Bill limits water-pollution rules on private land.
S. 5262 — Defense of Environment and Property Act of 2026 · Filed by Rand Paul (R-KY) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Aug 5, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill narrows what counts as water the government can protect. It removes wetlands, streams, and underground water from rules. These waters must flow into rivers or oceans to be protected. The bill stops the EPA and Army Corps from using science to decide if water is protected. It requires written permission before federal agents inspect private land. The bill says the government must pay owners twice the value of losses from water rules.
Who it affects
People lose water-pollution protections for wetlands, streams, and underground water that feed major waterways. States gain more power to set their own water rules. Owners gain the right to refuse inspections and demand large payments if water rules hurt their land.
One thing to notice
The government must pay owners twice the value of losses before any water rule can take effect. This payment rule could make water protection too costly to enforce.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Republicans.
- Aug 5, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Aug 5, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (6,312 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-17.
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