H.R. 9653: Limiting Excessive Government Obstruction Act

This bill would create special procedures for certain agency adjudications—formal cases handled by federal agencies against individuals or businesses.

What would change

• If an agency starts an adjudication against someone, that person could file a demurrer with the adjudicator. In plain terms, this is a request asking the agency to dismiss the case at the outset.
• If that filing is made, the agency adjudicator would have to issue a final dismissal with prejudice. That means the agency case would be ended and could not be refiled in the same form.
• The agency would then have 90 days to bring a civil lawsuit in federal district court over the same alleged violation. After those 90 days, the agency could no longer bring that court action.
• In that court case, the defendant would be entitled to a jury trial.
• The bill would also allow the defendant to argue as a defense that the alleged violation of an agency rule, order, or consent decree was reasonable under the circumstances.

Where the bill would not apply

The bill would not apply to agency matters involving:

• immigration laws
• national security
• the Internal Revenue Code
• bankruptcy
• patents
• federal benefits

For this bill, federal benefits are defined broadly to include retirement, welfare, health, disability, public or assisted housing, postsecondary education, food assistance, unemployment benefits, and similar assistance paid by the federal government.

Other technical changes

The bill would also make a small update to the law governing administrative procedure to fit these new rules into the existing legal framework.

Relevant Companies

None found