HR 5179 · 107th Congress 2001–2003, ended

Equal Access to Justice Reform Amendments of 2001

Introduced Jul 23, 2002 Originated House Sponsor Donald A. Manzullo R-IL

Fact sheet

Latest action · Aug 20, 2002 Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

  1. IntroducedJul 23, 2002
  2. Passed HouseNot reached
  3. Passed SenateNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Equal Access to Justice Reform Amendments of 2001 - Modifies Federal provisions regarding the functions and duties of the Office of Advocacy to include ensuring that the justice system remains accessible to small businesses for the resolution of disputes with the Federal Government. Directs the Office to advise, cooperate with, and consult with the President and Attorney General regarding provisions concerning the awarding of Federal contracts to small businesses and minority-, female-, and veteran-owned businesses.

Requires the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration to report to the congressional small business committees a report on the effectiveness of the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) in achieving its purpose to ease the burden upon small businesses engaging in dispute resolution with the Federal Government, and on the variations in the frequency and amounts of fee awards paid by specific Federal agencies and within specific Federal circuits and districts.

Eliminates the EAJA's: (1) "substantial justification defense" whereby the Government can deny attorney's fees recovery to prevailing parties if the adjudicative officer of the agency finds that the agency's position was substantially justified; and (2) rate cap of $125 per hour on attorney's fees.

Sets forth provisions regarding settlement offers, declaration of intent to seek a fee award, payment from agency appropriations, and taxpayer eligibility for fee awards.

Defines "prevailing party" to include a party whose pursuit of a non-frivolous claim or defense was a catalyst for a voluntary or unilateral change in position by the opposing party that provides any significant part of the relief sought.

Cosponsors

Members who signed on, in the order they did.

No cosponsors are on file for this measure.

Actions 3

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Aug 20, 2002Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property.
  2. Jul 23, 2002Introduced in House
  3. Jul 23, 2002Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Small Business, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Law.

Support LegiList

This page is free, carries no paywall, and is built and maintained by one person. If the record here is useful to you, a few dollars keeps it going.

$1 $5 $10

Processed by Stripe in a separate window. LegiList never sees card details.

Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.