II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 219

To ensure economy and efficiency of Federal Government operations by establishing a moratorium on regulatory rulemaking actions, and for other

purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 12 (legislative day, JANUARY 10), 1995

Mr. NICKLES (for himself, Mr. BOND, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. DOLE, Mr.

GRASSLEY, Mr. ASHCROFT, Mr. COVERDELL, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr.

THOMPSON, Mr. BURNS, Mr. SHELBY, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr.

FAIRCLOTH, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. SMITH, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. CRAIG, Mr.

COATS, Mr. SANTORUM, Mr. MACK, Mr. GREGG, Mr. MURKOWSKI, Mr.

LOTT, Mr. KYL, Mr. THURMOND, Mr. HATCH, Mr. HELMS, Mr. INHOFE,

Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. GRAMM, Mr. FRIST, Mr. GRAMS, Mr. BENNETT, and

Mr. KEMPTHORNE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice

and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To ensure economy and efficiency of Federal Government

operations by establishing a moratorium on regulatory

rulemaking actions, 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 Transition

5 Act of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDING.

2 The Congress finds that effective steps for improving

3 the efficiency and proper management of Government op4 erations will be promoted if a moratorium on new rule

5 making actions is imposed and an inventory of such ac6 tions is conducted.

7 SEC. 3. MORATORIUM ON REGULATIONS.

8 (a) MORATORIUM.—During the moratorium period, a

9 Federal agency may not take any regulatory rulemaking

10 action, unless permitted under section 5. Beginning 30

11 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the effective12 ness of any regulatory rulemaking action taken during the

13 moratorium period but before the date of the enactment

14 shall be suspended until July 1, 1995, unless an exception

15 is provided under section 5.

16 (b) INVENTORY OF RULEMAKING.—Not later than 30

17 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the President

18 shall conduct an inventory and publish in the Federal Reg19 ister a list of all regulatory rulemaking actions covered

20 by subsection (a) and pending on the date of enactment.

21 SEC. 4. SPECIAL RULE ON STATUTORY, REGULATORY AND

22 JUDICIAL DEADLINES.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any deadline for, relating to, or

24 involving any action dependent upon, any regulatory rule25 making action authorized or required to be taken before

26 the end of the moratorium period is extended.
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1 (b) EXTENSION PERIOD.—Any deadline covered by

2 subsection (a) shall be extended for 5 months or until July

3 1, 1995, whichever is later.

4 (c) DEADLINE DEFINED.—The term ‘‘deadline’’

5 means any date certain for fulfilling any obligation or ex6 ercising any authority established by or under any Federal

7 statute or regulation, or by or under any court order im8 plementing any Federal statute or regulation.

9 (d) IDENTIFICATION OF POSTPONED DEADLINES.—

10 Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this

11 Act, the President shall identify and publish in the Fed12 eral Register a list of deadlines covered by subsection (a).

13 SEC. 5. EMERGENCY EXCEPTIONS; EXCLUSIONS.

14 (a) EMERGENCY EXCEPTION.—Section 3(a) or 4(a),

15 or both, shall not apply to a regulatory rulemaking action

16 if—

17 (1) the head of a Federal agency otherwise au18 thorized to take the action submits a written request

19 to the President, and a copy thereof to the appro20 priate committees of each house of the Congress;

21 and

22 (2) the President finds, by Executive Order,

23 that a waiver for the action is—
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1 (A) necessary because of an imminent

2 threat to health or safety or other emergency;

3 or

4 (B) necessary for the enforcement of crimi5 nal laws; and

6 (3) the Federal agency head publishes the find7 ing and waiver in the Federal Register.

8 (b) EXCLUSIONS.—The head of an agency shall pub9 lish in the Federal Register any action excluded because

10 of a certification under section 6(3)(B).

11 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

12 For purposes of this Act—

13 (1) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal

14 agency’’ means any ‘‘agency’’ as that term is defined

15 in section 551(1) of title 5, United States Code (re16 lating to administrative procedure).

17 (2) MORATORIUM PERIOD.—The term ‘‘morato18 rium period’’ means that period of time beginning

19 November 9, 1994, and ending June 30, 1995.

20 (3) REGULATORY RULEMAKING ACTION.—

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘regulatory

22 rulemaking action’’ means any rule making (as

23 defined in section 551(5) of title 5, United

24 States Code) on any rule normally published in

25 the Federal Register, including—
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1 (i) the issuance of any substantive

2 rule, interpretative rule, statement of agen3 cy policy, notice of inquiry, advance notice

4 of proposed rulemaking, or notice of pro5 posed rulemaking, and

6 (ii) any other action taken in the

7 course of the process of rulemaking (except

8 a cost benefit analysis or risk assessment,

9 or both).

10 (B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘regulatory

11 rulemaking action’’ does not include—

12 (i) any agency action that the head of

13 the agency certifies is limited to repealing,

14 narrowing, or streamlining a rule, regula15 tion, or administrative process, to issuing

16 or promulgating a rule required to make

17 effective tax relief provided by statute, or

18 otherwise reducing regulatory burdens; or

19 (ii) any action that the head of the

20 agency certifies is limited to matters relat21 ing to military or foreign affairs functions

22 or agency management, personnel, or pub23 lic property, loans, grants, benefits or con24 tracts.
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1 (4) RULE.—The term ‘‘rule’’ means the whole

2 or a part of an agency statement of general or par3 ticular applicability and future effect designed to im4 plement, interpret, or prescribe law or policy. Such

5 term does not include the approval or prescription,

6 on a case-by-case or consolidated case basis, for the

7 future of rates, wages, corporate or financial struc8 tures or reorganization thereof, prices, facilities, ap9 pliances, services or allowances therefor or of valu10 ations, costs, or accounting, or practices bearing on

11 any of the foregoing. Such term also does not in12 clude the granting of an application for a license,

13 registration, or similar authority, granting or rec14 ognizing an exemption, granting a variance or peti15 tion for relief from a regulatory requirement, or

16 other action relieving a restriction, or adopting a

17 rule necessary to permit new or improved applica18 tions of technology.

19 SEC. 7. CIVIL ACTION.

20 In addition to any remedy otherwise available, who21 ever is adversely affected by any conduct of a Federal

22 agency in violation of section 3 or 4 may in civil action

23 against that agency obtain appropriate relief. The court

24 may award a prevailing plaintiff in an action under this

25 section reasonable attorney’s fees.
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1 SEC. 8. SEVERABILITY.

2 (a) APPLICABILITY.—This Act shall apply notwith3 standing any other provision of law.

4 (b) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act, or

5 the application of any provision of this Act to any person

6 or circumstance, is held invalid, the application of such

7 provision to other persons or circumstances, and the re8 mainder of this Act, shall not be affected thereby.

Æ