Citing ongoing abuses to a 46-year-old law that costs taxpayers millions, Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI) and Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) introduced the Fixing Egregiously Expensive Suits or FEES Act.

The Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), enacted in 1980, is designed to help ordinary Americans challenge federal overreach. It was intended to protect veterans, Social Security recipients, small businesses and other individuals from prohibitive legal costs when taking action against the federal government. Instead, well-funded environmental organizations transformed EAJA into a taxpayer-funded revenue stream to finance politically motivated litigation to advance their agendas.

The FEES Act includes the following EAJA reforms:

• Limits attorney fee awards to prevailing parties with a direct, personal financial interest in the case, such as those involving personal injury, property damage or an unpaid agency disbursement

• Caps EAJA awards at $200,000 per adversary adjudication and limits recipients to no more than three adversary adjudications per calendar year

• Requires courts to reduce or deny attorney fee awards for parties that acted in bad faith or engaged in dilatory, oppressive or otherwise improper conduct

• Prohibits attorney fee awards when a lawsuit is resolved through a settlement that results in the creation of a new federal regulation or guidance document

• Creates a carve out so lawsuits related to Social Security or Veterans Affairs are not affected

• Exempts successful class action lawsuits from these new limitations

• Directs the secretary of the Interior to convene an independent panel to evaluate the law's impact and send a report to the House Committee on Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

“EAJA was enacted to give veterans, small businesses and everyday Americans a fair shot at challenging government overreach. Instead, it has become a cash machine for well-funded environmental groups that sue federal agencies and stick taxpayers with the bill. The FEES Act shuts down that gravy train and returns EAJA to the people it was meant to serve,” said Rep. Tiffany.

From fiscal years 2019 through 2024, the Department of the Interior and U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded approximately $24.8 million under EAJA, with 76 percent of those funds flowing to a small number of environmental organizations and their lawyers, whose fees have been reimbursed at rates as high as $500 per hour—all at taxpayer expense.

“Radical environmental groups have exploited the Equal Access to Justice Act for decades, using taxpayer dollars to fund sue-and-settle schemes that undermine responsible land management and block critical projects across the West. The FEES Act closes loopholes and restores the original intent of EAJA by limiting attorney fee awards to parties with real, direct stakes in outcomes, not well-funded activist organizations gaming the system at the public's expense,” said Rep. Hageman.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is a longtime advocate of EAJA reform.

“The Equal Access to Justice Act was enacted with good intentions to give small businesses and individuals the ability to fight an unresponsive government in court. However, by letting well-funded and litigious environmental organizations get their lawyers’ fees paid, the incentive to file suits and delay important habitat management projects has only grown,” said Ryan Bronson, RMEF director of government affairs. “Litigation is now one of the biggest barriers to wildlife habitat improvement on federal lands. We support the FEES Act as a commonsense reform to get our foresters and biologists back in the field and out of the courtroom.”

The FEES Act parallels similar litigation reform introduced earlier by Rep. Mike Rulli (R-OH).

Hunt 2 Conserve supports the two measures and urges Congress to act to better protect conservation efforts and taxpayers.

About Hunt 2 Conserve

Hunt 2 Conserve is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Its mission is to advance a legacy of hunting and conservation by educating, activating and developing stewards and defenders of these fundamentally American ideals. For more information, go to hunt2conserve.org.