II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 511

To require the periodic review and automatic termination of Federal

regulations.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 7 (legislative day, MARCH 6), 1995

Mr. DOMENICI (for himself and Mr. ABRAHAM) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To require the periodic review and automatic termination

of Federal regulations.

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 Sunset and

5 Review Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

7 The purposes of this Act are the following:

8 (1) To require agencies to regularly review their

9 regulations and make recommendations to termi-
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1 nate, continue in effect, modify, or consolidate those

2 regulations.

3 (2) To require agencies to submit those rec4 ommendations to the Administrator of the Office of

5 Information and Regulatory Affairs and to the Con6 gress.

7 (3) To provide for the automatic termination of

8 regulations that are not continued in effect after

9 such review.

10 (4) To designate a Regulatory Review Officer

11 within each agency, who is responsible for the imple12 mentation of this Act by the agency.

13 SEC. 3. REVIEW AND TERMINATION OF REGULATIONS.

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection

15 (c), the effectiveness of a regulation issued by an agency

16 shall terminate on the applicable termination date under

17 subsection (b), and the regulation shall have no force or

18 effect after that termination date, unless the head of the

19 agency—

20 (1) reviews the regulation in accordance with

21 section 4;

22 (2) after the review, and at least 120 days be23 fore that termination date, submits in accordance

24 with section 5(a) a preliminary report on the find-
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1 ings and proposed recommendations of that review

2 in accordance with section 5(a)(2);

3 (3) reviews and considers comments regarding

4 the preliminary report that are transmitted to the

5 agency by the Administrator and appropriate com6 mittees of the Congress during the 60-day period be7 ginning on the date of submission of the preliminary

8 report; and

9 (4) after the 60-day period beginning on the

10 date of submission of the preliminary report to the

11 Congress, but not later than 60 days before that ter12 mination date, submits to the President, the Admin13 istrator, and the Congress, and publishes in the Fed14 eral Register—

15 (A) a final report on the review under sec16 tion 4 in accordance with section 5(a)(3), and

17 (B) a notice extending the effectiveness of

18 the regulation, with or without modifications, as

19 of the end of the 60-day period beginning on

20 the date of that publication.

21 (b) TERMINATION DATES.—For purposes of sub22 section (a), the termination date of a regulation is as

23 follows:

24 (1) EXISTING REGULATIONS.—For a regulation

25 in effect on the date of the enactment of the Act,
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1 the termination date is the last day of the 7-year pe2 riod beginning on the date of the enactment of this

3 Act.

4 (2) NEW REGULATIONS.—For a regulation that

5 first takes effect after the date of the enactment of

6 this Act, the termination date is the last day of the

7 5-year period beginning on the date the regulation

8 takes effect.

9 (3) REGULATIONS CONTINUED IN EFFECT.—

10 For a regulation the effectiveness of which is ex11 tended under subsection (a), the termination date is

12 the last day of the 7-year period beginning on the

13 date of publication of a notice under subsection

14 (a)(4) for that extension.

15 (c) TEMPORARY EXTENSION.—The termination date

16 under subsection (b) for a regulation may be delayed by

17 not more than 6 months by the head of the agency that

18 issued the regulation if the agency head submits to the

19 Congress and publishes in the Federal Register a prelimi20 nary report that describes modifications that should be

21 made to the regulation.

22 (d) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAW.—Section 553 of

23 title 5, United States Code, shall not apply to the exten24 sion or modification of a regulation in accordance with this

25 Act.
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1 SEC. 4. REVIEW OF REGULATIONS BY AGENCY.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The head of each agency shall,

3 under the criteria set forth in subsection (b)—

4 (1) conduct thorough and systematic reviews of

5 all regulations issued by the agency to determine if

6 those regulations are obsolete, inconsistent, or dupli7 cative or impede competition; and

8 (2) issue reports on the findings of those re9 views, which contain recommendations for—

10 (A) terminating or extending the effective11 ness of those regulations;

12 (B) any appropriate modifications to a reg13 ulation recommended to be extended; or

14 (C) any appropriate consolidations of regu15 lations.

16 (b) CRITERIA FOR REVIEW.—The head of an agency

17 shall review, make recommendations, and terminate or ex18 tend the effectiveness of a regulation under this section

19 under the following criteria:

20 (1) The extent to which the regulation is out21 dated, obsolete, or unnecessary.

22 (2) The extent to which the regulation or infor23 mation required to comply with the regulation dupli24 cates, conflicts with, or overlaps requirements under

25 regulations of other agencies.
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1 (3) The extent to which the regulation impedes

2 competition.

3 (4) Whether the benefits to society from the

4 regulation exceed the costs to society from the regu5 lation.

6 (5) Whether the regulation is based on ade7 quate and correct information.

8 (6) Whether the regulation is worded as simply

9 and clearly as possible.

10 (7) Whether the most cost-efficient alternative

11 was chosen in the regulation to achieve the objective

12 of the regulation.

13 (8) The extent to which information require14 ments under the regulation can be reduced, particu15 larly for small businesses.

16 (9) Whether the regulation is fashioned to

17 maximize net benefits to society.

18 (10) Whether the regulation is clear and certain

19 regarding who is required to comply with the regula20 tion.

21 (11) Whether the regulation maximizes the util22 ity of market mechanisms to the extent feasible.

23 (12) Whether the condition of the economy and

24 of regulated industries is considered.
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1 (13) Whether the regulation imposes on the pri2 vate sector the minimum economic burdens nec3 essary to achieve the purposes of the regulation.

4 (14) Whether the total effect of the regulation

5 across agencies has been examined.

6 (15) Whether the regulation is crafted to mini7 mize needless litigation.

8 (16) Whether the regulation is necessary to

9 protect the health and safety of the public.

10 (17) Whether the regulation has resulted in un11 intended consequences.

12 (18) Whether performance standards or other

13 alternatives were utilized to provide adequate flexi14 bility to the regulated industries.

15 (c) REQUIREMENT TO SOLICIT COMMENTS FROM

16 THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR.—In reviewing regu17 lations under this section, the head of an agency shall pub18 lish in the Federal Register a solicitation of comments

19 from the public (including the private sector) regarding

20 the application of the criteria set forth in subsection (b)

21 to the regulation, and shall consider such comments, be22 fore making determinations under this section and sending

23 a report under section 5(a) regarding a regulation.
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1 SEC. 5. AGENCY REPORTS.

2 (a) PRELIMINARY AND FINAL REPORTS ON REVIEWS

3 OF REGULATIONS.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The head of an agency shall

5 submit to the President, the Administrator, and the

6 Congress and publish in the Federal Register a pre7 liminary report and a final report for each review of

8 a regulation under section 4.

9 (2) PRELIMINARY REPORT.—A preliminary re10 port shall contain—

11 (A) specific findings of the agency regard12 ing—

13 (i) application of the criteria set forth

14 in section 4(b) to the regulation;

15 (ii) the need for the function of the

16 regulation; and

17 (iii) whether the regulation duplicates

18 functions of another regulation; and

19 (B) proposed recommendations on

20 whether—

21 (i) the effectiveness of the regulation

22 should terminate or be extended;

23 (ii) the regulation should be modified;

24 and

25 (iii) the regulation should be consoli26 dated with another regulation.
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1 (3) FINAL REPORT.—A final report on the find2 ings and recommendations of the agency head re3 garding extension of the effectiveness of the regula4 tion and any appropriate modifications to the regu5 lation shall include—

6 (A) a full justification of the decision to

7 extend and, if applicable, modify the regulation;

8 and

9 (B) the basis for all determinations made

10 with respect to that extension or modification

11 under the criteria set forth in section 4(b).

12 (b) REPORT ON SCHEDULE FOR REVIEWING EXIST13 ING REGULATIONS.—Not later than 100 days after the

14 date of the enactment of this Act, and on or before March

15 1, annually thereafter, the head of each agency shall sub16 mit to the Administrator and the Congress and publish

17 in the Federal Register a report stating a schedule for

18 the review of regulations in accordance with this Act. The

19 schedule shall identify the review actions intended to be

20 conducted during the calendar year in which such report

21 is submitted.

22 SEC. 6. FUNCTIONS OF ADMINISTRATOR.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator shall—
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1 (1) review and evaluate each report submitted

2 by the head of an agency under section 5(a), regard3 ing—

4 (A) the quality of the analysis in the re5 ports;

6 (B) whether the agency has properly ap7 plied the criteria set forth in section 4(b); and

8 (C) the consistency of the agency action

9 with actions of other agencies; and

10 (2) transmit to the head of the agency the rec11 ommendations of the Administrator regarding the

12 report.

13 (b) GUIDANCE.—The Administrator shall provide

14 guidance to agencies on the conduct of reviews and the

15 preparation of reports under this Act.

16 SEC. 7. DESIGNATION OF AGENCY REGULATORY REVIEW

17 OFFICERS.

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The head of each agency shall

19 designate an officer of the agency as the Regulatory Re20 view Officer of the agency.

21 (b) FUNCTIONS.—The Regulatory Review Officer of

22 an agency shall—

23 (1) be responsible for the implementation of

24 this Act by the agency; and
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1 (2) report directly to the head of the agency

2 with respect to that responsibility.

3 SEC. 8. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

4 (a) LIMITATION OF ACTION.—Notwithstanding any

5 other provision of law, an action seeking judicial review

6 of an agency action under this Act extending, terminating,

7 modifying, or consolidating a regulation shall not be

8 brought after the 30-day period beginning on the date of

9 the publication of a notice under section 3(a)(4) for that

10 action.

11 (b) SCOPE OF REVIEW.—Agency compliance or non12 compliance with the provisions of this Act shall be subject

13 to judicial review only pursuant to section 706(1) of title

14 5, United States Code.

15 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS.

16 For purposes of this Act:

17 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis18 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Office.

19 (2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the

20 meaning given that term in section 551(1) of title 5,

21 United States Code.

22 (3) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEE OF THE CON23 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committee of the

24 Congress’’ means with respect to a regulation each

25 standing committee of the Congress having authority
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1 under the rules of the House of Representatives or

2 the Senate to report a bill to enact or amend the

3 provision of law under which the regulation is

4 issued.

5 (4) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the Of6 fice of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Of7 fice of Management and Budget.

8 (5) REGULATION.—The term ‘‘regulation’’

9 means the whole or a part of an agency statement

10 of general or particular applicability and future ef11 fect designed to implement, interpret, or prescribe

12 law or policy, other than such a statement to carry

13 out a routine administrative function of an agency.

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