House Passes Collins-Gosar Bill Requiring Tracking & Disclosure of Attorney Fees Paid Out from Environmental Lawsuits

Statement

Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after the House successfully passed H.R. 3279, the Open Book on Equal Access to Justice Act, bipartisan legislation which he introduced with Representatives Doug Collins (R-GA), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Kurt Schrader (D-OR) and Collin Peterson (D-MN) which aims to strengthen the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) by reinstating the tracking and reporting requirements for money paid out by the federal government under this law:

"Unfortunately, a well-intentioned law that was meant to protect the little guy has been hijacked by extremist environmental groups who are profitting off the taxpayer dime. Shamefully, these special-interest lawyers are billing the federal government for exorbitant rates as high as $750 an hour. Shockingly, we don't even know the true costs of this abuse because the government stopped tracking these expenditures in 1995.

"The bipartisan legislation passed by the House today sheds some much needed light on an appalling process that has operated in the dark for more than 20 years. Special-interest groups shouldn't be getting rich off American taxpayers by filing frivolous lawsuits. Commonsense necessitates that, at minimum, we should track the sources and recipients of these taxpayer expenditures."

Source