# 119-s-5486: A bill to amend the African Growth and Opportunity Act to exclude from eligibility each sub-Saharan African country that does not effectively enforce its environmental laws and fulfill its international environmental obligations.

119-s-5486, A bill to amend the African Growth and Opportunity Act to exclude from eligibility each sub-Saharan African country that does not effectively enforce its environmental laws and fulfill its international environmental obligations., is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI] (D-RI); status introduced (as of 2026-10-07).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5486
- As of: 2026-10-07
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-5486
- Congress: 119
- Title: A bill to amend the African Growth and Opportunity Act to exclude from eligibility each sub-Saharan African country that does not effectively enforce its environmental laws and fulfill its international environmental obligations.
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-09-23
- Sponsor: Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI] (D-RI)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: International Affairs
- Touches household money: no
- Last recorded action: 2026-10-07

## Summary

**Environmental enforcement as an AGOA eligibility condition.** This bill would add a new requirement that qualifying sub‑Saharan African countries must effectively enforce their environmental laws and fulfill international environmental obligations, explicitly including obligations tied to public health. - Communities in affected countries could see stronger incentives for environmental and public health protections because governments must show enforcement to keep AGOA trade benefits. - Exporters and firms in eligible countries could lose preferential access to U.S. markets if their government cannot demonstrate effective environmental law enforcement, putting trade-dependent businesses at risk. - U.S. trade policy and administration would treat the new requirement as an additional eligibility criterion and link its start to the date the President designates a country, not to an older enactment date, changing the timing of when compliance matters for eligibility.

## Provisions PRIA read

- AGOA benefits require environmental enforcement: mixed, medium. This bill would add a new rule to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Each sub‑Saharan African country would need to effectively enforce its environmental laws and meet international environmental obligations, including those tied to public health. If a country did not meet that test, it…

## Related bills

- 119-s-4949: Water Resources Development Act of 2026
- 119-s-5071: Children's Safe Welcome Act of 2026
- 119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026
- 119-s-2823: FAMILY Act
- 119-s-2763: Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act
- 119-s-5042: Social Security 2100 Act

## Sources
- [119-s-5486 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/5486)

## Related
- [119-s-4949: Water Resources Development Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4949)
- [119-s-5071: Children's Safe Welcome Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5071)
- [119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3990)
- [119-s-2823: FAMILY Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2823)
- [119-s-2763: Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2763)
- [119-s-5042: Social Security 2100 Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5042)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5486 (as of 2026-10-07).