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Union Calendar No. 441

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4744

[Report No. 106–772]

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

JULY 20, 2000

Additional sponsors: Mr. ARMEY, Mr. WAMP, Mr. TALENT, Mr. DOOLITTLE,

Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. BARCIA, Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania, Mr. RYAN

of Wisconsin, Mr. HOEKSTRA, and Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky

JULY 20, 2000

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union

and ordered to be printed

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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Truth in Regulating

3 Act of 2000’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

6 (1) many Federal regulations have improved

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

8 uncontrolled increases in regulatory costs and lost

9 opportunities for better regulation should not be

10 continued;

11 (2) the legislative branch has a responsibility to

12 ensure that laws passed by Congress are properly

13 implemented by the executive branch; and

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

15 its responsibilities to ensure that laws passed by

16 Congress are implemented in an efficient, effective,

17 and fair manner, the Congress requires accurate and

18 reliable information on which to base decisions.

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

20 (1) increase the transparency of important reg21 ulatory decisions;

22 (2) promote effective congressional oversight to

23 ensure that agency rules fulfill statutory require24 ments in an efficient, effective, and fair manner; and

25 (3) increase the accountability of Congress and

26 the agencies to the people they serve.
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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

2 In this Act, the term—

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

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

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

6 proposed or final rule, including an interim or direct

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

8 economy of $100,000,000 or more or adversely af9 fect in a material way the economy, a sector of the

10 economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the envi11 ronment, public health or safety, or State, local, or

12 tribal governments or communities, or for which an

13 agency has prepared an initial or final regulatory

14 flexibility analysis pursuant to section 603 or 604 of

15 title 5, United States Code; and

16 (3) ‘‘independent evaluation’’ means a sub17 stantive evaluation of the agency’s and the public’s

18 data, methodology, and assumptions used in devel19 oping the economically significant rule, and any ad20 ditional evaluation that the Comptroller General de21 termines to be necessary, including—

22 (A) an explanation of how any strengths or

23 weaknesses in those data, methodology, and as24 sumptions support or detract from conclusions

25 reached by the agency; and
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1 (B) the implications, if any, of those

2 strengths or weaknesses for the rulemaking.

3 SEC. 4. REPORT ON RULES.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—

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

6 publishes an economically significant rule, a chair7 man or ranking member of a committee of jurisdic8 tion of either House of Congress may request the

9 Comptroller General of the United States to review

10 the rule.

11 (2) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall

12 submit a report on each economically significant rule

13 selected under paragraph (4) to the committees of

14 jurisdiction in each House of Congress not later

15 than 180 calendar days after a committee request is

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

17 notice of proposed rulemaking or an interim final

18 rulemaking, by not later than the end of the 60-cal19 endar-day period beginning on the date the com20 mittee request is received, or the end of the period

21 for submission of comment regarding the rule22 making, whichever is later. The report shall include

23 an independent evaluation of the economically sig24 nificant rule by the Comptroller General.
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1 (3) INDEPENDENT EVALUATION.—The inde2 pendent evaluation of the economically significant

3 rule by the Comptroller General under paragraph

4 (2) shall include—

5 (A) an evaluation of the potential benefits

6 of the rule, including any beneficial effects that

7 cannot be quantified in monetary terms and the

8 identification of the persons or entities likely to

9 receive the benefits;

10 (B) an evaluation of the potential costs of

11 the rule, including any adverse effects that can12 not be quantified in monetary terms and the

13 identification of the persons or entities likely to

14 bear the costs;

15 (C) an evaluation of any alternative ap16 proaches that could achieve the same goal in a

17 more cost-effective manner or that could pro18 vide greater net benefits, and, if applicable, a

19 brief explanation of any statutory reasons why

20 such alternatives could not be adopted;

21 (D) an evaluation of the regulatory impact

22 analysis, federalism assessment, or other anal23 ysis or assessment prepared by the agency or

24 required for the economically significant rule;

25 and
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1 (E) a summary of the results of the eval2 uation of the Comptroller General and the im3 plications of those results, including an evalua4 tion of any changes from the proposed rule

5 made by the agency in the final rule.

6 (4) PROCEDURES FOR PRIORITIES OF RE7 QUESTS.—In consultation with the Majority and Mi8 nority Leaders of the Senate and the Speaker and

9 Minority Leader of the House of Representatives,

10 the Comptroller General shall develop procedures for

11 determining the priority and number of those re12 quests for review under paragraph (1) that will be

13 reported under paragraph (2). The procedures shall

14 give the highest priority to requests regarding a no15 tice of proposed rulemaking, and to requests regard16 ing an interim final rulemaking.

17 (b) AUTHORITY OF COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—Each

18 agency shall promptly cooperate with the Comptroller

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

20 intended to expand or limit the authority of the General

21 Accounting Office.

22 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

23 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Gen24 eral Accounting Office to carry out this Act $5,200,000

25 for each of fiscal years 2001 through 2003.
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1 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE; SUNSET PROVISION.

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

3 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act.

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

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

6 is 3 years after the effective date of this Act.
Union Calendar No. 441

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4744

[Report No. 106–772]

A BILL

To require the General Accounting Office to report

to Congress on economically significant rules ofFederal agencies, and for other purposes.

JULY 20, 2000

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the

State of the Union and ordered to be printed