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Senate Bill 3249
115th Congress(2017-2018)
Federal Courts Access Act of 2018
Introduced
Introduced
Introduced in Senate on Jul 19, 2018
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Introduced in Senate 
Jul 19, 2018
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Introduced in Senate(Jul 19, 2018)
Jul 19, 2018
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Multiple bills can contain the same text. This could be an identical bill in the opposite chamber or a smaller bill with a section embedded in a larger bill.
Bill Sponsor regularly scans bill texts to find sections that are contained in other bill texts. When a matching section is found, the bills containing that section can be viewed by clicking "View Bills" within the bill text section.
Bill Sponsor is currently only finding exact word-for-word section matches. In a future release, partial matches will be included.
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S. 3249 (Introduced-in-Senate)


115th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3249


To amend title 28, United States Code, to modify the amount in controversy requirement and remove the complete diversity requirement.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

July 19, 2018

Mr. Lee introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend title 28, United States Code, to modify the amount in controversy requirement and remove the complete diversity requirement.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. Short title.

This Act may be cited as the “Federal Courts Access Act of 2018”.

SEC. 2. Purposes.

The purposes of this Act are to—

(1) assure fairer and more efficient civil litigation and prompt recoveries for claimants and defendants;

(2) enhance the integrity of the legal system of the United States by diminishing abuses in the civil litigation system; and

(3) restore the intent of the framers of the Constitution of the United States by ensuring Federal court consideration of major controversies, consistent with diversity jurisdiction principles.

SEC. 3. Diversity of citizenship; amount in controversy.

(a) In general.—Section 1332 of title 28, United States Code, is amended—

(1) in subsection (a)—

(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking “$75,000” and inserting “$125,000”; and

(B) in paragraph (1), by inserting “not less than 1 plaintiff and 1 defendant who are” before “citizens of different States”;

(2) in subsection (b), by striking “$75,000” and inserting “$125,000”; and

(3) in subsection (d)—

(A) in paragraph (2), by striking “$5,000,000” and inserting “$125,000”;

(B) by striking paragraphs (3) and (4);

(C) by redesignating paragraphs (5) through (10) as paragraphs (3) through (8), respectively;

(D) in paragraph (3), as so redesignated, by striking “Paragraphs (2) through (4)” and inserting “Paragraph (2)”;

(E) in paragraph (4), as so redesignated, by striking “$5,000,000” and inserting “$125,000”;

(F) in paragraph (5), as so redesignated, by striking “(2) through (6)” and inserting “(2) through (4)”;

(G) in paragraph (7)(A), as so redesignated—

(i) by inserting “section” after “defined under”; and

(ii) by striking “(15 U.S.C. 78p(f)(3))” and inserting “(15 U.S.C. 77p(f)(3))”; and

(H) by striking paragraph (11).

(b) Removal of civil actions.—

(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1441(b)(2) of title 28, United States Code, is amended—

(A) by striking “if any” and inserting “if all”; and

(B) by striking “is a citizen” and inserting “are citizens”.

(2) PROCEDURE FOR REMOVAL OF CIVIL ACTIONS.—Section 1446 of title 28, United States Code, is amended—

(A) in subsection (c)—

(i) by striking “(1) A case” and all that follows through “(2) If” and inserting “(1) If”;

(ii) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2); and

(iii) in paragraph (2), as so redesignated—

(I) by striking “(A) If” and inserting “If”; and

(II) by striking subparagraph (B); and

(B) by redesignating subsection (g) as subsection (f).

(3) REMOVAL OF CLASS ACTIONS.—Section 1453 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by striking subsection (b) and inserting the following:

“(b) Removal generally.—A class action may be removed to a district court of the United States in accordance with section 1446, except that such action may be removed by any defendant without the consent of all defendants.”.