Regulatory Certainty Act of 2018
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Regulatory Certainty Act of 2018
This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to specify that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must determine, in consultation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, that a discharge of dredged or fill materials into a disposal area will have certain unacceptable adverse effects before the EPA prohibits the specification, or restricts the use, of an area as a disposal site.
The period during which the EPA may make such a prohibition is limited to the period that: (1) begins on the date that the Corps of Engineers provides notice to the EPA that the Corps of Engineers has completed all procedures for processing an application for a permit for dredged or fill material and is ready to determine whether the permit should be issued, and (2) ends on the date that the Corps of Engineers issues the permit. The Corps of Engineers must ensure that the period consists of at least 30 consecutive days.
The Corps of Engineers may issue a permit for dredged or fill material only after the Corps of Engineers provides notice to the EPA.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on June 6, 2018. 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 June 6, 2018: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- 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 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 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?
Shelley Capito (R-WV) introduced it on June 6, 2018, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 3 Republicans.
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 June 6, 2018, 3066 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3066 days ago, on June 6, 2018.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 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
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers