Bill > HR849

This bill introduces new restrictions on how federal agencies can enter into settlement agreements and consent decrees. Specifically, the bill prohibits federal agency heads from entering into consent decrees that exceed a court's legal authority and prevents settlement agreements from including payments for attorneys' fees or litigation costs when those agreements result in new regulations or guidance documents. The bill provides detailed definitions for both "guidance documents" (which can include a wide range of agency communications like memoranda, blog posts, advisories, and speeches) and "regulations" (formal agency statements intended to have the force of law). These definitions aim to clarify and limit the ways agencies can create new policy through legal settlements. The bill also includes a severability clause, which means that if any part of the law is found to be invalid, the rest of the law can still remain in effect. The overall purpose appears to be constraining federal agencies' ability to create new regulations or policy interpretations through litigation settlements, thereby potentially reducing what some see as a method of circumventing traditional regulatory rulemaking processes.

Justice

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/849/all-info