Latest action: Became Public Law No: 118-155.
Signed into law by the President (or passed over a veto). Now public law.
The President signed the bill into law (or Congress overrode a veto). It's now public law and federal agencies will implement it.
Allows volunteers to clean up abandoned mines without facing lawsuits.
The problem
Abandoned hardrock mines sit unused and polluted across America. Old mine owners are often gone or broke. Nobody wants to clean them up because of legal liability risks.
The proposal
The bill protects volunteers from lawsuits when they clean up abandoned hardrock mines. It creates a legal shield for Good Samaritan volunteers doing remediation work.
The impact
Volunteers, mining companies, and communities near abandoned mines are affected. Volunteers can safely restore damaged land. Communities near mines may see environmental cleanup happen faster.
Removes legal barriers that stop volunteers from fixing polluted mine sites. Communities can see environmental restoration without waiting for government funding or the original mine owner.
Volunteers do work that would otherwise cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Government can focus cleanup funds on the worst sites while volunteers help with others.
Lets local people take action to fix problems in their own neighborhoods. Builds community pride and environmental stewardship.
Reducing mine pollution protects drinking water and reduces exposure to toxic metals. Helps prevent health problems from contaminated soil and water.
Protections might not cover all situations or injuries. Volunteers could still face unexpected legal costs if something goes wrong.
Untrained volunteers might not fix mines correctly, potentially making pollution worse. Professional standards might be missing from volunteer work.
Mining companies that created pollution escape paying for cleanup. Taxpayers and volunteers shoulder costs instead of polluters.
Hardrock mines are extremely dangerous with unstable tunnels and toxic materials. Volunteers might not have proper training or safety equipment.
Generated by AI from the bill text. Not a prediction and not legal or policy advice. The percentage is the model's own rating of each item — self-reported, and not a measure of how accurate it is.
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Individual contributions, grouped by employer · FEC
Where their individual donors work · 2026 cycle
Money from people who work there, not from the company. Not tied to this bill.
Itemized individual contributions via FEC, grouped by the employer each contributor self-reported. Companies and unions cannot contribute to federal candidates from their treasuries, so these totals are money from people who work at an employer — never from the organization itself. They are campaign contributions covering a full election cycle and are not connected to this bill.
Senate LDA lobbying disclosures
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