Last month the United States Supreme Court heard arguments in a case regarding the Clean Water Act, the Army Corps of Engineers, and what legal weight a "jurisdictional determination" has. The Hawkes Company, which harvests peat in Minnesota for golf courses, wanted to sue when the Army Corps used jurisdictional determination to declare an area of land 120 miles away from any navigable water subject to a costly permitting process for development or changes to said land. The Corps argues that any citizen or entity must go through the permitting process before a legal appeal can even be filed. Hawkes disagreed and filed a lawsuit claiming that the Administrative Procedure Act allows a lawsuit in this case, as the jurisdictional determination is a final agency action.
The real issue at the heart of the matter is the expansion of the regulatory state and the transfer of power from the people and their representatives to a phalanx of unelected bureaucrats.... Click here to read the rest of the article.
New Website Unveiled
Over the last two months, we have been hard at work redesigning the website for my office. We are pleased to announce that the new website launched this past Monday. We wanted to focus on delivering the latest news and making it easier to navigate. Most importantly, it's now even easier to email my office. On any page you visit, there will be an "Email Bob" link on the right side of the menu bar. I want to hear from you, so if there is legislation being introduced or you have comments on current events, please visit my website, https://gibbs.house.gov, click on "Email Bob" and send me your thoughts.
From the Press Office: Saying No to Broadband Rate Regulation The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) sole power to set prices for broadband internet access will be stopped according to a bill passed by the House of Representatives last week. H.R. 2666, the No Rate Regulation for Broadband Internet Access Act is in response to the FCC’s actions last year that reclassified broadband internet as a Title II utility. While FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler pledged at the time not to implement rate regulation, the legislation passed today would, by law, prevent any future FCC actions from implementing broadband rate regulation.
The House’s approval of the bill is a victory for advocates of market-based economics, says Congressman Bob Gibbs. “Affordable and reliable access to the internet is essential in an increasingly connected and information-driven world. However, I do not believe that government interference, at the expense of the needs and demands of American consumers, is the appropriate or correct action to ensure that access. While Chairman Wheeler has continued to express support for not regulating broadband pricing, I want it off the table permanently. That is why this legislation is needed.”
H.R. 2666 passed with a bipartisan majority. It now moves to the Senate where Senator Steve Daines introduced similar legislation.
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