I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4744

To require the General Accounting Office to report to Congress on

economically significant rules of Federal agencies, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 26, 2000

Mrs. KELLY (for herself and Mr. MCINTOSH) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform

A BILL

To require 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’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

8 (1) many Federal regulations have improved

9 the quality of life of the American public, however,

10 uncontrolled increases in regulatory costs and lost
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1 opportunities for better regulation should not be

2 continued;

3 (2) the legislative branch has a responsibility to

4 ensure that laws passed by Congress are properly

5 implemented by the executive branch; and

6 (3) in order for the legislative branch to fulfill

7 its responsibilities to ensure that laws passed by

8 Congress are implemented in an efficient, effective,

9 and fair manner, the Congress requires accurate and

10 reliable information on which to base decisions.

11 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to—

12 (1) increase the transparency of important reg13 ulatory decisions;

14 (2) promote effective congressional oversight to

15 ensure that agency rules fulfill statutory require16 ments in an efficient, effective, and fair manner; and

17 (3) increase the accountability of Congress and

18 the agencies to the people they serve.

19 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

20 In this Act, the term—

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

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

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

24 proposed or final rule, including an interim or direct

25 final rule, that may have an annual effect on the
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1 economy of $100,000,000 or more or adversely af2 fect in a material way the economy, a sector of the

3 economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the envi4 ronment, public health or safety, or State, local, or

5 tribal governments or communities, or for which an

6 agency has prepared an initial or final regulatory

7 flexibility analysis pursuant to section 603 or 604 of

8 title 5, United States Code; and

9 (3) ‘‘independent evaluation’’ means a sub10 stantive evaluation of the agency’s and the public’s

11 data, methodology, and assumptions used in devel12 oping the economically significant rule, and any ad13 ditional evaluation that the Comptroller General de14 termines to be necessary, including—

15 (A) an explanation of how any strengths or

16 weaknesses in those data, methodology, and as17 sumptions support or detract from conclusions

18 reached by the agency; and

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

20 strengths or weaknesses for the rulemaking.

21 SEC. 4. REPORT ON RULES.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—

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

24 publishes an economically significant rule, a chair25 man or ranking member of a committee of jurisdic-
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1 tion of either House of Congress may request the

2 Comptroller General of the United States to review

3 the rule.

4 (2) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall

5 submit a report on each economically significant rule

6 selected under paragraph (4) to the committees of

7 jurisdiction in each House of Congress not later

8 than 180 calendar days after a committee request is

9 received, or in the case of a request for review of a

10 notice of proposed rulemaking or an interim final

11 rulemaking, by not later than the end of the 60-cal12 endar-day period beginning on the date the com13 mittee request is received, or the end of the period

14 for submission of comment regarding the rule15 making, whichever is later. The report shall include

16 an independent evaluation of the economically sig17 nificant rule by the Comptroller General.

18 (3) INDEPENDENT EVALUATION.—The inde19 pendent evaluation of the economically significant

20 rule by the Comptroller General under paragraph

21 (2) shall include—

22 (A) an evaluation of the potential benefits

23 of the rule, including any beneficial effects that

24 cannot be quantified in monetary terms and the
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1 identification of the persons or entities likely to

2 receive the benefits;

3 (B) an evaluation of the potential costs of

4 the rule, including any adverse effects that can5 not be quantified in monetary terms and the

6 identification of the persons or entities likely to

7 bear the costs;

8 (C) an evaluation of any alternative ap9 proaches that could achieve the same goal in a

10 more cost-effective manner or that could pro11 vide greater net benefits, and, if applicable, a

12 brief explanation of any statutory reasons why

13 such alternatives could not be adopted;

14 (D) an evaluation of the regulatory impact

15 analysis, federalism assessment, or other anal16 ysis or assessment prepared by the agency or

17 required for the economically significant rule;

18 and

19 (E) a summary of the results of the eval20 uation of the Comptroller General and the im21 plications of those results, including an evalua22 tion of any changes from the proposed rule

23 made by the agency in the final rule.

24 (4) PROCEDURES FOR PRIORITIES OF RE25 QUESTS.—In consultation with the Majority and Mi-
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1 nority Leaders of the Senate and the Speaker and

2 Minority Leader of the House of Representatives,

3 the Comptroller General shall develop procedures for

4 determining the priority and number of those re5 quests for review under paragraph (1) that will be

6 reported under paragraph (2). The procedures shall

7 give the highest priority to requests regarding a no8 tice of proposed rulemaking, and to requests regard9 ing an interim final rulemaking.

10 (b) AUTHORITY OF COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—Each

11 agency shall promptly cooperate with the Comptroller

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

13 intended to expand or limit the authority of the General

14 Accounting Office.

15 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

16 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Gen17 eral Accounting Office to carry out this Act $5,200,000

18 for each of fiscal years 2001 through 2003.

19 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE; SUNSET PROVISION.

20 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall take effect

21 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

22 (b) SUNSET PROVISION.—This Act shall not apply

23 with respect to rules published on or after the date that

24 is 3 years after the effective date of this Act.

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