision in the bill or joint resolution or conference

22 report that reduces protection of the environment.

23 (2) A qualitative and, if practicable, a quan24 titative assessment of the extent of the reduction in

25 protection of the environment.
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1 (3) A description of the actions, if any, taken

2 by the committee to avoid the reduction in protec3 tion of the environment.

4 (4) Any statement received under section 5.

5 SEC. 5. DUTIES OF THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL.

6 (a) STATEMENT.—For each bill or joint resolution of

7 a public character reported by any committee of the House

8 of Representatives or the Senate, and for each report by

9 a committee of conference, the Comptroller General of the

10 United States, upon a request of the committee or a ma11 jority of the members of the minority party or majority

12 party of the committee, shall, prior to the filing of the

13 report, prepare and submit to the committee a statement

14 assessing the extent to which the provisions of the bill,

15 joint resolution, or conference report reduce protection of

16 the environment.

17 (b) ASSISTANCE TO COMMITTEES AND STUDIES.—At

18 the request of any committee of the Senate or the House

19 of Representatives, the Comptroller General shall, to the

20 extent practicable, consult with and assist such committee

21 in assessing the extent to which the provisions of a bill,

22 joint resolution, or conference report reduce the protection

23 of the environment.
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1 SEC. 6. DUTIES OF OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT OF BUDGET.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of

3 Management and Budget shall ensure that each depart4 ment or agency of the United States—

5 (1) collects and catalogs available information

6 that would assist in assessing whether any provision

7 in a bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference

8 report before Congress would reduce protection of

9 the environment;

10 (2) coordinates, organizes and facilitates the

11 availability of such information for use by Congress;

12 and

13 (3) ensures that such information is readily

14 available to the Comptroller General for purposes of

15 fulfilling duties under section 5 of this Act or for

16 other purposes.

17 (b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Director of the Of18 fice of Management and Budget shall ensure that each

19 department or agency of the United States makes infor20 mation collected and cataloged pursuant to subsection (a)

21 readily available to the public.

22 SEC. 7. LEGISLATION SUBJECT TO POINT OF ORDER.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—It shall not be in order in the

24 House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any

25 bill, joint resolution, or conference report that is reported
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1 by a committee unless the committee has complied with

2 section 4.

3 (b) PROCEDURE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA4 TIVES.—It shall not be in order in the House of Rep5 resentatives to consider a rule or order that waives the

6 application of subsection (a).

7 SEC. 8. DEBATE ON PROVISIONS REDUCING PROTECTION.

8 (a) AMENDMENT OF HOUSE RULES.—Clause 6(c) of

9 rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives

10 is amended by striking the period at the end of subpara11 graph (2) and inserting a semicolon and by adding at the

12 end thereof:

13 ‘‘(3) a rule or order that would prevent a motion to

14 strike from any bill, joint resolution, or amendment a pro15 vision that reduces protection of the environment (within

16 the meaning of section 3 of the Defense of the Environ17 ment Act of 1999).’’.

18 (b) VOTE IN SENATE.—Notwithstanding the adop19 tion of any rule or motion to limit or close debate it shall

20 always be in order, as question of high privilege in the

21 Senate, to move to strike from any bill, joint resolution,

22 amendment, or conference report any provision that re23 duces protection of the environment (within the meaning

24 of section 3 of the Defense of the Environment Act of

25 1999). Such motion shall take precedence over a motion
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1 for the previous question on such bill, joint resolution,

2 amendment, or conference report, and it shall be in order

3 to debate any such motion for 40 minutes, one-half of such

4 time shall be given to debate in favor of, and one-half of

5 such times in opposition to, such motion.

6 (c) CONFERENCE REPORTS AND SENATE AMEND7 MENTS.—Clause 10 of Rules XXII of the Rules of the

8 House of Representatives is amended as follows:

9 (1) In subparagraph (1) of paragraph (a), in

10 paragraph (b), and in subparagraph (2) of para11 graph (d) after ‘‘nongermane matter’’ insert ‘‘or

12 matter reducing the protection of the environment’’.

13 (2) Before the period at the end of subpara14 graph (2) of paragraph (a), insert ‘‘or asserting that

15 such proposition contains any provision that reduces

16 protection of the environment (within the meaning of

17 section 3 of the Defense of the Environment Act of

18 1999)’’.

19 (3) In paragraph (e) after ‘‘nongermane mat20 ter’’ insert ‘‘or matter reducing the protection of the

21 environment’’.

22 (d) EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWERS.—The pro23 visions of this section and sections 4 and 7 are enacted

24 by Congress—
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1 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of

2 the House of Representatives and the Senate, re3 spectively, and as such they shall be considered as

4 part of the rules of such House, respectively, and

5 such rules shall supersede other rules only to the ex6 tent that they are inconsistent therewith; and

7 (2) with full recognition of the constitutional

8 right of either House to change such rules (so far

9 as relating to such House) at any time, in the same

10 manner, and to the same extent as in the case of

11 any other rule of each House.

12 SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE.

13 This Act shall take effect on the date of enactment.

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