To amend the Paperwork Reduction Act and titles 5 and 31, United States Code, to reform Federal paperwork and regulatory processes.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Paperwork and Regulatory 
Improvements Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) In 1980, in the Paperwork Reduction Act, Congress 
        established the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs 
        (OIRA) in the Office of Management and Budget. OIRA's principal 
        responsibility is to reduce the paperwork burden on the public 
        that results from the collection of information by or for the 
        Federal Government. In 2002, OIRA estimated that the paperwork 
        burden imposed on the public was 7.7 billion hours, at a cost 
        of $230 billion. The Internal Revenue Service accounted for 83 
        percent of the paperwork burden.
            (2) In 1995, Congress amended the Paperwork Reduction Act 
        and established annual governmentwide paperwork reduction goals 
        of 10 percent for each of fiscal years 1996 and 1997, and 5 
        percent for each of fiscal years 1998 through 2001, but the 
        paperwork burden increased, rather than decreased, in each of 
        those fiscal years and fiscal year 2002. Both the Office of 
        Management and Budget and the Internal Revenue Service need to 
        devote additional attention to paperwork reduction.
            (3) In 2002, the House Report accompanying the Treasury and 
        General Government Appropriations Act, 2003 (House Report 107-
        575) stated, ``The Office of Management and Budget has reported 
        that paperwork burdens on Americans have increased in each of 
        the last six years. Since the Internal Revenue Service imposes 
        over 80 percent of these paperwork burdens, the Committee 
        believes that OMB should work to identify and review proposed 
        and existing IRS paperwork.''.
            (4) One key to success in paperwork reduction is the Office 
        of Management and Budget's systematic review of every new and 
        revised agency paperwork proposal. Recent statutory exemptions 
        from that office's review responsibility, especially those 
        without any stated justification, should be removed.
            (5) In 2000, researchers Mark Crain of George Mason 
        University and Thomas Hopkins of the Rochester Institute of 
        Technology, in their October 2001 publication titled ``The 
        Impact of Regulatory Costs on Small Firms'', estimated that 
        Americans spend $843 billion annually to comply with Federal 
        regulations. Congress has a responsibility to review major 
        rules (as defined by section 804 of title 5, United States 
        Code) proposed by agencies, especially regulatory alternatives 
        and the costs and benefits associated with each of them. In 
        2000, in the Truth in Regulating Act, Congress established new 
        responsibility within the General Accounting Office to assist 
        Congress with this responsibility.
            (6) In 1996, because of the increasing costs and 
        incompletely estimated benefits of Federal rules and paperwork, 
        Congress required the Office of Management and Budget for the 
        first time to submit an annual report to Congress on the total 
        costs and benefits to the public of Federal rules and paperwork 
        requirements, including an assessment of the effects of Federal 
        rules on the private sector and State and local governments. In 
        1998, Congress changed the annual report's due date to coincide 
        with the due date of the President's budget, so that Congress 
        and the public could be given an opportunity to simultaneously 
        review both the on-budget and off-budget costs associated with 
        the regulatory and paperwork requirements of each Federal 
        agency. In 2000, Congress made this a permanent annual 
        reporting requirement.
            (7) The Office of Management and Budget requires agencies 
        to submit annual budget and paperwork burden estimates in order 
        to prepare certain required reports for Congress, but it does 
        not require agencies to submit estimates on costs and benefits 
        of agency rules and paperwork. The Office of Management and 
        Budget needs to require agencies to submit such estimates on 
        costs and benefits to help prepare the annual accounting 
        statement and associated report required under section 624 of 
        the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 2001.

SEC. 3. REDUCTION OF TAX PAPERWORK.

    Section 3504 of title 44, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(i) In carrying out subsection (c)(3), the Director shall (in 
consultation with the Internal Revenue Service and the Office of Tax 
Policy of the Department of the Treasury and the Office of Advocacy of 
the Small Business Administration) conduct a review of the collections 
of information conducted by the Internal Revenue Service to identify 
actions that the Internal Revenue Service can take to reduce the 
information collection burden imposed on small business concerns, 
consistent with section 3520(c)(1) of this chapter. The Director shall 
include the results of the review in the annual report that the 
Director submits under section 3514 of this chapter for fiscal year 
2006.''.

SEC. 4. REPEAL OF EXEMPTIONS FROM PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT, ETC.

    (a) Repeals.--The following provisions of the Farm Security and 
Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-171) are repealed:
            (1) Subparagraphs (A) and (C) of section 1601(c)(2).
            (2) Section 1601(c)(3).
            (3) Section 2702(b)(1)(A).
            (4) Section 2702(b)(2)(A).
            (5) Section 2702(c).
            (6) Subparagraphs (A) and (C) of section 6103(b)(2).
            (7) Section 6103(b)(3).
            (8) Subparagraphs (A) and (C) of section 10105(d)(2).
            (9) Section 10105(d)(3).
    (b) Effective Date.--The repeals of the provisions listed in 
subsection (a) shall take effect 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.

SEC. 5. AMENDMENT OF TRUTH IN REGULATING ACT TO MAKE PERMANENT PILOT 
              PROJECT FOR REPORT ON RULES.

    The purpose of this section is to make permanent the authority to 
request the performance of regulatory analysis to enhance Congressional 
responsibility for regulatory decisions developed under the laws 
enacted by Congress. The Truth in Regulating Act of 2000 (Public Law 
106-312; 5 U.S.C. 801 note) is amended--
            (1) in the heading for section 4, by striking ``PILOT 
        PROJECT FOR'',
            (2) by striking section 5 and redesignating section 6 as 
        section 5; and
            (3) in section 5 (as redesignated by paragraph (2))--
                    (A) in the heading, by striking ``and duration of 
                pilot project'';
                    (B) in subsection (a), by striking ``(a) Effective 
                Date.--''; and
                    (C) by striking subsections (b) and (c).

SEC. 6. IMPROVED REGULATORY ACCOUNTING.

    (a) Requirement for Agencies To Submit Information on Regulations 
and Paperwork to OMB.--Section 624 of the Treasury and General 
Government Appropriations Act, 2001 (as enacted into law by Public Law 
106-554; 114 Stat. 2763A-161), is amended
            (1) by redesignating subsections (b), (c), and (d) as 
        subsection (c), (d), and (e), respectively, and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(b) Agency Submissions to OMB.--To carry out subsection (a), the 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall require each 
agency annually to submit to the Office of Management and Budget an 
estimate of the total annual costs and benefits of Federal rules and 
paperwork, to the extent feasible--
            ``(1) for the agency in the aggregate; and
            ``(2) for each agency program.''.
    (b) Integration of OMB Accounting Statement and Report Into 
President's Budget.--Section 624 of the Treasury and General Government 
Appropriations Act, 2001 (as enacted into law by Public Law 106-554; 
114 Stat. 2763A-161) is further amended in subsection (a), by striking 
``with the budget'' and inserting ``as part of the budget''.
    (c) Regulatory Budgeting.--(1) Chapter 11 of title 31, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 1120. Regulatory budgeting
    ``(a) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, after 
consultation with the head of each agency, shall designate not less 
than three agencies (or offices within an agency) to participate in a 
study on regulatory budgeting for fiscal years 2006 and 2007. The 
designated agencies shall include three regulatory agencies or offices 
from among the following: the Department of Labor, the Department of 
Transportation, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the 
Environmental Protection Agency.
    ``(b) The study shall address the preparation of regulatory 
budgets. Such budgets shall include the presentation of the varying 
estimated levels of benefits that would be associated with the 
different estimated levels of costs with respect to the regulatory 
alternatives under consideration by the agency (or office within the 
agency).
    ``(c) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall 
include, in the accounting statement and associated report submitted to 
Congress for calendar year 2006 under section 624 of the Treasury and 
General Government Appropriations Act, 2001 (as enacted into law by 
Public Law 106-554; 114 Stat. 2763A-161), a presentation of the 
different levels of estimated regulatory benefits and costs with 
respect to the regulatory alternatives under consideration for one or 
more of the major regulatory programs of each of the agencies 
designated under subsection (a).
    ``(d) In the accounting statement and associated report submitted 
to Congress for calendar year 2009 under section 624 of the Treasury 
and General Government Appropriations Act, 2001 (as so enacted), the 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall include a report 
on the study on regulatory budgeting. The report shall--
            ``(1) assess the feasibility and advisability of including 
        a regulatory budget as part of the annual budget submitted 
        under section 1105;
            ``(2) describe any difficulties encountered by the Office 
        of Management and Budget and the participating agencies in 
        conducting the study; and
            ``(3) recommend, to the extent the President considers 
        necessary or expedient, proposed legislation regarding 
        regulatory budgets.''.
    (2) The table of sections at the beginning of such chapter is 
amended by adding at the end the following new item:

``1120. Regulatory budgeting.''.




                                                 

Summary: Paperwork and Regulatory Improvements Act of 2004 - Amends the Paperwork Reduction Act to: (1) require the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in consultation with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Office of Tax Policy of the Department of the Treasury and the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration, in minimizing the Federal information collection burden, to conduct a review of the collections of information by the IRS to identify actions that it can take to reduce the information collection burden imposed on small business concerns, consistent with current Federal law requiring the task force on information collection and dissemination to examine the feasibility of requiring Federal agencies to consolidate requirements regarding collections of information with respect to small business concerns within and across such agencies. And (2) include the results of such review in the annual report submitted to Congress for FY 2006 on the major activities respecting Federal information policy. Amends the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to repeal specified exemptions from Paperwork Reduction Act requirements and certain other rulemaking requirements. Makes the repeal of such exemptions effective 180 days after the enactment of this Act. Amends the Truth in Regulating Act of 2000 to make permanent the authority of a chairman or ranking member of a congressional committee to request the Comptroller General to perform a regulatory analysis of an economically significant rule upon agency publication. Amends the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 2001 to instruct the Director of OMB, in carrying out requirements for the accounting statement and associated report submitted to Congress with the Federal budget submitted to the President, to require each agency annually to submit to OMB an estimate of the total annual costs and benefits of Federal rules and paperwork to the extent feasible for the agency and each agency program. Requires the Director, after consultation with the head of each agency, to designate at least three agencies to participate in a study on regulatory budgeting for FY 2006 and 2007, including three regulatory agencies or offices from among the Department of Labor, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Requires such study to address the preparation of regulatory budgets and such budgets to include the presentation of the varying estimated levels of benefits that would be associated with the different estimated levels of costs with respect to the regulatory alternatives under consideration by the agency . Includes in the accounting statement and associated report submitted to Congress for calendar year 2006 a presentation of the different levels of estimated regulatory benefits and costs with respect to the regulatory alternatives under consideration for at least one of the major regulatory programs of each of the designated agencies. Requires the Director, after consultation with the Committees on the Budget and on Government Reform of the House of Representatives and the Committees on the Budget and on Governmental Affairs of the Senate, to include in such statement and report submitted to Congress for calendar year 2009 a report on the study which: (1) assesses the feasibility and advisability of including a regulatory budget as part of the Federal budget submitted to the President. (2) describes any difficulties encountered by OMB and the participating agencies in conducting such study. And (3) recommends, to the extent the President considers necessary or expedient, proposed legislation regarding regulatory budgets. Requires such report to also be submitted directly to such congressional committees.