Sunshine for Regulatory Decrees and Settlements Act of 2025

This bill sets new rules for lawsuits that push federal agencies to take regulatory action and for consent decrees or settlements that require such action. Agencies would have to post lawsuit notices and complaints online within 15 days and publish proposed decrees or settlements in the Federal Register at least 60 days before filing them with a court, accept and respond to public comments, and report the comments to the court. Courts would presume that affected people may join these cases, settlement talks would be handled by mediation or a different judge, and certain terms would need the personal sign-off of the Attorney General or agency head. Agencies would also file yearly reports to Congress on these cases, and courts would review agency requests to change such decrees or settlements from scratch.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Ben Cline Republican sponsor
• 1 cosponsors