introduced the Make DTE Pay Act, which would substantially increase monetary penalties on utilities like DTE Energy when they seek customer rate increases within the two years preceding or following Clean Air Act violations.
Increase Clean Air Act penalties on investor-owned utilities that seek customer rate increases within two years before or after an environmental violation penalty assessment.
Occurrences
Evidence
On May 7, 2026, Rep. Rashida Tlaib said she had introduced the Make DTE Pay Act, which would substantially increase monetary penalties on investor-owned utilities when they seek customer rate increases within two years before or after Clean Air Act violations. The release says the bill would amend the Clean Air Act and increase the underlying penalty by an amount equal to the original assessment for each rate increase.
Assessments
Tlaib introduced the Make DTE Pay Act on May 7, 2026, which appears to match the promised Clean Air Act penalty design for investor-owned utilities seeking rate increases near environmental penalties. However, introduction of a bill is not the same as increasing federal penalties; there is no evidence in the payload that the bill has passed Congress, been signed into law, or otherwise changed Clean Air Act penalties. Because the legislative effort is recent and pending rather than definitively failed, the outcome is unresolved, with an effort badge for a serious legislative attempt.