IA

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1198

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 10, 2000

Referred to the Committee on Government Reform

AN ACT

To establish a 3-year pilot project for the General Accounting

Office to report to Congress on economically significant

rules of Federal agencies, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Truth in Regulating

5 Act of 2000’’.
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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

2 The purposes of this Act are to—

3 (1) increase the transparency of important reg4 ulatory decisions;

5 (2) promote effective congressional oversight to

6 ensure that agency rules fulfill statutory require7 ments in an efficient, effective, and fair manner; and

8 (3) increase the accountability of Congress and

9 the agencies to the people they serve.

10 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

11 In this Act, the term—

12 (1) ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given such term

13 under section 551(1) of title 5, United States Code;

14 (2) ‘‘economically significant rule’’ means any

15 proposed or final rule, including an interim or direct

16 final rule, that may have an annual effect on the

17 economy of $100,000,000 or more or adversely af18 fect in a material way the economy, a sector of the

19 economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the envi20 ronment, public health or safety, or State, local, or

21 tribal governments or communities; and

22 (3) ‘‘independent evaluation’’ means a sub23 stantive evaluation of the agency’s data, method24 ology, and assumptions used in developing the eco25 nomically significant rule, including—
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1 (A) an explanation of how any strengths or

2 weaknesses in those data, methodology, and as3 sumptions support or detract from conclusions

4 reached by the agency; and

5 (B) the implications, if any, of those

6 strengths or weaknesses for the rulemaking.

7 SEC. 4. PILOT PROJECT FOR REPORT ON RULES.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—

9 (1) REQUEST FOR REVIEW.—When an agency

10 publishes an economically significant rule, a chair11 man or ranking member of a committee of jurisdic12 tion of either House of Congress may request the

13 Comptroller General of the United States to review

14 the rule.

15 (2) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall

16 submit a report on each economically significant rule

17 selected under paragraph (4) to the committees of

18 jurisdiction in each House of Congress not later

19 than 180 calendar days after a committee request is

20 received. The report shall include an independent

21 evaluation of the economically significant rule by the

22 Comptroller General.

23 (3) INDEPENDENT EVALUATION.—The inde24 pendent evaluation of the economically significant
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1 rule by the Comptroller General under paragraph

2 (2) shall include—

3 (A) an evaluation of the agency’s analysis

4 of the potential benefits of the rule, including

5 any beneficial effects that cannot be quantified

6 in monetary terms and the identification of the

7 persons or entities likely to receive the benefits;

8 (B) an evaluation of the agency’s analysis

9 of the potential costs of the rule, including any

10 adverse effects that cannot be quantified in

11 monetary terms and the identification of the

12 persons or entities likely to bear the costs;

13 (C) an evaluation of the agency’s analysis

14 of alternative approaches set forth in the notice

15 of proposed rulemaking and in the rulemaking

16 record, as well as of any regulatory impact

17 analysis, federalism assessment, or other anal18 ysis or assessment prepared by the agency or

19 required for the economically significant rule;

20 and

21 (D) a summary of the results of the eval22 uation of the Comptroller General and the im23 plications of those results.

24 (4) PROCEDURES FOR PRIORITIES OF RE25 QUESTS.—The Comptroller General shall have dis-
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1 cretion to develop procedures for determining the

2 priority and number of requests for review under

3 paragraph (1) for which a report will be submitted

4 under paragraph (2).

5 (b) AUTHORITY OF COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—Each

6 agency shall promptly cooperate with the Comptroller

7 General in carrying out this Act. Nothing in this Act is

8 intended to expand or limit the authority of the General

9 Accounting Office.

10 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

11 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Gen12 eral Accounting Office to carry out this Act $5,200,000

13 for each of fiscal years 2000 through 2002.

14 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE AND DURATION OF PILOT

15 PROJECT.

16 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act and the amend17 ments made by this Act shall take effect 90 days after

18 the date of enactment of this Act.

19 (b) DURATION OF PILOT PROJECT.—The pilot

20 project under this Act shall continue for a period of 3

21 years, if in each fiscal year, or portion thereof included

22 in that period, a specific annual appropriation not less

23 than $5,200,000 or the pro-rated equivalent thereof shall

24 have been made for the pilot project.
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1 (c) REPORT.—Before the conclusion of the 3-year pe2 riod, the Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a

3 report reviewing the effectiveness of the pilot project and

4 recommending whether or not Congress should perma5 nently authorize the pilot project.

Passed the Senate May 9, 2000.

Attest: GARY SISCO,

Secretary.