U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

1 

69–010 

" ! SENATE 115TH CONGRESS

1st Session 

REPORT

2017

115–120 

Calendar No. 157 

PROVIDING ACCOUNTABILITY THROUGH 

TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2017 

R E P O R T 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

TO ACCOMPANY

S. 577 

TO REQUIRE EACH AGENCY, IN PROVIDING NOTICE OF A 

RULE MAKING, TO INCLUDE A LINK TO A 100 WORD PLAIN 

LANGUAGE SUMMARY OF THE PROPOSED RULE 

JUNE 28, 2017.—Ordered to be printed 


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(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin Chairman 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

ROB PORTMAN, Ohio 

RAND PAUL, Kentucky 

JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming 

JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota 

STEVE DAINES, Montana 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

JON TESTER, Montana 

HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota 

GARY C. PETERS, Michigan 

MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire 

KAMALA D. HARRIS, California 

CHRISTOPHER R. HIXON, Staff Director 

GABRIELLE D’ADAMO SINGER, Chief Counsel 

SATYA P. THALLAM, Chief Economist 

MARGARET E. DAUM, Minority Staff Director 

STACIA M. CARDILLE, Minority Chief Counsel 

CHARLES A. MOSKOWITZ, Minority Senior Legislative Counsel 

KATHERINE C. SYBENGA, Minority Counsel 

LAURA W. KILBRIDE, Chief Clerk 


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Calendar No. 157 

115TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 1st Session 115–120 

PROVIDING ACCOUNTABILITY THROUGH TRANSPARENCY 

ACT OF 2017 

JUNE 28, 2017.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. JOHNSON, from the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 577] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 

to which was referred the bill (S. 577) to require each agency, in 

providing notice of a rule making, to include a link to a 100 plain 

language summary of the proposed rule, having considered the 

same, reports favorably thereon with an amendment and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass. 

CONTENTS 

Page 

I. Purpose and Summary .................................................................................. 1 

II. Background and Need for the Legislation ................................................... 2 

III. Legislative History ......................................................................................... 2 

IV. Section-by-Section Analysis .......................................................................... 2 

V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact .................................................................. 3 

VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate ................................................ 3 

VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported ........................... 4 

I. PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

The Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act of 2017 

requires Federal agencies to include, as part of a notice of proposed 

rulemaking (NPRM), a link to a 100-word or less, plain language 

summary of the proposed rule. The summary itself will be made 

available on the website ‘‘regulations.gov.’’ 


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1Pub. Law 79–404, 60 Stat. 237. 

2George B. Shepherd, ‘‘Fierce Compromise: The Administrative Procedure Act Emerges from 

New Deal Politics,’’ Northwestern University Law Review, Vol. 90, No. 4. 3 Id. 

4 Emily S. Bremer, ‘‘A Primer on the Informal Rulemaking Process,’’ Administrative Fix (blog), 

Administrative Conference of the United States, May 10, 2013, https://www.acus.gov/newsroom/ 

administrative-fix-blog/primer-informal-rulemaking-process. 5 5 U.S.C. § 553 

II. BACKGROUND AND THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION

The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) 1 forms the procedural 

basis by which Federal agencies issue most regulations and other 

policies. The APA, which has been called the result of a ‘‘fierce 

compromise,’’ 2 is intended as a means to enable agencies to engage 

in policymaking while promoting the interests of those nongovernmental parties affected.3 Specifically, the procedure outlined in Section 553 of the APA for so-called ‘‘informal’’ rulemaking ‘‘establishes the minimum procedural requirements’’ 4 that agencies must 

observe for most regulations.5 Because regulations issued through 

such a process are generally considered legally binding, the APA 

formalizes a notice to the public of a forthcoming rule, and at that 

point establishes an early opportunity for the general public to submit comments. 

However, the public’s ability to offer useful feedback through 

comments, especially parties who may not be experts in the particular subject of the rule, is dependent upon the clarity and simplicity of the proposal. Therefore, this bill offers a uniform and universally accessible standard for agencies to better communicate 

their intended policies to the public: a 100-word plain language 

summary made available by agencies at regulations.gov. 

III. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

Senator James Lankford (R–OK) introduced S. 577 on March 8, 

2017, with Senator James E. Risch (R–ID). The bill was referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. 

Senator Pat Roberts (R–KS) later joined as a co-sponsor of the bill. 

The Committee considered S. 577 at a May 17, 2017 business meeting. 

The Committee ordered S. 577 reported favorably on May 17, 

2017, by voice vote en bloc. Senators present were Senators Johnson, McCain, Portman, Paul, Lankford, Enzi, Hoeven, Daines, 

McCaskill, Tester, Heitkamp, Peters, Hassan, and Harris. Consistent with Committee Rule 11, the Committee reports the bill 

with a technical amendment by mutual agreement of the Chairman 

and Ranking Member. 

IV. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE BILL, AS REPORTED

Section 1. Short title 

This section provides the bill’s short title, the ‘‘Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act of 2017.’’ 

Section 2. Requirement to post a 100 word summary to regulations.gov 

This section amends the list of information required for inclusion 

when agencies issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to add that 


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they also include a link to a 100-word or less summary of the proposed rule. The summary shall be posted to regulations.gov. 

V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT

Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of 

the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has considered 

the regulatory impact of this bill and determined that the bill will 

have no regulatory impact within the meaning of the rules. The 

Committee agrees with the Congressional Budget Office’s statement that the bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 

mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

(UMRA) and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. 

VI. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE

JUNE 2, 2017. 

Hon. RON JOHNSON, Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. 

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 577, the Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act of 2017. 

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased 

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew Pickford. 

Sincerely, 

KEITH HALL. 

Enclosure. 

S. 577—Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act of 

2017 

S. 577 would require agencies to post the Internet address of the 

website (regulations.gov), which would contain a summary of every 

rule the agencies propose. Under the bill, those summaries could 

not exceed 100 words in length. Executive Orders 12866, 13563, 

and the June 1, 1998, Presidential Memorandum on Plain Language require agencies to use plain language in all proposed and 

final rules. Thus, CBO expects that preparing the short summary 

of proposed rules under S. 577 would have no significant cost. 

Enacting the bill would affect direct spending by agencies not 

funded through annual appropriations; therefore, pay-as-you-go 

procedures apply. CBO estimates, however, that any net increase 

in spending by those agencies would not be significant. Enacting S. 

577 would not affect revenues. 

CBO estimates that enacting S. 577 would not increase net direct 

spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10- 

year periods beginning in 2028. 

S. 577 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates 

as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not 

affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew Pickford. 

This estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis. 


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VII. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED

In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by S. 1820 as 

reported are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted 

is enclosed in brackets, new matter is printed in italic, and existing 

law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman): 

UNITED STATES CODE 

* * * * * * * 

TITLE 5—GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION AND 

EMPLOYEES 

* * * * * * * 

PART I—THE AGENCIES GENERALLY 

* * * * * * * 

CHAPTER 5—ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE 

* * * * * * * 

Subchapter II—Administrative Procedure 

* * * * * * * 

SEC. 553. RULE MAKING 

(a) * * * 

* * * * * * * 

(b) * * * 

(1) * * * 

(2) reference to the legal authority under which the rule is 

proposed; øand¿ 

(3) either the terms or substance of the proposed rule or a 

description of the subjects and issues involvedø.¿; and 

(4) the Internet address of a summary of not more than 100 

words in length of the proposed rule, in plain language, that 

shall be posted on the Internet website under section 206(d) of 

the E-Government Act of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 3501 note) (commonly 

known as regulations.gov). 

Æ 


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