Climate Change Legislation in the 113th Congress
Released: 2014-03-12T00:00:00

Summary:
In the 113th Congress, Members have introduced multiple bills that include provisions that would directly or indirectly address climate change-related issues. In some cases, it is difficult to distinguish between direct and indirect climate change bills, because a specific bill or action may seek to achieve multiple objectives. The bills listed in this report include provisions that directly address climate change, as opposed to those that primarily address other issues (e.g., energy efficiency) but could have ancillary impacts on climate.
Observations about the climate change-related proposals in the 113th Congress include the following:
a large number of the identified bills include provisions to encourage or require climate change adaptation activities; a considerable number of proposals include provisions to prohibit federal agencies, particularly the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), from taking action to require greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions; and as of the date of this report, one bill (S. 332) would attach a price to GHG emissions.
As of the date of this report, the President has signed one bill into law (P.L. 113-79) that includes climate change-related provisions. Among other provisions, this act (often referred to as the "Farm Bill") reauthorizes the Office of International Forestry through FY2018 and directs the Secretary of Agriculture to revise the strategic plan for forestry inventory to include information on renewable biomass supplies and carbon stocks.
In addition, the House has passed three bills:
H.R. 367 (passed on August 2, 2013) would require any rule that implements or provides for the imposition or collection of a carbon tax to be submitted to Congress for an affirmative vote and presentment to the President before the regulation could take effect; H.R. 2641 (passed on March 6, 2014) would prohibit a lead agency from using the social cost of carbon in an environmental review or decision-making process; and H.R. 3826 (passed on March 6, 2014) would prohibit EPA from issuing a rule that would establish GHG performance standards at electric generators unless specific conditions are met.

subsections: section_title: Introduction
paragraphs: In the 113 th Congress, Members have introduced multiple bills that include provisions that would directly or indirectly address climate change. This report describes and compares the bills and provisions that directly address climate change, as opposed to those that primarily address other issues (e.g., energy efficiency) but could have ancillary impacts on climate. In some cases, it is difficult to distinguish between direct and indirect climate change bills, because a specific bill or action may seek to achieve multiple objectives.
This report focuses on legislative actions—including comprehensive bills with individual climate change titles, sections, or provisions—that explicitly address climate change issues. The provisions in these bills fall into six general categories: 
1. carbon price (i.e., tax or fee) on greenhouse (GHG) emissions; 2. other mechanisms intended to encourage mitigation of GHG emissions (e.g., sequestration of emissions); 3. research on climate change-related issues; 4. adaptation activities related to expected climate change impacts; 5. support for international climate change-related activities; and 6. action that limits or prohibits climate change-related authorities, efforts, or considerations.
 Table 1 lists the proposals in the 113 th Congress by these six broad categories. These categories are not mutually exclusive, and several bills address more than one of the above categories. Other reviews of the same legislation may identify a different list of bills with different categorization. 
 Table 2 provides a brief summary about each bill, including the primary sponsor, short title, major actions, and key climate change-related provisions.
As of the date of this report, one bill— S. 332 (Sanders)—would attach a price to GHG emissions. Table 3 compares that carbon price proposal with selected state and international programs. In addition, Representative Waxman and Senator Whitehouse offered a carbon tax "discussion draft" on March 12, 2013.