Statement of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte Markup of H.R. 2834, a Bill to Enact Certain Laws Relating to the Environment as Title 55, United States Code, “Environment”

Chairman Goodlatte: Over the past six decades, Congress has enacted a substantial body of law consisting of separate Acts dealing with pollution of air, water, and land, as well as specific pollutants. This body of law has come to be known generally as "environmental law". These Acts are presently classified to several titles of the United States Code in disparate places. H.R. 2834 is the first in an anticipated series of bills that will consolidate these Acts as a new positive law title of the United States Code: Title 55, Environment. This bill was prepared by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel as part of its ongoing responsibility to prepare and submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, one title at a time, a complete compilation, restatement, and revision of the general and permanent laws of the United States. H.R. 2834 will enact Subtitle I, General Provisions (consisting primarily of definitions for the title, establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, and national environmental policy), and Subtitle II, Air (consisting of the Clean Air Act and related laws). The Office of Law Revision Counsel expects subsequent bills to enact subtitles relating to water, land, and particular substances. The restatement of existing law does not change the meaning or effect of the existing law. As such, this restatement consolidates various provisions that were enacted separately over a period of many years, reorganizing them, conforming style and terminology, modernizing obsolete language, and correcting errors. These changes serve to remove ambiguities, contradictions, and other imperfections, but they do not change the meaning or effect of the existing law or impair the precedential value of earlier judicial decisions or other interpretations. The courts have repeatedly held that the restatement of existing law in a bill such as this one does not change the meaning or effect of the existing law unless Congress explicitly expresses the intent to do so. To reiterate, the decision to transfer provisions in the United States Code is taken very seriously. After careful study, the Office of the Law Revision Counsel has concluded that certain organizational deficiencies in the Code must be corrected. H.R. 2834 is an important bill because it ensures that the U.S. Code is up-to-date and useable. For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to support this important bill. Click here to learn more about today’s markup.