About the bill
It isn’t just Republicans who support reviving coal mines. Even dozens of Democrats have cosponsored a bill to potentially bring back certain abandoned coal mines.
Context
The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Program was created in 1977, using per-ton fees collected from current coal companies to improve environmental and health conditions at coal mines abandoned before 1977.
As of September 2017, the fund’s total balance was $2.4 billion. The top five recipient states in order are Wyoming, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Illinois.
What the bill does
The Revitalizing the Economy of Coal Communities by Leveraging Local Activities and Investing More (RECLAIM) Act would “fast track” $1 billion of that fund over the next five years.
The money would go towards the approximately six million …
Sponsor and status
115th Congress (2017–2019)
This bill was introduced on June 27, 2017, in a previous session of Congress, but it did not receive a vote.
Although this bill was not enacted, its provisions could have become law by being included in another bill. It is common for legislative text to be introduced concurrently in multiple bills (called companion bills), re-introduced in subsequent sessions of Congress in new bills, or added to larger bills (sometimes called omnibus bills).
40 Cosponsors (23 Republicans, 17 Democrats)
History
|
Feb 3, 2016
|
|
Earlier Version —
Introduced
This activity took place on a related bill, H.R. 4456 (114th). |
|
Mar 27, 2017
|
|
Introduced
Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber. |
|
Apr 5, 2017
|
|
Considered by Energy and Mineral Resources
A committee held a hearing or business meeting about the bill.
|
|
Jun 22, 2017
|
|
Considered by House Committee on Natural Resources
A committee held a hearing or business meeting about the bill.
|
|
Jun 27, 2017
|
|
Ordered Reported
A committee has voted to issue a report to the full chamber recommending that the bill be considered further. Only about 1 in 4 bills are reported out of committee. |
|
Oct 19, 2017
|
|
Reported by House Committee on Natural Resources
A committee issued a report on the bill, which often provides helpful explanatory background on the issue addressed by the bill and the bill's intentions. |
H.R. 1731 (115th) was a bill in the United States Congress.
A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law.
Bills numbers restart every two years. That means there are other bills with the number H.R. 1731. This is the one from the 115th Congress.
This bill was introduced in the 115th Congress, which met from Jan 3, 2017 to Jan 3, 2019. Legislation not passed by the end of a Congress is cleared from the books.
How to cite this information.
We recommend the following MLA-formatted citation when using the information you see here in academic work:
“H.R. 1731 — 115th Congress: RECLAIM Act of 2017.” www.GovTrack.us. 2017. September 23, 2023 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1731>
- show another citation format:
- APA
- Blue Book
- Wikipedia Template
Where is this information from?
GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. This page is sourced primarily from Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. Congress.gov is generally updated one day after events occur, and so legislative activity shown here may be one day behind. Data via the congress project.
