H.R. 1577 · 118th Congress

BUILDER Act of 2023

Introduced on Mar 14, 2023 by Garret Graves (R-LA-6). Latest action (Mar 14, 2023): Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.

Stage
Introduced
Introduced
Mar 14, 2023
Cosponsors
0
Policy area
Environmental Protection
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. 2Reported by committee
  3. 3Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To amend the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to clarify ambiguous provisions, reflect modern technologies, optimize interagency coordination, and facilitate a more efficient, effective, and timely environmental review process.

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in House, Mar 14, 2023). Public domain.

BUILDER Act of 2023 or the Building United States Infrastructure through Limited Delays and Efficient Reviews Act of 2023

This bill places limits on the environmental review of proposed major federal actions under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and establishes deadlines and other requirements to expedite the environmental review of such actions.

Specifically, the bill limits the scope of the environmental review of major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment as specified by the bill. The bill also specifies the thresholds that trigger when agencies must issue environmental assessments and environmental impact statements for proposed agency actions, outlines when agencies are not required to prepare environmental documents for such actions, and establishes deadlines to complete such documents.

The bill also establishes a process for designating a lead federal agency as well as a joint lead agency, such as a state government, to supervise the environmental review under NEPA. The lead agency must supervise the preparation of one environmental document (e.g., environmental impact statement), which satisfies the document requirement for all involved agencies, and prepare a schedule to complete the review of the action. If the lead agency is unable to meet the deadlines, it must pay $100 per day to the applicant until the applicant approves a new deadline. A lead agency may allow a project sponsor to prepare environmental documents under specified circumstances.

Additionally, the bill limits judicial review of NEPA cases, including by establishing deadlines to file lawsuits under NEPA.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Garret GravesR-LA-6Sponsor

No cosponsors.

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Mar 14, 2023Introduced in House
  2. Mar 14, 2023Introduced in House
  3. Mar 14, 2023 · HouseReferred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. EDISON ELECTRIC INSTITUTE12 reports
    $13.6M reported (all issues)
  2. CMS ENERGY CORPORATION5 reports
    $1.3M reported (all issues)
  3. Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A.5 reports
    $93.5M reported (all issues)
  4. DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION5 reports
    $7.7M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: DUKE ENERGY PROGRESS, LLC$17.5M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  5. ENBRIDGE (U.S.) INC.5 reports
    $1.5M reported (all issues)
  6. FIRSTENERGY CORP.5 reports
    $1.4M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: FIRSTENERGY PENNSYLVANIA ELECTRIC COMPANY$5.4M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 99%
  7. INTERSTATE NATURAL GAS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA5 reports
    $1.9M reported (all issues)
  8. Independent Petroleum Association of America5 reports
    $840K reported (all issues)
  9. NATIONAL RURAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION (NRECA)5 reports
    $4.7M reported (all issues)
  10. Ocean Conservancy5 reports
    $830K reported (all issues)
  11. PORTLAND GENERAL ELECTRIC CO.5 reports
    $520K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: PORTLAND GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY$189.1K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  12. PUGET SOUND ENERGY INC.5 reports
    $1.5M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: PUGET SOUND ENERGY INC$1.6M in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  13. SOUTHERN COMPANY5 reports
    $14M reported (all issues)
  14. SOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER5 reports
    $950K reported (all issues)
  15. Southern Ute Indian Tribe5 reports
    $494K reported (all issues)
  16. XCEL ENERGY5 reports
    $2.2M reported (all issues)
  17. Clean Energy Buyers Association (formerly RENEWABLE ENERGY BUYERS ALLIANCE)3 reports
    $260K reported (all issues)
  18. Entergy Services, LLC3 reports
    $1.5M reported (all issues)
  19. HITACHI, LTD3 reports
    $218K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: HITACHI ENERGY USA INC.$269.4K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  20. AVANGRID2 reports
    $520K reported (all issues)
  21. Enel North America, Inc.2 reports
    $50K reported (all issues)
  22. SALT RIVER PROJECT2 reports
    $510K reported (all issues)Federal contractor: SALT RIVER PROJECT AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT AND POWER DISTRICT$50K in contracts, FY2026AI match · 100%
  23. AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY, INC. AND AFFILIATED CORPORATIONS1 report
    $1.7M reported (all issues)
  24. American Council on Renewable Energy1 report
    $10K reported (all issues)
  25. Americans for Prosperity1 report
    $440K reported (all issues)
  26. BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY ENERGY COMPANY1 report
    $960K reported (all issues)
  27. Earthjustice1 report
    $169.1K reported (all issues)
  28. PINNACLE WEST CAPITAL CORPORATION1 report
    $220K reported (all issues)
  29. PPL Corporation1 report
    $60K reported (all issues)

Reports filed in 2023, 2024.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 9, 2026 · loaded Oct 9, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.