Climate Equity Act of 2020
Latest action. Referred to the Committee on oversightCongress's review of how the executive branch carries out the laws it passed: hearings, document demands, investigations, and the spending power behind them.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) and Reform, and in addition to the Committees on the Budget, Rules, the Judiciary, Energy and Commerce, Science, Space, and Technology, and Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdictionA court's legal authority to hear a case: over the subject matter, the parties, and the territory.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) of the committee concerned.
Climate Equity Act of 2020
This bill requires the review and analysis of new legislation, regulation, or federal investments that are related to environmental or climate change issues and sets forth related requirements. The analysis must determine the impacts of such legislation, regulation, or investments on frontline communities (e.g., communities that have experienced environmental injustice or are vulnerable to climate injustice).
Specifically, the bill establishes a Climate and Environmental Equity Office within the Congressional Budget Office. The former must prepare an analysis for each bill or resolution with an environmental or climate change nexus that is reported by any congressional committee. The analysis must include the bill's impacts on frontline communities.
The bill also establishes an Office of Climate and Environmental Justice Accountability within the Office of Management and Budget. Among other things, the former must (1) measure the costs of environmental and climate regulations on frontline communities, (2) review agencies' investments to determine if they have an environmental or climate change nexus and ensure that frontline communities benefit from such investments, and (3) represent the views of frontline communities in the rulemaking process.
Each agency must biannually publish a climate and environmental justice accountability agenda. An agency must prepare and publish a climate and environmental justice analysis for a proposed or final rule that may have a significant impact on a substantial number of residents within frontline communities. Further, each agency must ensure that frontline communities have been given an opportunity to participate in the rulemaking process.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on August 11, 2020. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on August 11, 2020: Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committees on the Budget, Rules, the Judiciary, Energy and Commerce, Science, Space, and Technology, and Natural Resources, 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.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced it on August 11, 2020. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on August 11, 2020, 2221 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2221 days ago, on August 11, 2020.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers