I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1074

To provide Governmentwide accounting of regulatory costs and benefits, and

for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 11, 1999

Mr. BLILEY (for himself, Mr. MCINTOSH, Mr. CONDIT, Mr. STENHOLM, Mr.

SHUSTER, Mr. PICKETT, Mr. GOODE, Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. JOHN,

Mr. TURNER, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. ARMEY, Mr. DELAY,

Mr. CRAMER, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. LARGENT, Mr. ARCHER,

Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. SANDLIN, Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma, Mr. GEKAS,

Mr. BARCIA, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. BOYD, Mr. CLEMENT, Mr. FORD, Mr.

SHOWS, Mr. TANNER, and Mr. TRAFICANT) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform

A BILL

To provide Governmentwide accounting of regulatory costs

and benefits, 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 ‘‘Regulatory Right-to5 Know Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

7 The purposes of this Act are to—
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1 (1) promote the public right-to-know about the

2 costs and benefits of Federal regulatory programs

3 and rules;

4 (2) increase Government accountability; and

5 (3) improve the quality of Federal regulatory

6 programs and rules.

7 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

8 In this Act:

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro10 vided in this section, the definitions under section

11 551 of title 5, United States Code, shall apply to

12 this Act.

13 (2) BENEFIT.—The term ‘‘benefit’’ means the

14 reasonably identifiable significant favorable effects,

15 quantifiable and nonquantifiable, including social,

16 health, safety, environmental, and economic effects,

17 that are expected to result from implementation of,

18 or compliance with, a rule.

19 (3) COST.—The term ‘‘cost’’ means the reason20 ably identifiable significant adverse effects, quantifi21 able and nonquantifiable, including social, health,

22 safety, environmental, and economic effects, that are

23 expected to result from implementation of, or com24 pliance with, a rule.
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1 (4) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means

2 the Director of the Office of Management and

3 Budget.

4 (5) MAJOR RULE.—The term ‘‘major rule’’

5 means any rule as that term is defined under section

6 804(2) of title 5, United States Code.

7 (6) PAPERWORK.—The term ‘‘paperwork’’ has

8 the meaning given the term ‘‘collection of informa9 tion’’ under section 3502 of title 44, United States

10 Code.

11 (7) PROGRAM COMPONENT.—The term ‘‘pro12 gram component’’ means a set of related rules.

13 SEC. 4. ACCOUNTING STATEMENT.

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than February 5, 2001,

15 and on the first Monday in February of each year there16 after, the President, acting through the Director of the

17 Office of Management and Budget, shall prepare and sub18 mit to the Congress an accounting statement and associ19 ated report containing—

20 (1) an estimate of the total annual costs and

21 benefits of Federal regulatory programs, including

22 rules and paperwork—

23 (A) in the aggregate;

24 (B) by agency, agency program, and pro25 gram component; and
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1 (C) by major rule;

2 (2) an analysis of direct and indirect impacts of

3 Federal rules and paperwork on Federal, State,

4 local, and tribal government, the private sector,

5 small business, wages, consumer prices, productivity,

6 economic growth, and distributional effects;

7 (3) an identification and analysis of overlaps,

8 duplications, and potential inconsistencies among

9 Federal regulatory programs; and

10 (4) recommendations to reform inefficient or in11 effective regulatory programs or program compo12 nents.

13 (b) NET BENEFITS AND COSTS.—To the extent fea14 sible, the Director shall, in estimates contained in any sub15 mission under subsection (a)(1), quantify the net benefits

16 or net costs of—

17 (1) each program component covered by the

18 submission;

19 (2) each major rule covered by the submission;

20 and

21 (3) each option for which costs and benefits

22 were included in any regulatory impact analysis

23 issued for any major rule covered by the submission.

24 (c) SUMMARY OF REGULATORY ACTIVITY.—The Di25 rector shall include in each submission under subsection
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1 (a)(1) a table stating the number of major rules and the

2 number of nonmajor rules issued by each agency in the

3 preceding fiscal year.

4 (d) YEARS COVERED BY ACCOUNTING STATE5 MENT.—Each accounting statement submitted under this

6 section shall, at a minimum—

7 (1) cover expected costs and benefits for the fis8 cal year for which the statement is submitted and

9 each of the 4 fiscal years following that fiscal year;

10 (2) cover previously expected costs and benefits

11 for each of the 2 fiscal years preceding the fiscal

12 year for which the statement is submitted, or the

13 most recent revision of such costs and benefits; and

14 (3) with respect to each major rule, include the

15 estimates of costs and benefits for each of the fiscal

16 years referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) that

17 were included in the regulatory impact analysis that

18 was prepared for the major rule.

19 SEC. 5. NOTICE AND COMMENT.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Before submitting an accounting

21 statement and the associated report to Congress under

22 section 4, and before preparing final guidelines under sec23 tion 6, the Director of the Office of Management and

24 Budget shall—
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1 (1) provide public notice and an opportunity of

2 at least 60 days for submission of comments on the

3 statement and report or guidelines, respectively; and

4 (2) consult with the Director of the Congres5 sional Budget Office on the statement and report or

6 guidelines, respectively.

7 (b) APPENDIX.—After consideration of the com8 ments, the Director shall include an appendix to the report

9 or guidelines, respectively, addressing the public comments

10 and peer review comments under section 7.

11 SEC. 6. GUIDELINES FROM THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT

12 AND BUDGET.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 270 days after the

14 date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office

15 of Management and Budget, in consultation with the

16 Council of Economic Advisors, shall issue guidelines to

17 agencies to standardize—

18 (1) most plausible measures of costs and bene19 fits; and

20 (2) the format of information provided for ac21 counting statements.

22 (b) REVIEW.—The Director shall review submissions

23 from the agencies to ensure consistency with the guide24 lines under this section.
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1 SEC. 7. PEER REVIEW.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of

3 Management and Budget shall arrange for 2 or more or4 ganizations that have nationally recognized expertise in

5 regulatory analysis and regulatory accounting and that are

6 independent of and external to the Government, to provide

7 peer review of each accounting statement and associated

8 report under section 4 and the guidelines under section

9 6 before the statement, report, or guidelines are final.

10 (b) WRITTEN COMMENTS.—The peer review under

11 this section shall provide written comments to the Director

12 in a timely manner. The Director shall use the peer review

13 comments in preparing the final statements, associated re14 ports, and guidelines.

15 (c) FACA.—Peer review under this section shall not

16 be subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5

17 U.S.C. App.).

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