ZELDIN Act

Key Points

• The bill blocks the EPA from dropping lawsuits or pulling legal referrals involving cancer-causing chemicals unless Congress votes to approve the decision. The EPA administrator must notify both chambers, and a joint resolution of approval must be enacted before any dismissal or withdrawal can happen.
• The bill protects EPA grant recipients by requiring the agency's Office of General Counsel to confirm that any grant termination follows the original rules and terms of the agreement. The EPA cannot cut off grant money unless this legal review confirms the termination is lawful.
• Grant money cannot be clawed back or sent to the Treasury while a legal challenge is pending. Organizations fighting a grant termination in court also cannot be penalized on future federal grant applications for having an open dispute.
• Anyone harmed by a violation of this law can sue the EPA administrator in federal court for injunctive relief, compensatory and punitive damages, and attorney's fees. A court can even reduce the administrator's pay to $1 per year if it finds the law was broken.
• The bill locks in specific cost-benefit analysis guidelines from 2023 and 2024 for EPA rulemaking, and the entire law sunsets on January 20, 2029, meaning all its provisions automatically expire on that date.