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Increasing Penalties for Offshore Polluters Act
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to increase the civil and criminal penalties for oil spills, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to increase penalties for oil spills. It changes civil penalties from maximum amounts to minimum amounts, making penalty floors mandatory. For criminal penalties, it approximately doubles fines and prison sentences across all violation categories. Specific changes include increasing minimum fines from $2,500 to $5,000 for basic violations and from $250,000 to $500,000 for knowing endangerment, and increasing maximum prison sentences from 1 year to 2 years for basic violations and from 15 years to 30 years for knowing endangerment.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Lieu, Ted [D-CA-36] (D-CA)
13 cosponsors
- Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large] (D-DC)
- Rep. Barragán, Nanette Diaz [D-CA-44] (D-CA)
- Rep. Beyer, Donald S. [D-VA-8] (D-VA)
- Rep. Brownley, Julia [D-CA-26] (D-CA)
- Rep. Carbajal, Salud O. [D-CA-24] (D-CA)
- Rep. Castor, Kathy [D-FL-14] (D-FL)
- Rep. Cisneros, Gilbert Ray [D-CA-31] (D-CA)
- Rep. Huffman, Jared [D-CA-2] (D-CA)
- Rep. Levin, Mike [D-CA-49] (D-CA)
- Rep. Matsui, Doris O. [D-CA-7] (D-CA)
- Rep. Min, Dave [D-CA-47] (D-CA)
- Rep. Quigley, Mike [D-IL-5] (D-IL)
- Rep. Thompson, Mike [D-CA-4] (D-CA)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Ted Lieu’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NOT-EMPLOYED $255,097
- NULL $21,050
- COTCHETT, PITRE & MCCARTHY, LLP $13,200
- TRENDNET $13,200
- NETFLIX $13,200
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Ted Lieu → · Outside spending →
Actions (4)
- Apr 29, 2025 Referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. · house
- Apr 29, 2025 Referred to the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation. · house
- Apr 29, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. · house
- Apr 29, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 29, 2025
Mr. Lieu (for himself, Ms. Brownley, and Ms. Barragan) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to increase the civil and criminal penalties for oil spills, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Increasing Penalties for Offshore Polluters Act”.
SEC. 2. CIVIL AND CRIMINAL PENALTIES RELATING TO OIL SPILLS.
(a) Civil Penalties.—Section 311(b)(7) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1321(b)(7)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (A) by striking “an amount up to” each place it appears and inserting “an amount that is at least”; and
(2) in subparagraph (D) by striking “not more than” and inserting “at least”.
(b) Criminal Penalties.—Section 309(c) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1319(c)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1)—
(A) by striking “$2,500” and inserting “$5,000”;
(B) by striking “$25,000” and inserting “$50,000”;
(C) by striking “not more than 1 year” and inserting “not more than 2 years”; and
(D) by striking “punishment shall be by a fine of not more than $50,000 per day of violation, or by imprisonment of not more than 2 years, or by both” and inserting “the maximum punishment shall be doubled with respect to both fine and imprisonment”;
(2) in paragraph (2)—
(A) by striking “not less that $5,000” and inserting “not less than $10,000”;
(B) by striking “$50,000” and inserting “$100,000”;
(C) by striking “not more than 3 years” and inserting “not more than 6 years”; and
(D) by striking “punishment shall be by a fine of not more than $100,000 per day of violation, or imprisonment of not more than 6 years, or by both” and inserting “the maximum punishment shall be doubled with respect to both fine and imprisonment”; and
(3) in paragraph (3)(A)—
(A) by striking “$250,000” and inserting “$500,000”;
(B) by striking “not more than 15 years” and inserting “not more than 30 years”; and
(C) by striking “$1,000,000” and inserting “$2,000,000”. <all>
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