IIB

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4924

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 25, 2000

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

AN ACT

To establish a 3-year pilot project for 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,
2

HR 4924 RFS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

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

3 Act of 2000’’.

4 SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

5 The purposes of this Act are to—

6 (1) increase the transparency of important reg7 ulatory decisions;

8 (2) promote effective congressional oversight to

9 ensure that agency rules fulfill statutory require10 ments in an efficient, effective, and fair manner; and

11 (3) increase the accountability of Congress and

12 the agencies to the people they serve.

13 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

14 In this Act, the term—

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

16 under section 3502(1) of title 44, United States

17 Code, except that such term shall not include an

18 independent regulatory agency, as that term is de19 fined in section 3502(5) of such title;

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

21 proposed or final rule, including an interim or direct

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

23 economy of $100,000,000 or more or adversely af24 fect in a material way the economy, a sector of the

25 economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the envi26 ronment, public health or safety, or State, local, or
3

HR 4924 RFS

1 tribal governments or communities, or for which an

2 agency has prepared an initial or final regulatory

3 flexibility analysis pursuant to section 603 or 604 of

4 title 5, United States Code; and

5 (3) ‘‘independent evaluation’’ means a sub6 stantive evaluation of the agency’s data, method7 ology, and assumptions used in developing the eco8 nomically significant rule, including—

9 (A) an explanation of how any strengths or

10 weaknesses in those data, methodology, and as11 sumptions support or detract from conclusions

12 reached by the agency; and

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

14 strengths or weaknesses for the rulemaking.

15 SEC. 4. PILOT PROJECT FOR REPORT ON RULES.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—

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

18 publishes an economically significant rule, a chair19 man or ranking member of a committee of jurisdic20 tion of either House of Congress may request the

21 Comptroller General of the United States to review

22 the rule.

23 (2) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall

24 submit a report on each economically significant rule

25 selected under paragraph (4) to the committees of
4

HR 4924 RFS

1 jurisdiction in each House of Congress not later

2 than 180 calendar days after a committee request is

3 received, or in the case of a committee request for

4 review of a notice of proposed rulemaking or an in5 terim final rulemaking, by the end of the period for

6 submission of comment regarding the rulemaking, if

7 practicable. The report shall include an independent

8 evaluation of the economically significant rule by the

9 Comptroller General.

10 (3) INDEPENDENT EVALUATION.—The inde11 pendent evaluation of the economically significant

12 rule by the Comptroller General under paragraph

13 (2) shall include—

14 (A) an evaluation of an agency’s analysis

15 of the potential benefits of the rule, including

16 any beneficial effects that cannot be quantified

17 in monetary terms and the identification of the

18 persons or entities likely to receive the benefits;

19 (B) an evaluation of an agency’s analysis

20 of the potential costs of the rule, including any

21 adverse effects that cannot be quantified in

22 monetary terms and the identification of the

23 persons or entities likely to bear the costs;

24 (C) an evaluation of an agency’s analysis

25 of alternative approaches set forth in the notice
5

HR 4924 RFS

1 of proposed rulemaking and in the rulemaking

2 record, as well as of any regulatory impact

3 analysis, federalism assessment, or other anal4 ysis or assessment prepared by the agency or

5 required for the economically significant rule;

6 and

7 (D) a summary of the results of the eval8 uation of the Comptroller General and the im9 plications of those results.

10 (4) PROCEDURES FOR PRIORITIES OF RE11 QUESTS.—The Comptroller General shall have dis12 cretion to develop procedures for determining the

13 priority and number of requests for review under

14 paragraph (1) for which a report will be submitted

15 under paragraph (2).

16 (b) AUTHORITY OF COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—Each

17 agency shall promptly cooperate with the Comptroller

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

19 intended to expand or limit the authority of the General

20 Accounting Office.

21 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

22 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Gen23 eral Accounting Office to carry out this Act $5,200,000

24 for each of fiscal years 2001 through 2003.
6

HR 4924 RFS

1 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE AND DURATION OF PILOT

2 PROJECT.

3 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall take effect 90

4 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

5 (b) DURATION OF PILOT PROJECT.—The pilot

6 project under this Act shall continue for a period of 3

7 years, if in each fiscal year, or portion thereof included

8 in that period, a specific annual appropriation not less

9 than $5,200,000 or the pro-rated equivalent thereof shall

10 have been made for the pilot project.

11 (c) REPORT.—Before the conclusion of the 3-year pe12 riod, the Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a

13 report reviewing the effectiveness of the pilot project and

14 recommending whether or not Congress should perma15 nently authorize the pilot project.

Passed the House of Representatives July 25, 2000.

Attest: JEFF TRANDAHL,

Clerk.