Fines in Need of Extensive Reform Act of 2014 or the FINER Act of 2014 - Prohibits federal agency rules that provide for an assessment of an administrative fine from taking effect until 90 days after the rule and relevant rule guidance is made available on the agency's website.
Establishes procedures for enforcement of, and challenges to, administrative fines to: (1) prohibit fine assessments unless a particular officer or employee of the agency is responsible for assessing the fine, (2) allow persons to challenge the imposition of a fine in federal court or through alternative dispute resolution by a neutral third party, and (3) require rule violations to be dismissed if the agency officer or employee who assessed the fine is not present in court for any proceedings contesting the fine.
Requires agencies to publish annually in the Federal Register guidance for any rules for which they may assess an administrative fine.
Allows a person who prevails in contesting a fine to recover reasonable court costs and attorney's fees.
Provides for fine amounts to be deposited into the Treasury. Prohibits fines from being used to supplement or offset the appropriations of the agency that assessed the fine.
Excludes user fees, criminal fines or penalties, or court-imposed fines from the requirements applicable to administrative fines.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.