I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1654

To amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to require congressional 

approval of proposed rules considered by the Congress to be significant 

rules. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 7, 2003

Mr. SMITH of Michigan introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on 

Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 

case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 

the committee concerned 

A BILL

To amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to require 

congressional approval of proposed rules considered by 

the Congress to be significant rules.

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 ‘‘Legislative Oversight 

5 of Significant Regulations Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDING AND PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDING.—The Congress finds that oversight of 

8 significant rules will be enhanced if they are subject to 
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1 congressional review and approval after being proposed by 

2 an agency. 

3 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to ensure 

4 that before a significant rule takes effect—

5 (1) Congress is given an adequate opportunity 

6 to review the rule and ensure that it is in accordance 

7 with the intent of Congress in enacting the law 

8 under which the rule is proposed; and 

9 (2) Congress approves the rule in accordance 

10 with the procedures established by this Act. 

11 SEC. 3. REVIEW OF SIGNIFICANT RULES BY CONGRESS. 

12 Chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 

13 to read as follows: 

14 ‘‘CHAPTER 8—CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW 

15 OF AGENCY RULEMAKING

‘‘Sec. 

‘‘801. Review of significant rules by Congress. 

‘‘802. Congressional approval procedure for significant rules. 

‘‘803. Existing rules. 

‘‘804. Definitions. 

‘‘805. Exemption for monetary policy.

16 ‘‘§ 801. Review of significant rules by Congress 

17 ‘‘(a) A significant rule shall not take effect before the 

18 date of the enactment of a joint resolution described in 

19 section 802(a) comprised solely of the text of the signifi20 cant rule. 
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1 ‘‘(b)(1) Before a proposed significant rule would take 

2 effect as a final rule, the agency proposing the rule shall 

3 submit to each House of Congress a report containing the 

4 following: 

5 ‘‘(A) A copy of the proposed significant rule. 

6 ‘‘(B) A concise summary of the proposed sig7 nificant rule, its purpose, and anticipated effects. 

8 ‘‘(C) A complete copy of any cost-benefit anal9 ysis report that has been prepared by the agency 

10 with respect to the proposed significant rule. 

11 ‘‘(D) An explanation of the specific statutory 

12 interpretation under which a rule is proposed, in13 cluding an explanation of—

14 ‘‘(i) whether the interpretation is expressly 

15 required by the text of the statute; or 

16 ‘‘(ii) if the interpretation is not expressly 

17 required by the text of the statute, an expla18 nation that the interpretation is within the 

19 range of permissible interpretations of the stat20 ute as identified by the agency, and an expla21 nation why the interpretation selected by the 

22 agency is the agency’s preferred interpretation.

23 ‘‘(E) Any other relevant information or require24 ments under any other Act and any relevant Execu25 tive order. 
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1 ‘‘(2) Upon receipt of a report under paragraph (1), 

2 each House of Congress shall provide a copy of the report 

3 to the chairman and ranking minority party member of 

4 each committee with jurisdiction over the subject matter 

5 of the report. 

6 ‘‘(c) If Congress fails to enact a joint resolution ap7 proving a proposed significant rule, no court or agency 

8 may infer any intent of Congress from any action or inac9 tion of Congress with regard to such rule or related stat10 ute. 

11 ‘‘§ 802. Congressional approval procedure for signifi12 cant rules 

13 ‘‘(a) Not later than 3 legislative days after the date 

14 on which an agency submits a report under section 801(b) 

15 containing the text of any proposed significant rule, the 

16 majority leader of each House of the Congress shall intro17 duce (by request) a joint resolution comprised solely of the 

18 text of that significant rule. If the joint resolution is not 

19 introduced in either House as provided in the preceding 

20 sentence, then any Member of that House may introduce 

21 the joint resolution. 

22 ‘‘(b)(1) The joint resolution shall be referred to the 

23 appropriate committee of the House in which it is intro24 duced. The committee may report the joint resolution 

25 without substantive revision and with or without rec-
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1 ommendation or with an adverse recommendation, or the 

2 committee may vote not to report the joint resolution. If 

3 the committee votes to order the joint resolution reported, 

4 it shall be reported not later than the end of the period 

5 (not to exceed 45 legislative days) established for consider6 ation of the joint resolution by the Speaker of the House 

7 of Representatives or the majority leader of the Senate, 

8 as the case may be. Except in the case of a joint resolution 

9 which a committee votes not to report, a committee failing 

10 to report a joint resolution within such period shall be 

11 automatically discharged from consideration of the joint 

12 resolution, and it shall be placed on the appropriate cal13 endar. 

14 ‘‘(2) A vote on final passage of the joint resolution 

15 shall be taken in that House on or before the close of the 

16 90th legislative day after the date of the introduction of 

17 the joint resolution in that House. 

18 ‘‘(3)(A) A motion in the House of Representatives to 

19 proceed to the consideration of a joint resolution under 

20 this section shall be highly privileged and not debatable. 

21 An amendment to the motion shall not be in order, nor 

22 shall it be in order to move to reconsider the vote by which 

23 the motion is agreed to or disagreed to. 

24 ‘‘(B) Debate in the House of Representatives on a 

25 joint resolution under this section shall be limited to not 
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1 more than 4 hours, which shall be divided equally between 

2 those favoring and those opposing the joint resolution. A 

3 motion further to limit debate shall not be debatable. It 

4 shall not be in order to move to recommit a joint resolution 

5 under this section or to move to reconsider the vote by 

6 which the joint resolution is agreed to or disagreed to. 

7 ‘‘(C) All appeals from the decisions of the chair relat8 ing to the application of the Rules of the House of Rep9 resentatives to the procedure relating to a joint resolution 

10 under this section shall be decided without debate. 

11 ‘‘(D) Except to the extent specifically provided in the 

12 preceding provisions of this subsection, consideration of a 

13 joint resolution under this section shall be governed by the 

14 Rules of the House of Representatives applicable to other 

15 joint resolutions in similar circumstances. 

16 ‘‘(4)(A) A motion in the Senate to proceed to the con17 sideration of a joint resolution under this section shall be 

18 privileged and not debatable. An amendment to the motion 

19 shall not be in order, nor shall it be in order to move to 

20 reconsider the vote by which the motion is agreed to or 

21 disagreed to. 

22 ‘‘(B) Debate in the Senate on a joint resolution under 

23 this section, and all debatable motions and appeals in con24 nection therewith, shall be limited to not more than 10 

25 hours. The time shall be equally divided between, and con-
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1 trolled by, the majority leader and the minority leader or 

2 their designees. 

3 ‘‘(C) Debate in the Senate on any debatable motion 

4 or appeal in connection with a joint resolution under this 

5 section shall be limited to not more than 1 hour, to be 

6 equally divided between, and controlled by, the mover and 

7 the manager of the joint resolution, except that in the 

8 event the manager of the joint resolution is in favor of 

9 any such motion or appeal, the time in opposition thereto, 

10 shall be controlled by the minority leader or his designee. 

11 Such leaders, or either of them, may, from time under 

12 their control on the passage of a joint resolution, allot ad13 ditional time to any Senator during the consideration of 

14 any debatable motion or appeal. 

15 ‘‘(D) A motion in the Senate to further limit debate 

16 on a joint resolution under this section is not debatable. 

17 A motion to recommit a joint resolution under this section 

18 is not in order. 

19 ‘‘(c) No amendment to a joint resolution considered 

20 under this section shall be in order in either the House 

21 of Representatives or the Senate. No motion to suspend

22 the application of this subsection shall be in order in either 

23 House, nor shall it be in order in either House for the 

24 presiding officer to entertain a request to suspend the ap25 plication of this subsection by unanimous consent. 
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1 ‘‘(d) If, before the passage by one House of a joint 

2 resolution of that House described in subsection (a), that 

3 House receives from the other House a joint resolution 

4 described in subsection (a) comprised of the same text, 

5 then: 

6 ‘‘(1) The procedure in that House shall be the 

7 same as if no joint resolution had been received from 

8 the other House. 

9 ‘‘(2) The vote on final passage shall be on the 

10 joint resolution of the other House. 

11 ‘‘(e) This section is enacted by Congress—

12 ‘‘(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 

13 the Senate and the House of Representatives, re14 spectively, and as such it is deemed a part of the 

15 rules of each House, respectively, but applicable only 

16 with respect to the procedure to be followed in that 

17 House in the case of a joint resolution described in 

18 subsection (a), and it supersedes other rules only to 

19 the extent that it is inconsistent with such rules; and 

20 ‘‘(2) with full recognition of the constitutional 

21 right of either House to change the rules (so far as 

22 relating to the procedure of that House) at any time, 

23 in the same manner, and to the same extent as in 

24 the case of any other rule of that House.
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1 ‘‘§ 803. Existing rules 

2 ‘‘(a) Any existing rule may be revised or revoked in 

3 accordance with this section if a petition for review so re4 quests. 

5 ‘‘(b) If a petition for review is filed with the Clerk 

6 of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the 

7 Senate, the Clerk or the Secretary shall determine whether 

8 the petition meets the requirements of subsection (d). If 

9 the Clerk or the Secretary determines that a petition 

10 meets those requirements, he or she shall notify the major11 ity leader of that House. The majority leader so notified 

12 shall, within 3 legislative days, introduce a joint resolution 

13 (by request) that makes the revision or revocation of exist14 ing rules proposed by the petition upon the enactment of 

15 that joint resolution. If the joint resolution is not intro16 duced as provided in the preceding sentence, then any 

17 Member of that House may introduce the joint resolution. 

18 ‘‘(c) Any joint resolution introduced under subsection 

19 (b) shall be considered in the House of Representatives 

20 and the Senate in accordance with the procedures respect21 ing a joint resolution set forth in section 802. 

22 ‘‘(d) A petition for review under subsection (a) shall 

23 contain the following: 

24 ‘‘(1) Any rule affected by the petition and the 

25 contents of that rule as it would exist if a joint reso-
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1 lution revising or revoking that rule pursuant to the 

2 petition were enacted. 

3 ‘‘(2) For a petition in the Senate, the signa4 tures of 30 Senators, or for a petition in the House 

5 of Representatives, the signatures of 120 Members. 

6 ‘‘§ 804. Definitions 

7 For purposes of this chapter: 

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

9 that term in section 551 (relating to administrative 

10 procedure). 

11 ‘‘(2)(A) The term ‘rule’ has the meaning given 

12 such term by section 551, except that such term 

13 does not include—

14 ‘‘(i) any rule of particular applicability in15 cluding a rule that approves or prescribes—

16 ‘‘(I) future rates, wages, prices, serv17 ices, or allowances therefor, 

18 ‘‘(II) corporate or financial structures, 

19 reorganizations, mergers, or acquisitions 

20 thereof, or 

21 ‘‘(III) accounting practices or disclo22 sures bearing on any of the foregoing, or 

23 ‘‘(ii) any rule of agency organization, per24 sonnel, procedure, practice, or any routine mat25 ter. 
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1 ‘‘(B) The term ‘final rule’ means any final rule 

2 or interim final rule. 

3 ‘‘(3) The term ‘significant rule’ means any rule 

4 proposed by an agency that is specified or described 

5 as such in the Act that authorizes the rule. 

6 ‘‘§ 805. Exemption for monetary policy 

7 Nothing in this chapter applies to any rule concerning 

8 monetary policy proposed or implemented by the Board 

9 of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or the Fed10 eral Open Market Committee.’’. 

11 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

12 The amendment made by this Act shall take effect 

13 on the ninetieth day after the date of enactment of this 

14 Act. The former chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, 

15 as in effect immediately before that day shall continue to 

16 apply to rules submitted under that former chapter to 

17 each House of Congress as if this amendment had not 

18 been enacted.

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