{"format":1,"id":"119-hr-3898","congress":119,"number":"H.R. 3898","kind":"bill","group":"bills","title":"PERMIT Act","title_source":"Short Title(s) as Passed House","official_title":"To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to make targeted reforms with respect to waters of the United States and other matters, and for other purposes.","titles":[{"type":"Official Title as Introduced","title":"To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to make targeted reforms with respect to waters of the United States and other matters, and for other purposes."},{"type":"Short Titles from RFS (Referred to Senate) bill text","title":"PERMIT Act"},{"type":"Short Titles from RFS (Referred to Senate) bill text","title":"Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today Act"},{"type":"Official Title from EH (Engrossed in House) bill text","title":"To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to make targeted reforms with respect to waters of the United States and other matters, and for other purposes."},{"type":"Short Title(s) as Passed House","title":"PERMIT Act"},{"type":"Short Title(s) as Passed House","title":"Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today Act"},{"type":"Short Title(s) as Reported to House","title":"PERMIT Act"},{"type":"Short Title(s) as Reported to House","title":"Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today Act"},{"type":"Display Title","title":"PERMIT Act"},{"type":"Short Title(s) as Introduced","title":"PERMIT Act"},{"type":"Short Title(s) as Introduced","title":"Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today Act"}],"outcome":"passed_house","law_number":null,"introduced":"2025-06-11","chambers":{"house":{"status":"roll_call","date":"2025-12-11","vote":{"id":"119-2025-h330","question":"On Passage","title":"PERMIT Act","result":"Passed","yea":221,"nay":205,"present":0,"not_voting":7,"source":"https://clerk.house.gov/evs/2025/roll330.xml"}},"senate":{"status":"pending","date":null,"vote":null}},"president":{"status":"not_yet","date":null},"vice_president_tie_breaker":null,"latest_action":{"text":"Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.","date":"2025-12-15"},"nominees":null,"amendments":[],"other_votes":[{"chamber":"house","date":"2025-12-11","question":"On Motion to Recommit","title":"PERMIT Act","result":"Failed","yea":210,"nay":216,"present":0,"not_voting":7,"kind":"procedural","source":"https://clerk.house.gov/evs/2025/roll329.xml"}],"crs_summary":{"date":"2025-06-11","stage":"Introduced in House","blocks":[{"k":"h","t":"Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today Act or the PERMIT Act"},{"k":"p","t":"This bill limits the scope of the Clean Water Act by redefining navigable waters to exclude (1) waste treatment systems, (2) ephemeral features that flow only in direct response to precipitation, (3) prior converted cropland, (4) groundwater, or (5) any other features determined to be excluded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers."}],"words":65},"summary":{"main_subject":{"text":"Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, including its water quality standards, state certification, discharge permit, dredged or fill material permit and navigable waters provisions, and adds other water-related provisions.","cites":[{"label":"Sec. 5","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-HD74B9D8AD0564B46A974D88FB3E57982"},{"label":"Sec. 13","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-H8994C039E8164012B233F9DB31004525"},{"label":"Sec. 20","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-H5C188A8A6F124143B6FED088E13F2AFE"}]},"core_areas":["State water quality certification under Section 401","Water quality standards and criteria development","NPDES discharge permits, including general permits, permit terms, pesticides and agricultural stormwater","Section 404 permits for dredged or fill material, including nationwide permits and judicial review","State assumption of Section 404 permit programs","Compensatory mitigation rules","Definition of navigable waters"],"what_it_does":[{"text":"Amends Section 401 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act so a certification decision is based only on listed provisions of sections 301, 302, 303, 306 and 307, and sets contents for a complete certification request.","cite":{"label":"Sec. 5","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-HD74B9D8AD0564B46A974D88FB3E57982"}},{"text":"Amends the definition of navigable waters to exclude waste treatment system components, ephemeral features that flow only in direct response to precipitation, certain prior converted cropland, groundwater, and other features the Administrator and the Secretary of the Army determine to be excluded.","cite":{"label":"Sec. 20","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-H5C188A8A6F124143B6FED088E13F2AFE"}},{"text":"Changes the maximum term of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits from five years to ten years.","cite":{"label":"Sec. 7","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-HE985CDB761FE4DC4BCD44477CD4F41C6"}},{"text":"Bars the Administrator from requiring a permit for stormwater discharges from agricultural land that occur in direct response to a precipitation event.","cite":{"label":"Sec. 10","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-H0BAE41E9A19841409782131AE3E9657F"}},{"text":"Requires the Secretary of the Army to maintain nationwide general permits for linear infrastructure projects discharging into less than 3 acres of navigable waters and for linear pipeline projects with no more than 0.5 acres of loss.","cite":{"label":"Sec. 13","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-H8994C039E8164012B233F9DB31004525"}},{"text":"Sets a 60-day deadline for filing court actions that challenge Section 404 permits, verifications or state program approvals, and limits the remedies a court may order.","cite":{"label":"Sec. 15","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-H895D1F240EBA496FBDD2875A39D09DAD"}}],"unexpected":[{"category":"off_subject","items":[{"cite":{"label":"Sec. 21","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-H3E05CBA813BD4837B62A05003BFCF348"},"heading":"Applicability of Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure rule","effect":"Changes the aboveground storage capacity thresholds (20,000 to 42,000 gallons, and other figures) in the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure provision of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014, and strikes subsection (d).","amount":null,"quote":"in paragraph (1)(B), by striking “20,000” and inserting “42,000”"},{"cite":{"label":"Sec. 23","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-HAE41662C6C324D9D99758A5E4D0ECF14"},"heading":"Sense of Congress on Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement","effect":"States the sense of Congress that the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement is voluntary and that the Federal Government should take a collaborative approach to the parties on compliance with the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load.","amount":null,"quote":"the Federal Government should take a collaborative and cooperative approach to the parties with regard to their compliance with the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load"},{"cite":{"label":"Sec. 24","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-H66E1F085F93D4E6496C7C330D328A130"},"heading":"Identification and permitting for water recharge on certain Federal lands","effect":"Directs the Army Corps of Engineers to identify lands suited for water recharge, set up streamlined permitting processes for recharge projects on them, and report to Congress.","amount":null,"quote":"establish clear and simple permitting processes for water recharge projects on parcels of land identified by the Secretary"},{"cite":{"label":"Sec. 25","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-H538B55984D934EA986CE26BB0B81154A"},"heading":"State-led permitting efficiency and water quality pilot","effect":"Directs the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a voluntary pilot program supporting State-led water quality improvements in waters listed as impaired for nitrogen or phosphorus.","amount":null,"quote":"establish a voluntary pilot program to support State-led water quality improvements in waters listed as impaired for nitrogen or phosphorus"},{"cite":{"label":"Sec. 26","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-HA6D59AE20F314C18A7E26F88FC128592"},"heading":"International Boundary and Water Commission authority","effect":"Authorizes the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission to accept outside funds for wastewater, water conservation, and flood control works, caps reimbursement to non-Federal entities at $5,000,000 per fiscal year, and bars funds from entities tied to a foreign country of concern.","amount":"$5,000,000","quote":"The Commission may not provide credit towards the non-Federal share of the cost of a project, or reimbursement, to non-Federal entities for funds accepted under this section in an amount that exceeds a total of $5,000,000 in any fiscal year."}]},{"category":"selective_carve_out","items":[{"cite":{"label":"Sec. 5","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-HD74B9D8AD0564B46A974D88FB3E57982"},"heading":"Improving water quality certifications and American energy infrastructure","effect":"Adds a judicial review subsection to Section 401 with a 30-day filing deadline, expedited timelines, and a rule that a missed court deadline denies the case, applying only to certification actions for energy transmission facilities or Federal Energy Regulatory Commission applicants.","amount":null,"quote":"This subsection shall apply to any civil action for the review of a certification action with respect to an applicant for a license or permit"},{"cite":{"label":"Sec. 9","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-H7AA4DF3A0CBB4DD88F553D4C5EE0EC28"},"heading":"Forest protection and wildland firefighter safety","effect":"Adds to the discharge permit provision a category of discharges from aerial application of fire control and suppression products that appear on a Forest Service Qualified Products List.","amount":null,"quote":"a discharge resulting from the aerial application of a product used for fire control and suppression purposes that appears on the most current Forest Service Qualified Products List"},{"cite":{"label":"Sec. 16","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-H0E83FF872D0B4B97902868BC84C093E7"},"heading":"Maintaining cooperative permitting","effect":"Ratifies the State dredged or fill material permit programs of three named States, bars withdrawal of their approval without a new Act of Congress, and allows both the Army Corps of Engineers and Florida to issue permits for 90 days.","amount":null,"quote":"may not withdraw the approval of those permit programs, including through the process described in section 404(i) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act"}]},{"category":"rule_delay","items":[{"cite":{"label":"Sec. 13","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-H8994C039E8164012B233F9DB31004525"},"heading":"Nationwide permitting improvement","effect":"Bars the Army Corps of Engineers from finalizing or implementing changes to general condition 15 and the definitions of 'single and complete project' in the 2021 nationwide permit rule and in 33 CFR 330.2, and exempts nationwide permit reissuance from certain Endangered Species Act consultations.","amount":null,"quote":"the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Chief of Engineers, may not finalize or implement any modification to"}]},{"category":"process_change","items":[{"cite":{"label":"Sec. 22","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh#toc-HF13E15CE38A04DFFBC07FB9939C350AB"},"heading":"Coordination with Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council","effect":"Encourages States to participate in the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council review and authorization process for covered projects needing a State certification or permit under Section 401, 402, or 404.","amount":null,"quote":"the State is encouraged to choose to participate, to the maximum extent practicable, in the environmental review and authorization process"}]}],"version":{"type":"Engrossed in House","date":"2025-12-11","rule":"passed","href":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text/eh"},"current":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","approved":"2026-10-12","approved_by":"checks"},"sources":{"congress_gov":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898","text":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3898/text"},"card":{"image":"card/item/119-hr-3898.png","v":"bfc4624a7e06","alt":"Votes on Record. H.R. 3898, 119th Congress: PERMIT Act. House: 221 Yea, 205 Nay. Senate: not yet considered. Outcome: Passed House, 11 Dec 2025."}}