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Union Calendar No. 93

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1074

[Report No. 106–168]

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

JUNE 7, 1999

Additional sponsors: Mr. TAUZIN, Mr. UPTON, Mr. TERRY, Mr. TALENT, Mr.

ROYCE, Mr. BARR of Georgia, Mr. GARY MILLER of California, Mr.

STUMP, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin,

Mr. BEREUTER, Mrs. CHENOWETH, Mr. NETHERCUTT, Mr. WHITFIELD,

Mr. HUNTER, Mr. BACHUS, Mrs. BIGGERT, and Mr. NEY

JUNE 7, 1999

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
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[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 11, 1999]

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—

8 (1) promote the public right-to-know about the

9 costs and benefits of Federal regulatory programs and

10 rules;

11 (2) increase Government accountability; and

12 (3) improve the quality of Federal regulatory

13 programs and rules.

14 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

15 In this Act:

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise provided

17 in this section, the definitions under section 551 of

18 title 5, United States Code, shall apply to this Act.
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1 (2) BENEFIT.—The term ‘‘benefit’’ means the

2 reasonably identifiable significant favorable effects,

3 quantifiable and nonquantifiable, including social,

4 health, safety, environmental, and economic effects,

5 that are expected to result from implementation of, or

6 compliance with, a rule.

7 (3) COST.—The term ‘‘cost’’ means the reason8 ably identifiable significant adverse effects, quantifi9 able and nonquantifiable, including social, health,

10 safety, environmental, and economic effects, that are

11 expected to result from implementation of, or compli12 ance with, a rule.

13 (4) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means the

14 Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

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

16 the meaning that term has under section 804(2) of

17 title 5, United States Code.

18 (6) NONMAJOR RULE.—The term ‘‘nonmajor

19 rule’’ means any rule, as that term is defined in sec20 tion 804(3) of title 5, United States Code, other than

21 a major rule.

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

23 the meaning given the term ‘‘collection of informa24 tion’’ under section 3502 of title 44, United States

25 Code.
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1 (8) PROGRAM COMPONENT.—The term ‘‘program

2 component’’ means a set of related rules.

3 SEC. 4. ACCOUNTING STATEMENT.

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

5 and on the first Monday in February of each year there6 after, the President, acting through the Director of the Office

7 of Management and Budget, shall prepare and submit to

8 the Congress an accounting statement and associated report

9 containing an estimate of the total annual costs and bene10 fits of Federal regulatory programs, including rules and

11 paperwork—

12 (1) in the aggregate;

13 (2) by agency, agency program, and program

14 component; and

15 (3) by major rule.

16 (b) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—In addition to the in17 formation required under subsection (a), the President shall

18 include in each accounting statement under subsection (a)

19 the following information:

20 (1) An analysis of impacts of Federal rules and

21 paperwork on Federal, State, local, and tribal govern22 ment, the private sector, small business, wages, con23 sumer prices, and economic growth, as well as on

24 public health, public safety, the environment, con-
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1 sumer protection, equal opportunity, and other public

2 policy goals.

3 (2) An identification and analysis of overlaps,

4 duplications, and potential inconsistencies among

5 Federal regulatory programs.

6 (3) Recommendations to reform inefficient or in7 effective regulatory programs or program components,

8 including recommendations for addressing market

9 failures that are not adequately addressed by existing

10 regulatory programs or program components.

11 (c) NET BENEFITS AND COSTS.—To the extent feasible,

12 the Director shall, in estimates contained in any submission

13 under subsection (a), quantify the net benefits or net costs

14 of—

15 (1) each program component covered by the sub16 mission;

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

18 and

19 (3) each option for which costs and benefits were

20 included in any regulatory impact analysis issued for

21 any major rule covered by the submission.

22 (d) SUMMARY OF REGULATORY ACTIVITY.—The Direc23 tor shall include in each submission under subsection (a)

24 a table stating the number of major rules and the number
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1 of nonmajor rules issued by each agency in the preceding

2 fiscal year.

3 (e) YEARS COVERED BY ACCOUNTING STATEMENT.—

4 Each accounting statement submitted under this section

5 shall, at a minimum—

6 (1) cover expected costs and benefits for the fiscal

7 year for which the statement is submitted and each of

8 the 4 fiscal years following that fiscal year;

9 (2) cover previously expected costs and benefits

10 for each of the 2 fiscal years preceding the fiscal year

11 for which the statement is submitted, or the most re12 cent revision of such costs and benefits; and

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

14 estimates of costs and benefits for each of the fiscal

15 years referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) that were

16 included in the regulatory impact analysis that was

17 prepared for the major rule.

18 (f) DELAYED APPLICATION OF CERTAIN REQUIRE19 MENTS.—

20 (1) APPLICATION AFTER FIRST STATEMENT.—

21 The following requirements shall not apply to the first

22 accounting statement submitted under this section:

23 (A) The requirement under subsection (a)(2)

24 to include estimates with respect to program

25 components.
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1 (B) The requirement under subsection

2 (b)(2).

3 (2) APPLICATION AFTER SECOND STATEMENT.—

4 The requirement under subsection (b)(1) to include

5 analyses of impacts on wages, consumer prices, and

6 economic growth shall not apply to the first and sec7 ond accounting statements submitted under this sec8 tion.

9 SEC. 5. NOTICE AND COMMENT.

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

11 statement and the associated report to Congress under sec12 tion 4, and before preparing final guidelines under section

13 6, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget

14 shall—

15 (1) provide public notice and an opportunity of

16 at least 60 days for submission of comments on the

17 statement and report or guidelines, respectively; and

18 (2) consult with the Director of the Congressional

19 Budget Office on the statement and report or guide20 lines, respectively.

21 (b) APPENDIX.—After consideration of the comments,

22 the Director shall include an appendix to the report or

23 guidelines, respectively, addressing the public comments

24 and peer review comments under section 7.
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1 (c) AVAILABILITY OF PEER REVIEW COMMENTS.—To

2 ensure openness, the Director shall make all final peer re3 view comments available in their entirety to the public.

4 SEC. 6. GUIDELINES FROM THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT

5 AND BUDGET.

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

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

8 Management and Budget, in consultation with the Council

9 of Economic Advisers, shall issue guidelines to agencies to

10 standardize—

11 (1) most plausible measures of costs and benefits;

12 (2) the means of gathering information used to

13 prepare accounting statements under this Act, includ14 ing information required for impact analyses re15 quired under section 4(b)(1); and

16 (3) the format of information provided for ac17 counting statements, including summary tables.

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

19 from the agencies to ensure consistency with the guidelines

20 under this section.

21 SEC. 7. PEER REVIEW.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of Man23 agement and Budget shall arrange for 2 or more persons

24 that have nationally recognized expertise in regulatory

25 analysis and regulatory accounting and that are inde-
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1 pendent of and external to the Government, to provide peer

2 review of each accounting statement and associated report

3 under section 4 and the guidelines under section 6 before

4 the statement, report, or guidelines are final.

5 (b) WRITTEN COMMENTS.—The peer review under this

6 section shall provide written comments to the Director in

7 a timely manner. The Director shall use the peer review

8 comments in preparing the final statements, associated re9 ports, and guidelines.

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

11 be subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C.

12 App.).

13 (d) BALANCE AND INDEPENDENCE.—The Director

14 shall ensure that—

15 (1) the persons that provide peer review under

16 subsection (a) are fairly balanced with respect to the

17 points of view represented;

18 (2) no person that provides peer review under

19 subsection (a) has a conflict of interest that is rel20 evant to the functions to be performed in the review;

21 and

22 (3) the comments provided by those persons—

23 (A) are not inappropriately influenced by

24 any special interest; and

25 (B) are the result of independent judgment.

Union Calendar No. 93

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1074

[Report No. 106–168]

A BILL

To provide Governmentwide accounting of regulatory costs and benefits, and for other purposes.

JUNE 7, 1999

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,