(i) submit to the court a summary of 
the public comments and agency responses; 
(ii) certify the administrative record 
of the notice and comment proceeding to 
the court; and 
(iii) make that record fully accessible 
to the court. 
(7) The court shall include in the judicial 
record the administrative record certified by the 
agency under paragraph (6). 
(8) If the consent decree or settlement agree-
ment requires an agency action by a date certain, 
the agency shall, when moving for entry of the con-
sent decree or dismissal based on the settlement 
agreement— 
(A) inform the court of any uncompleted 
mandatory duties to take regulatory action that 
the decree or agreement does not address; 
(B) how the decree or agreement, if ap-
proved, would affect the discharge of those du-
ties; and 
(C) why the decree’s or agreement’s effects 
on the order in which the agency discharges its 
mandatory duties is in the public interest. 
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(9) The court shall presume, subject to rebut-
tal, that it is proper to allow amicus participation by 
any party who filed public comments on the consent 
decree or settlement agreement during the court’s 
consideration of a motion to enter the decree or dis-
miss the case on the basis of the agreement. 
(10) The court shall ensure that the proposed 
consent decree or settlement agreement allow suffi-
cient time and procedure for the agency to comply 
with chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, and 
other applicable statutes that govern rule making 
and, unless contrary to the public interest, the provi-
sions of any executive orders that govern rule mak-
ing. 
(11) The defendant agency may, at its discre-
tion, hold a public hearing on whether to enter into 
the consent decree or settlement agreement. If such 
a hearing is held, then, in accordance with para-
graph (6), a summary of the proceedings and certifi-
cation of the hearing record shall be provided to the 
court, access to the hearing record shall be given to 
the court, and the full hearing record shall be in-
cluded in the judicial record. 
(12) The Attorney General, in cases litigated by 
the Department of Justice, or the head of the de-
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fendant Federal agency, in cases litigated independ-
ently by that agency, shall certify to the court his 
or her approval of any proposed consent decree or 
settlement agreement that contains any of the fol-
lowing terms— 
(A) in the case of a consent decree, terms 
that— 
(i) convert into mandatory duties the 
otherwise discretionary authorities of an 
agency to propose, promulgate, revise or 
amend regulations; 
(ii) commit the agency to expend 
funds that Congress has not appropriated 
and that have not been budgeted for the 
action in question, or commit an agency to 
seek a particular appropriation or budget 
authorization; 
(iii) divest the agency of discretion 
committed to it by Congress or the Con-
stitution, whether such discretionary power 
was granted to respond to changing cir-
cumstances, to make policy or managerial 
choices, or to protect the rights of third 
parties; or 
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(iv) otherwise afford relief that the 
court could not enter on its own authority 
upon a final judgment in the litigation; or 
(B) in the case of a settlement agreement, 
terms that— 
(i) interfere with the agency’s author-
ity to revise, amend, or issue rules through 
the procedures set forth in chapter 5 of 
title 5, United States Code, or any other 
statute or executive order prescribing rule 
making procedures for rule makings that 
are the subject of the settlement agree-
ment; 
(ii) commit the agency to expend 
funds that Congress has not appropriated 
and that have not been budgeted for the 
action in question; or 
(iii) provide a remedy for the agency’s 
failure to comply with the terms of the set-
tlement agreement other than the revival 
of the action resolved by the settlement 
agreement, if the agreement commits the 
agency to exercise its discretion in a par-
ticular way and such discretionary power 
was committed to the agency by Congress 
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or the Constitution to respond to changing 
circumstances, to make policy or manage-
rial choices, or to protect the rights of 
third parties. 
(c) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Each agency shall submit an 
annual report to Congress on the number, identity, and 
content of complaints, consent decrees and settlement 
agreements described in paragraph (1) for that year, and 
any awards of attorneys fees or costs in actions resolved 
by such decrees or agreements. 
SEC. 3. MOTIONS TO MODIFY CONSENT DECREES. 
When a defendant agency moves the court to modify 
a previously entered consent decree described under sec-
tion 2 and the basis of the motion is that the terms of 
the decree are no longer fully in the public interest due 
to the agency’s obligations to fulfill other duties or due 
to changed facts and circumstances, the court shall review 
the motion and the consent decree de novo. 
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
The provisions of this Act apply to any covered con-
sent decree or settlement agreement proposed to a court 
after the date of enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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