106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1074

AN ACT

To provide Governmentwide accounting of regulatory costs and benefits, and for other purposes.
106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1074

AN ACT

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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Regulatory Right-to3 Know Act of 1999’’.

4 SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

5 The purposes of this Act are to—

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

7 costs and benefits of Federal regulatory programs

8 and rules;

9 (2) increase Government accountability; and

10 (3) improve the quality of Federal regulatory

11 programs and rules.

12 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

13 In this Act:

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro15 vided in this section, the definitions under section

16 551 of title 5, United States Code, shall apply to

17 this Act.

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

19 reasonably identifiable significant favorable effects,

20 quantifiable and nonquantifiable, including social,

21 health, safety, environmental, and economic effects,

22 that are expected to result from implementation of,

23 or compliance with, a rule.

24 (3) COST.—The term ‘‘cost’’ means the reason25 ably identifiable significant adverse effects, quantifi26 able and nonquantifiable, including social, health,
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1 safety, environmental, and economic effects, that are

2 expected to result from implementation of, or com3 pliance with, a rule.

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

5 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg6 et.

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

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

9 title 5, United States Code.

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

11 rule’’ means any rule, as that term is defined in sec12 tion 804(3) of title 5, United States Code, other

13 than a major rule.

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

15 the meaning given the term ‘‘collection of informa16 tion’’ under section 3502 of title 44, United States

17 Code.

18 (8) PROGRAM COMPONENT.—The term ‘‘pro19 gram component’’ means a set of related rules.

20 SEC. 4. ACCOUNTING STATEMENT.

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

22 and on the first Monday in February of each year there23 after, the President, acting through the Director of the

24 Office of Management and Budget, shall prepare and sub25 mit to the Congress an accounting statement and associ-
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1 ated report containing an estimate of the total annual

2 costs and benefits of Federal regulatory programs, includ3 ing rules and paperwork—

4 (1) in the aggregate;

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

6 component; and

7 (3) by major rule.

8 (b) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.—In addition to the

9 information required under subsection (a), the Director

10 shall include in each accounting statement under sub11 section (a) the following information:

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

13 paperwork on Federal, State, local, and tribal gov14 ernment, the private sector, small business, wages,

15 consumer prices, economic growth as well as on pub16 lic health, public safety, the environment, consumer

17 protection, equal opportunity, and other public policy

18 goals.

19 (2) An identification and analysis of overlaps,

20 duplications, and potential inconsistencies among

21 Federal regulatory programs.

22 (3) Recommendations to reform inefficient or

23 ineffective regulatory programs or program compo24 nents, including recommendations for addressing

25 market failures that are not adequately addressed by
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1 existing regulatory programs or program compo2 nents.

3 (c) NET BENEFITS AND COSTS.—To the extent fea4 sible, the Director shall, in estimates contained in any sub5 mission under subsection (a), quantify the net benefits or

6 net costs of—

7 (1) each program component covered by the

8 submission;

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

10 and

11 (3) each option for which costs and benefits

12 were included in any regulatory impact analysis

13 issued for any major rule covered by the submission.

14 (d) SUMMARY OF REGULATORY ACTIVITY.—The Di15 rector shall include in each submission under subsection

16 (a) a table stating the number of major rules and the

17 number of nonmajor rules issued by each agency in the

18 preceding fiscal year.

19 (e) YEARS COVERED BY ACCOUNTING STATE20 MENT.—Each accounting statement submitted under this

21 section shall, at a minimum—

22 (1) cover expected costs and benefits for the fis23 cal year for which the statement is submitted and

24 each of the 4 fiscal years following that fiscal year;
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1 (2) cover previously expected costs and benefits

2 for each of the 2 fiscal years preceding the fiscal

3 year for which the statement is submitted, or the

4 most recent revision of such costs and benefits; and

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

6 estimates of costs and benefits for each of the fiscal

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

8 were included in the regulatory impact analysis that

9 was prepared for the major rule.

10 (f) DELAYED APPLICATION OF CERTAIN REQUIRE11 MENTS.—

12 (1) APPLICATION AFTER FIRST STATEMENT.—

13 The following requirements shall not apply to the

14 first accounting statement submitted under this sec15 tion:

16 (A) The requirement under subsection

17 (a)(2) to include estimates with respect to pro18 gram components.

19 (B) The requirement under subsection

20 (b)(2).

21 (2) APPLICATION AFTER SECOND STATE22 MENT.—The requirement under subsection (b)(1) to

23 include analyses of impacts on wages, consumer

24 prices, economic growth, public health, public safety,

25 the environment, consumer protection, equal oppor-
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1 tunity, and other public policy goals shall not apply

2 to the first and second accounting statements sub3 mitted under this section.

4 SEC. 5. NOTICE AND COMMENT.

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

6 statement and the associated report to Congress under

7 section 4, and before preparing final guidelines under sec8 tion 6, the Director of the Office of Management and

9 Budget shall—

10 (1) provide public notice and an opportunity of

11 at least 60 days for submission of comments on the

12 statement and report or guidelines, respectively; and

13 (2) consult with the Director of the Congres14 sional Budget Office on the statement and report or

15 guidelines, respectively.

16 (b) APPENDIX.—After consideration of the com17 ments, the Director shall include an appendix to the report

18 or guidelines, respectively, addressing the public comments

19 and peer review comments under section 7.

20 (c) AVAILABILITY OF PEER REVIEW COMMENTS.—

21 To ensure openness, the Director shall make all final peer

22 review comments available in their entirety to the public.
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1 SEC. 6. GUIDELINES FROM THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT

2 AND BUDGET.

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

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

5 of Management and Budget, in consultation with the

6 Council of Economic Advisers, shall issue guidelines to

7 agencies to standardize—

8 (1) most plausible measures of costs and bene9 fits;

10 (2) the means of gathering information used to

11 prepare accounting statements under this Act, in12 cluding information required for impact analyses re13 quired under section 4(b)(1); and

14 (3) the format of information provided for ac15 counting statements, including summary tables.

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

17 from the agencies to ensure consistency with the guide18 lines under this section.

19 SEC. 7. PEER REVIEW.

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

21 Management and Budget shall arrange for two or more

22 persons that have nationally recognized expertise in regu23 latory analysis and regulatory accounting and that are

24 independent of and external to the Government, to provide

25 peer review of each accounting statement and associated
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1 report under section 4 and the guidelines under section

2 6 before the statement, report, or guidelines are final.

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

4 this section shall provide written comments to the Director

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

6 comments in preparing the final statements, associated re7 ports, and guidelines.

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

9 be subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5

10 U.S.C. App.).

11 (d) BALANCE AND INDEPENDENCE.—The Director

12 shall ensure that—

13 (1) the persons that provide peer review under

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

15 points of view represented;

16 (2) no person that provides peer review under

17 subsection (a) has a conflict of interest that is rel18 evant to the functions to be performed in the review;

19 and

20 (3) the comments provided by those persons—

21 (A) are not inappropriately influenced by

22 any special interest; and

23 (B) are the result of independent judg24 ment.
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1 SEC. 8. SPECIAL RULES RELATING TO CERTAIN FEDERAL

2 BANKING AGENCIES AND MONETARY POLICY.

3 (a) TRANSFER OF AUTHORITY AND DUTIES OF DI4 RECTOR.—The head of each Federal banking agency (as

5 that term is defined in section 3(z) of the Federal Deposit

6 Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(z)) and the National Cred7 it Union Administration, and not the Director, shall exer8 cise all authority and carry out all duties otherwise vested

9 under this Act in the Director with respect to that agency,

10 other than the authority and duty to submit accounting

11 statements and reports under section 4(a). The head of

12 each such agency shall submit to the Director all estimates

13 and other information required by this Act to be included

14 in such statements and reports with respect to that agen15 cy.

16 (b) EXCLUSION OF MONETARY POLICY.—No provi17 sion of this Act shall apply to any matter relating to mone18 tary policy that is proposed or promulgated by the Board

19 of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or the Fed20 eral Open Market Committee.

Passed the House of Representatives July 26, 1999.

Attest:

Clerk.