II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1244

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.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 18, 1999

Mr. THOMPSON (for himself, Mrs. LINCOLN, Mr. VOINOVICH, Mr. KERREY,

and Mr. BREAUX) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

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 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

7 The purposes of this Act are to—

8 (1) increase the transparency of important reg9 ulatory decisions;
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1 (2) promote effective congressional oversight to

2 ensure that agency rules fulfill statutory require3 ments in an efficient, effective, and fair manner; and

4 (3) increase the accountability of Congress and

5 the agencies to the people they serve.

6 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

7 In this Act, the term—

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

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

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

11 proposed or final rule, including an interim or direct

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

13 economy of $100,000,000 or more or adversely af14 fect in a material way the economy, a sector of the

15 economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the envi16 ronment, public health or safety, or State, local, or

17 tribal governments or communities; and

18 (3) ‘‘independent analysis’’ means a substantive

19 review of the agency’s underlying assessments and

20 assumptions used in developing the regulatory action

21 and whatever additional analysis the Comptroller

22 General determines to be necessary.

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

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—
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1 (1) REQUEST OF REVIEW.—When an agency

2 develops or issues an economically significant rule,

3 the Comptroller General of the United States may

4 review the rule at the request of a committee of ei5 ther House of Congress.

6 (2) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall

7 submit a report on each economically significant rule

8 selected under paragraph (4) to the committees of

9 jurisdiction in each House of Congress not later

10 than 180 calendar days after a committee request is

11 received. The report shall include an independent

12 analysis of the economically significant rule by the

13 Comptroller General using any relevant data or anal14 yses available to or generated by the General Ac15 counting Office.

16 (3) INDEPENDENT ANALYSIS.—The inde17 pendent analysis of the economically significant rule

18 by the Comptroller General under paragraph (2)

19 shall include—

20 (A) an analysis of the potential benefits of

21 the rule, including any beneficial effects that

22 cannot be quantified in monetary terms and the

23 identification of the persons or entities likely to

24 receive the benefits;
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1 (B) an analysis of the potential costs of

2 the rule, including any adverse effects that can3 not be quantified in monetary terms and the

4 identification of the persons or entities likely to

5 bear the costs;

6 (C) an analysis of alternative approaches

7 that could achieve the statutory goal in a more

8 cost-effective manner or that could provide

9 greater net benefits, and, if applicable, a brief

10 explanation of any reason why such alternatives

11 could not be adopted;

12 (D) an analysis of the extent to which the

13 rule would affect State or local governments;

14 and

15 (E) a summary of how the results of the

16 analysis of the Comptroller General differ, if at

17 all, from the results of the analyses of the agen18 cy in promulgating the rule.

19 (4) PROCEDURES FOR PRIORITIES OF RE20 QUESTS.—The Comptroller General shall have dis21 cretion to develop procedures for determining the

22 priority and number of requests for review under

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

24 under paragraph (2).
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1 (b) COOPERATION WITH COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—

2 Each agency shall cooperate with the Comptroller General

3 by promptly providing the Comptroller General with such

4 records and information that the Comptroller General de5 termines necessary to carry out this Act.

6 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

7 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Gen8 eral Accounting Office to carry out this Act $5,200,000

9 for each of fiscal years 2000 through 2002.

10 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE AND DURATION OF PILOT

11 PROJECT.

12 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act and the amend13 ments made by this Act shall take effect 90 days after

14 the date of enactment of this Act.

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

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

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

18 in that period, a specific annual appropriation not less

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

20 have been made for the pilot project.

21 (c) REPORT.—Before the conclusion of the 3-year pe22 riod, the Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a

23 report reviewing the effectiveness of the pilot project and
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1 recommending whether or not Congress should perma2 nently authorize the pilot project.

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