II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1466 

To establish a regulatory review process for rules that the Administrator 

of the Environmental Protection Agency plans to propose, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 1, 2013 

Mr. KIRK (for himself and Mr. MANCHIN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public 

Works 

A BILL 

To establish a regulatory review process for rules that the 

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency 

plans to propose, 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. REGULATORY REVIEW BY THE SECRETARY OF 

4 AGRICULTURE. 

5 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

6 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis7 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ8 mental Protection Agency. 


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1 (2) AGRICULTURAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘agri2 cultural entity’’ means an entity that is involved in 

3 or relates to agricultural enterprise, including an en4 terprise that is engaged in the business of— 

5 (A) producing food and fiber; 

6 (B) ranching and raising of livestock; 

7 (C) aquaculture; and 

8 (D) any other farming- and agriculture-re9 lated activities. 

10 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

11 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

12 (b) REVIEW OF REGULATORY AGENDA.—The Sec13 retary shall review each notice issued by the Administrator 

14 and published in the Federal Register relating to the prep15 aration of any guidance, policy, memorandum, regulation, 

16 or statement of general applicability and future effect that 

17 may have a significant impact on a substantial number 

18 of agricultural entities, including— 

19 (1) any regulatory agenda published by the Ad20 ministrator under section 602 of title 5, United 

21 States Code; 

22 (2) any regulation plan or agenda published by 

23 the Administrator or the Director of the Office of 

24 Management and Budget pursuant to an Executive 

25 order, including Executive Order 12866 (5 U.S.C. 


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1 601 note; relating to regulatory planning and re2 view); and 

3 (3) any other publication issued by the Admin4 istrator or the Director of the Office of Management 

5 and Budget that may reasonably be foreseen to con6 tain a notice of a plan by the Administrator to pre7 pare any guidance, policy, memorandum, regulation, 

8 or statement of general applicability and future ef9 fect that may have a significant impact on a sub10 stantial number of agricultural entities. 

11 (c) INFORMATION GATHERING.—For a publication 

12 item reviewed under subsection (b) that the Secretary de13 termines may have a significant impact on a substantial 

14 number of agricultural entities, the Secretary shall— 

15 (1) solicit from the Administrator any informa16 tion the Administrator may provide to facilitate a re17 view of the publication item; 

18 (2) acting through the Chief Economist of the 

19 Department of Agriculture, produce an economic im20 pact statement for the publication item that contains 

21 a detailed estimate of potential costs to agricultural 

22 entities; 

23 (3) identify individuals representative of poten24 tially affected agricultural entities for the purpose of 

25 obtaining advice and recommendations from those 


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1 individuals about the potential impacts of the publi2 cation item; and 

3 (4) convene a review panel for analysis of the 

4 publication item that includes the Secretary, any 

5 full-time Federal employee of the Department of Ag6 riculture appointed to the panel by the Secretary, 

7 and any employee of the Environmental Protection 

8 Agency or the Office of Information and Regulatory 

9 Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget 

10 that accepts an invitation from the Secretary to par11 ticipate in the panel. 

12 (d) DUTIES OF THE REVIEW PANEL.—A review 

13 panel convened for a publication item under subsection 

14 (c)(4) shall— 

15 (1) review any information or material obtained 

16 by the Secretary and prepared in connection with 

17 the publication item, including any draft proposed 

18 guidance, policy, memorandum, regulation, or state19 ment of general applicability and future effect; 

20 (2) collect advice and recommendations from 

21 agricultural entity representatives identified by the 

22 Administrator after consultation with the Secretary; 

23 (3) compile and analyze the advice and rec24 ommendations; and 


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1 (4) make recommendations to the Secretary 

2 based on the information gathered by the review 

3 panel or provided by agricultural entity representa4 tives. 

5 (e) COMMENTS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 

7 the date on which the Secretary convenes a review 

8 panel under subsection (c)(4), the Secretary shall 

9 submit to the Administrator comments on the 

10 planned or proposed guidance, policy, memorandum, 

11 regulation, or statement of general applicability and 

12 future effect for consideration and inclusion in any 

13 related administrative record, including— 

14 (A) a report by the Secretary on the con15 cerns of agricultural entities; 

16 (B) the findings of the review panel; 

17 (C) the findings of the Secretary, including 

18 any adopted findings of the review panel; and 

19 (D) recommendations of the Secretary. 

20 (2) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary shall publish 

21 the comments under paragraph (1) in the Federal 

22 Register and make the comments available to the 

23 public on the public Internet site of the Department 

24 of Agriculture. 


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1 (f) WAIVERS.—The Secretary may waive initiation of 

2 the review panel under subsection (c)(4) as the Secretary 

3 determines appropriate. 

Æ 


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