H.R. 712 (114th Congress) — Government Settlements (Published Before They Are Signed)
Would have required a federal agency being sued to publish the notice of intent to sue, the complaint, and any proposed settlement or consent decree BEFORE it could be entered — and to take public comment on it first — so that a deal obliging the agency to regulate could not be made and finalised out of public view.
Introduced in the House 2015-02-04 by Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA-9) with 22 cosponsors and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Referred on to the Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law 2015-02-27; subcommittee hearings held 2015-03-02; subcommittee discharged 2015-03-23; full-committee markup 2015-03-24, where it was ORDERED TO BE REPORTED BY THE YEAS AND NAYS, 20-11. Reported 2015-06-25 as H. Rept. 114-184 and placed on the Union Calendar. Considered 2016-01-07 under the structured rule H. Res. 580. A motion to recommit with instructions, offered by Ms. Kelly (IL), FAILED by recorded vote 171-244 (roll call 11). The bill then PASSED by recorded vote 244-173 (roll call 12). Received in the Senate 2016-01-11, read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary — AND NOTHING FURTHER. The bill died with the 114th Congress. `outcome: pending` rather than `blocked` IS THE SAME DELIBERATE CHOICE MADE ON THE OTHER ROUND OF THIS CAMPAIGN, AND FOR THE SAME REASON. `blocked` asserts that somebody used a position of power to prevent a vote, and the official record supports no such claim here: it records a referral and then silence. Naming who prevented a vote without the record in hand is the single worst thing this pipeline can do. THE PATTERN ACROSS THE TWO ROUNDS IS THE FINDING, and it is stronger than either round alone: twice, in two different Congresses, under two different sponsors and two different mechanisms, the House passed a bill to make federal settlement agreements public, and both times the Senate received it, referred it to committee, and never acted. This file states that pair of facts and draws no conclusion about any named person from it. Source for every step: the bill's own status record at https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/114/hr/BILLSTATUS-114hr712.xml · The official record