IB 

Union Calendar No. 277 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2432 

[Report No. 108–490, Part I] 

To amend the Paperwork Reduction Act and titles 5 and 31, United States 

Code, to reform Federal paperwork and regulatory processes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 11, 2003 

Mr. OSE (for himself, Mr. TANNER, Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. MOORE, 

Mr. JANKLOW, Mr. MATHESON, and Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government 

Reform, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, 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 

MAY 14, 2004 

Additional sponsors: Mr. ISTOOK, Mr. SCHROCK, and Mrs. KELLY

MAY 14, 2004 

Reported from the Committee on Government Reform with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

MAY 14, 2004 

Referral to the Committee on the Budget extended for a period ending not 

later than May 14, 2004 

MAY 14, 2004 

Committee on the Budget discharged; committed to the Committee of the 

Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 
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[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on June 11, 2003] 

A BILL 

To amend the Paperwork Reduction Act and titles 5 and 

31, United States Code, to reform Federal paperwork 

and regulatory processes. 

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 ‘‘Paperwork and Regu5 latory Improvements Act of 2004’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) In 1980, in the Paperwork Reduction Act, 

9 Congress established the Office of Information and 

10 Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the Office of Manage11 ment and Budget. OIRA’s principal responsibility is 

12 to reduce the paperwork burden on the public that re13 sults from the collection of information by or for the 

14 Federal Government. In 2002, OIRA estimated that 

15 the paperwork burden imposed on the public was 7.7 

16 billion hours, at a cost of $230 billion. The Internal 

17 Revenue Service accounted for 83 percent of the pa18 perwork burden. 
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1 (2) In 1995, Congress amended the Paperwork 

2 Reduction Act and established annual government3 wide paperwork reduction goals of 10 percent for each 

4 of fiscal years 1996 and 1997, and 5 percent for each 

5 of fiscal years 1998 through 2001, but the paperwork 

6 burden increased, rather than decreased, in each of 

7 those fiscal years and fiscal year 2002. Both the Of8 fice of Management and Budget and the Internal Rev9 enue Service need to devote additional attention to 

10 paperwork reduction. 

11 (3) In 2002, the House Report accompanying the 

12 Treasury and General Government Appropriations 

13 Act, 2003 (House Report 107–575) stated, ‘‘The Office 

14 of Management and Budget has reported that paper15 work burdens on Americans have increased in each of 

16 the last six years. Since the Internal Revenue Service 

17 imposes over 80 percent of these paperwork burdens, 

18 the Committee believes that OMB should work to 

19 identify and review proposed and existing IRS paper20 work.’’. 

21 (4) One key to success in paperwork reduction is 

22 the Office of Management and Budget’s systematic re23 view of every new and revised agency paperwork pro24 posal. Recent statutory exemptions from that office’s 
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1 review responsibility, especially those without any 

2 stated justification, should be removed. 

3 (5) In 2000, researchers Mark Crain of George 

4 Mason University and Thomas Hopkins of the Roch5 ester Institute of Technology, in their October 2001 

6 publication titled ‘‘The Impact of Regulatory Costs on 

7 Small Firms’’, estimated that Americans spend $843 

8 billion annually to comply with Federal regulations. 

9 Congress has a responsibility to review major rules 

10 (as defined by section 804 of title 5, United States 

11 Code) proposed by agencies, especially regulatory al12 ternatives and the costs and benefits associated with 

13 each of them. In 2000, in the Truth in Regulating 

14 Act, Congress established new responsibility within 

15 the General Accounting Office to assist Congress with 

16 this responsibility. 

17 (6) In 1996, because of the increasing costs and 

18 incompletely estimated benefits of Federal rules and 

19 paperwork, Congress required the Office of Manage20 ment and Budget for the first time to submit an an21 nual report to Congress on the total costs and benefits 

22 to the public of Federal rules and paperwork require23 ments, including an assessment of the effects of Fed24 eral rules on the private sector and State and local 

25 governments. In 1998, Congress changed the annual 
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1 report’s due date to coincide with the due date of the 

2 President’s budget, so that Congress and the public 

3 could be given an opportunity to simultaneously re4 view both the on-budget and off-budget costs associ5 ated with the regulatory and paperwork requirements 

6 of each Federal agency. In 2000, Congress made this 

7 a permanent annual reporting requirement. 

8 (7) The Office of Management and Budget re9 quires agencies to submit annual budget and paper10 work burden estimates in order to prepare certain re11 quired reports for Congress, but it does not require 

12 agencies to submit estimates on costs and benefits of 

13 agency rules and paperwork. The Office of Manage14 ment and Budget needs to require agencies to submit 

15 such estimates on costs and benefits to help prepare 

16 the annual accounting statement and associated re17 port required under section 624 of the Treasury and 

18 General Government Appropriations Act, 2001. 

19 SEC. 3. REDUCTION OF TAX PAPERWORK. 

20 Section 3504 of title 44, United States Code, is amend21 ed by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

22 ‘‘(i) In carrying out subsection (c)(3), the Director 

23 shall (in consultation with the Internal Revenue Service 

24 and the Office of Tax Policy of the Department of the Treas25 ury and the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Ad-
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1 ministration) conduct a review of the collections of informa2 tion conducted by the Internal Revenue Service to identify 

3 actions that the Internal Revenue Service can take to reduce 

4 the information collection burden imposed on small business 

5 concerns, consistent with section 3520(c)(1) of this chapter. 

6 The Director shall include the results of the review in the 

7 annual report that the Director submits under section 3514 

8 of this chapter for fiscal year 2006.’’. 

9 SEC. 4. REPEAL OF EXEMPTIONS FROM PAPERWORK RE10 DUCTION ACT, ETC. 

11 (a) REPEALS.—The following provisions of the Farm 

12 Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Public Law 

13 107–171) are repealed: 

14 (1) Subparagraphs (A) and (C) of section 

15 1601(c)(2). 

16 (2) Section 1601(c)(3). 

17 (3) Section 2702(b)(1)(A). 

18 (4) Section 2702(b)(2)(A). 

19 (5) Section 2702(c). 

20 (6) Subparagraphs (A) and (C) of section 

21 6103(b)(2). 

22 (7) Section 6103(b)(3). 

23 (8) Subparagraphs (A) and (C) of section 

24 10105(d)(2). 

25 (9) Section 10105(d)(3). 
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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The repeals of the provisions 

2 listed in subsection (a) shall take effect 180 days after the 

3 date of the enactment of this Act. 

4 SEC. 5. AMENDMENT OF TRUTH IN REGULATING ACT TO 

5 MAKE PERMANENT PILOT PROJECT FOR RE6 PORT ON RULES. 

7 The purpose of this section is to make permanent the 

8 authority to request the performance of regulatory analysis 

9 to enhance Congressional responsibility for regulatory deci10 sions developed under the laws enacted by Congress. The 

11 Truth in Regulating Act of 2000 (Public Law 106–312; 5 

12 U.S.C. 801 note) is amended— 

13 (1) in the heading for section 4, by striking 

14 ‘‘PILOT PROJECT FOR’’, 

15 (2) by striking section 5 and redesignating sec16 tion 6 as section 5; and 

17 (3) in section 5 (as redesignated by paragraph 

18 (2))— 

19 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘AND DURA20 TION OF PILOT PROJECT’’; 

21 (B) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘(a) EF22 FECTIVE DATE.—’’; and 

23 (C) by striking subsections (b) and (c). 
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1 SEC. 6. IMPROVED REGULATORY ACCOUNTING. 

2 (a) REQUIREMENT FOR AGENCIES TO SUBMIT INFOR3 MATION ON REGULATIONS AND PAPERWORK TO OMB.— 

4 Section 624 of the Treasury and General Government Ap5 propriations Act, 2001 (as enacted into law by Public Law 

6 106–554; 114 Stat. 2763A–161), is amended 

7 (1) by redesignating subsections (b), (c), and (d) 

8 as subsection (c), (d), and (e), respectively, and 

9 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following 

10 new subsection: 

11 ‘‘(b) AGENCY SUBMISSIONS TO OMB.—To carry out 

12 subsection (a), the Director of the Office of Management and 

13 Budget shall require each agency annually to submit to the 

14 Office of Management and Budget an estimate of the total 

15 annual costs and benefits of Federal rules and paperwork, 

16 to the extent feasible— 

17 ‘‘(1) for the agency in the aggregate; and 

18 ‘‘(2) for each agency program.’’. 

19 (b) INTEGRATION OF OMB ACCOUNTING STATEMENT

20 AND REPORT INTO PRESIDENT’S BUDGET.—Section 624 of 

21 the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 

22 2001 (as enacted into law by Public Law 106–554; 114 

23 Stat. 2763A–161) is further amended in subsection (a), by 

24 striking ‘‘with the budget’’ and inserting ‘‘as part of the 

25 budget’’. 
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1 (c) REGULATORY BUDGETING.—(1) Chapter 11 of title 

2 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 

3 the following new section: 

4 ‘‘§ 1120. Regulatory budgeting 

5 ‘‘(a) The Director of the Office of Management and 

6 Budget, after consultation with the head of each agency, 

7 shall designate not less than three agencies (or offices within 

8 an agency) to participate in a study on regulatory budg9 eting for fiscal years 2006 and 2007. The designated agen10 cies shall include three regulatory agencies or offices from 

11 among the following: the Department of Labor, the Depart12 ment of Transportation, the Department of Health and 

13 Human Services, and the Environmental Protection Agen14 cy. 

15 ‘‘(b) The study shall address the preparation of regu16 latory budgets. Such budgets shall include the presentation 

17 of the varying estimated levels of benefits that would be as18 sociated with the different estimated levels of costs with re19 spect to the regulatory alternatives under consideration by 

20 the agency (or office within the agency). 

21 ‘‘(c) The Director of the Office of Management and 

22 Budget shall include, in the accounting statement and asso23 ciated report submitted to Congress for calendar year 2006 

24 under section 624 of the Treasury and General Government 

25 Appropriations Act, 2001 (as enacted into law by Public 
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1 Law 106–554; 114 Stat. 2763A–161), a presentation of the 

2 different levels of estimated regulatory benefits and costs 

3 with respect to the regulatory alternatives under consider4 ation for one or more of the major regulatory programs of 

5 each of the agencies designated under subsection (a). 

6 ‘‘(d) In the accounting statement and associated report 

7 submitted to Congress for calendar year 2009 under section 

8 624 of the Treasury and General Government Appropria9 tions Act, 2001 (as so enacted), the Director of the Office 

10 of Management and Budget shall include a report on the 

11 study on regulatory budgeting. The report shall— 

12 ‘‘(1) assess the feasibility and advisability of in13 cluding a regulatory budget as part of the annual 

14 budget submitted under section 1105; 

15 ‘‘(2) describe any difficulties encountered by the 

16 Office of Management and Budget and the partici17 pating agencies in conducting the study; and 

18 ‘‘(3) recommend, to the extent the President con19 siders necessary or expedient, proposed legislation re20 garding regulatory budgets.’’. 

21 (2) The table of sections at the beginning of such chap22 ter is amended by adding at the end the following new item: 

‘‘1120. Regulatory budgeting.’’. 

Union Calendar No. 277 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2432 

[Report No. 108–490, Part I] 

A BILL 

To amend the Paperwork Reduction Act and titles 

paperwork and regulatory processes. 5 and 31, United States Code, to reform Federal 

MAY 14, 2004 

Reported from the Committee on Government Reform 

with an amendment 

MAY 14, 2004 

Referral to the Committee on the Budget extended for a 

period ending not later than May 14, 2004 

MAY 14, 2004 

Committee on the Budget discharged; committed to the 

Union and ordered to be printed Committee of the Whole House on the State of the