I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 352 

To rescind funds made available to the Administrator of the Environmental 

Protection Agency if the Administrator fails to meet certain deadlines. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 14, 2015 

Mr. DUFFY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Appropriations, 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 

A BILL 

To rescind funds made available to the Administrator of 

the Environmental Protection Agency if the Administrator fails to meet certain deadlines. 

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 ‘‘Environmental Protec5 tion Agency Accountability Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF ADMINISTRATOR. 

7 In this Act, the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad8 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 352 IH

1 SEC. 3. INTERIM ASSESSMENT OF REGULATORY REQUIRE2 MENTS AND APPLICABLE PENALTIES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 

4 date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall en5 sure that the requirements described in subsection (b) are 

6 satisfied. 

7 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The Administrator shall sat8 isfy— 

9 (1) section 4 of Executive Order 12866 (5 

10 U.S.C. 601 note) (relating to regulatory planning 

11 and review) and Executive Order 13563 (5 U.S.C. 

12 601 note) (relating to improving regulation and reg13 ulatory review) (or any successor Executive order es14 tablishing requirements applicable to the uniform re15 porting of regulatory and deregulatory agendas); 

16 (2) section 602 of title 5, United States Code; 

17 (3) section 8 of Executive Order 13132 (5 

18 U.S.C. 601 note) (relating to federalism); and 

19 (4) section 202(a) of the Unfunded Mandates 

20 Reform Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1532(a)). 

21 (c) FINANCIAL PENALTY PROVISIONS.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), if 

23 the Comptroller General of the United States deter24 mines that the Administrator fails to satisfy any re25 quirement described in subsection (b), an amount of 

26 funding equal to $20,000 per week shall be reVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:09 Jan 22, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H352.IH H352

SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 352 IH

1 scinded from the Office of the Administrator, and 

2 once each week thereafter until all the requirements 

3 are satisfied. 

4 (2) LIMITATIONS.— 

5 (A) 1-DAY GRACE PERIOD.—Paragraph (1) 

6 shall not apply if each requirement listed in 

7 subsection (b) is satisfied not later than 1 day 

8 after the deadline for the requirement. 

9 (B) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF RESCINDED

10 FUNDS.—No rescission of funds under para11 graph (1) shall exceed, in any fiscal year, an 

12 amount equal to 7 percent of the funds made 

13 available to the Office of the Administrator. 

14 (3) AUDITS.—In any fiscal year in which any 

15 funds are rescinded from the Administrator pursu16 ant to this Act, the Inspector General of the Envi17 ronmental Protection Agency shall— 

18 (A) conduct an audit to assess compliance 

19 with the requirements of this paragraph; and 

20 (B) not later than 120 days after the end 

21 of the fiscal year during which any funds are 

22 rescinded under paragraph (1), submit to the 

23 Committee on Environment and Public Works 

24 of the Senate, the Committee on Transportation 

25 and Infrastructure of the House of RepresentaVerDate Sep 11 2014 07:09 Jan 22, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H352.IH H352

SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 352 IH

1 tives, the Committee on Appropriations of the 

2 Senate, and the Committee on Appropriations 

3 of the House of Representatives a report de4 scribing the reasons why the funds were re5 scinded, including allocations of resources. 

6 (4) EFFECT OF PARAGRAPH.—Nothing in this 

7 paragraph affects or limits the application of, or ob8 ligation to comply with, any Federal, State, local, or 

9 tribal law. 

Æ 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS