I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2776 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 22, 2013 

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois (for himself, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. PETERSON, 

Mr. HUDSON, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. CRAWFORD, Mr. RIBBLE, Mr. AUSTIN

SCOTT of Georgia, Mrs. ROBY, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. VALADAO, Mr. 

COLLINS of New York, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. YOHO, 

Mr. SCHRADER, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. ENYART, 

Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. DESJARLAIS, Mr. FINCHER, Mr. 

CONAWAY, and Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Review EPA’s Lan5 guage on Agriculture and Thoroughly Engage with the 


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1 Farm Act of 2013’’ or the ‘‘RELATE with the Farm Act 

2 of 2013’’. 

3 SEC. 2. REGULATORY REVIEW BY THE SECRETARY OF AG4 RICULTURE. 

5 (a) REVIEW OF REGULATORY AGENDA.—The Sec6 retary of Agriculture shall review publications that may 

7 give notice that the Environmental Protection Agency is 

8 preparing or plans to prepare any guidance, policy, memo9 randum, regulation, or statement of general applicability 

10 and future effect that may have a significant impact on 

11 a substantial number of agricultural entities, including— 

12 (1) any regulatory agenda of the Environmental 

13 Protection Agency published pursuant to section 602 

14 of title 5, United States Code; 

15 (2) any regulatory plan or agenda published by 

16 the Environmental Protection Agency or the Office 

17 of Management and Budget pursuant to an Execu18 tive order, including Executive Order 12866; and 

19 (3) any other publication issued by the Environ20 mental Protection Agency or the Office of Manage21 ment and Budget that may reasonably be foreseen 

22 to contain notice of plans by the Environmental Pro23 tection Agency to prepare any guidance, policy, 

24 memorandum, regulation, or statement of general 

25 applicability and future effect that may have a sigVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:03 Jul 24, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2776.IH H2776

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1 nificant impact on a substantial number of agricul2 tural entities. 

3 (b) INFORMATION GATHERING.—For a publication 

4 item reviewed under subsection (a) that the Secretary de5 termines may have a significant impact on a substantial 

6 number of agricultural entities, the Secretary shall— 

7 (1) solicit from the Administrator of the Envi8 ronmental Protection Agency any information the 

9 Administrator may provide to facilitate a review of 

10 the publication item; 

11 (2) utilize the Chief Economist of the Depart12 ment of Agriculture to produce an economic impact 

13 statement for the publication item that contains a 

14 detailed estimate of potential costs to agricultural 

15 entities; 

16 (3) identify individuals representative of poten17 tially affected agricultural entities for the purpose of 

18 obtaining advice and recommendations from such in19 dividuals about the potential impacts of the publica20 tion item; and 

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

22 publication item that includes the Secretary, any 

23 full-time Federal employee of the Department of Ag24 riculture appointed to the panel by the Secretary, 

25 and any employee of the Environmental Protection 


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1 Agency or the Office of Information and Regulatory 

2 Affairs within the Office of Management and Budget 

3 that accepts an invitation from the Secretary to par4 ticipate in the panel. 

5 (c) DUTIES OF THE REVIEW PANEL.—A review panel 

6 convened for a publication item under subsection (b)(4) 

7 shall— 

8 (1) review any information or material obtained 

9 by the Secretary and prepared in connection with 

10 the publication item, including any draft proposed 

11 guidance, policy, memorandum, regulation, or state12 ment of general applicability and future effect; 

13 (2) collect advice and recommendations from 

14 agricultural entity representatives identified by the 

15 Administrator after consultation with the Secretary; 

16 (3) compile and analyze such advice and rec17 ommendations; and 

18 (4) make recommendations to the Secretary 

19 based on the information gathered by the review 

20 panel or provided by agricultural entity representa21 tives. 

22 (d) COMMENTS.— 

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

24 the date the Secretary convenes a review panel pur25 suant to subsection (b)(4), the Secretary shall subVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:03 Jul 24, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2776.IH H2776

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1 mit to the Administrator comments on the planned 

2 or proposed guidance, policy, memorandum, regula3 tion, or statement of general applicability and future 

4 effect for consideration and inclusion in any related 

5 administrative record, including— 

6 (A) a report by the Secretary on the con7 cerns of agricultural entities; 

8 (B) the findings of the review panel; 

9 (C) the findings of the Secretary, including 

10 any adopted findings of the review panel; and 

11 (D) recommendations of the Secretary. 

12 (2) PUBLICATION.—The Secretary shall publish 

13 the comments in the Federal Register and make the 

14 comments available to the public on the public Inter15 net website of the Department of Agriculture. 

16 (e) WAIVERS.—The Secretary may waive initiation of 

17 the review panel under subsection (b)(4) as the Secretary 

18 determines appropriate. 

19 (f) DEFINITION OF AGRICULTURAL ENTITY.—In this 

20 section, the term ‘‘agricultural entity’’ means any entity 

21 involved in or related to agricultural enterprise, including 

22 enterprises that are engaged in the business of production 

23 of food and fiber, ranching and raising of livestock, aquaVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:03 Jul 24, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2776.IH H2776

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1 culture, and all other farming and agricultural related in2 dustries. 

Æ 


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