IB 

Union Calendar No. 262 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2804 

[Report No. 113–354, Part I] 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to require the Administrator of the 

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to publish information 

about rules on the Internet, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 24, 2013 

Mr. HOLDING (for himself, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. COBLE, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, 

Mr. CHABOT, Mr. MARINO, Mr. COLLINS of Georgia, Mr. SMITH of Missouri, and Mr. LAMALFA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in 

addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

FEBRUARY 21, 2014 

Additional sponsors: Mr. MEADOWS and Mr. GOSAR

FEBRUARY 21, 2014 

Reported from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform with an 

amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on July 24, 2013] 

FEBRUARY 21, 2014 

The Committee on the Judiciary discharged; committed to the Committee of 

the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


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A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to require the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to publish information about rules on the Internet, 

and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘All Economic Regula5 tions are Transparent Act of 2014’’ or the ‘‘ALERT Act 

6 of 2014’’. 

7 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AF8 FAIRS PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION RE9 LATING TO RULES. 

10 (a) AMENDMENT.—Title 5, United States Code, is 

11 amended by inserting after chapter 6, the following new 

12 chapter: 

13 ‘‘CHAPTER 6A—OFFICE OF INFORMATION 

14 AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS PUBLICA15 TION OF INFORMATION RELATING TO 

16 RULES 

‘‘Sec. 

‘‘651. Agency monthly submission to Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. 

‘‘652. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Publications. 

‘‘653. Requirement for rules to appear in agency-specific monthly publication. 

‘‘654. Definitions. 

17 ‘‘§ 651. Agency monthly submission to Office of Infor18 mation and Regulatory Affairs 

19 ‘‘On a monthly basis, the head of each agency shall 

20 submit to the Administrator of the Office of Information 

21 and Regulatory Affairs (referred to in this chapter as the 

22 ‘Administrator’), in such a manner as the Administrator 

23 may reasonably require, the following information: 


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1 ‘‘(1) For each rule that the agency expects to 

2 propose or finalize during the following year: 

3 ‘‘(A) A summary of the nature of the rule, 

4 including the regulation identifier number and 

5 the docket number for the rule. 

6 ‘‘(B) The objectives of and legal basis for the 

7 issuance of the rule, including— 

8 ‘‘(i) any statutory or judicial deadline; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(ii) whether the legal basis restricts or 

11 precludes the agency from conducting an 

12 analysis of the costs or benefits of the rule 

13 during the rule making, and if not, whether 

14 the agency plans to conduct an analysis of 

15 the costs or benefits of the rule during the 

16 rule making. 

17 ‘‘(C) Whether the agency plans to claim an 

18 exemption from the requirements of section 553 

19 pursuant to section 553(b)(B). 

20 ‘‘(D) The stage of the rule making as of the 

21 date of submission. 

22 ‘‘(E) Whether the rule is subject to review 

23 under section 610. 


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1 ‘‘(2) For any rule for which the agency expects 

2 to finalize during the following year and has issued 

3 a general notice of proposed rule making— 

4 ‘‘(A) an approximate schedule for com5 pleting action on the rule; 

6 ‘‘(B) an estimate of whether the rule will 

7 cost— 

8 ‘‘(i) less than $50,000,000; 

9 ‘‘(ii) $50,000,000 or more but less than 

10 $100,000,000; 

11 ‘‘(iii) $100,000,000 or more but less 

12 than $500,000,000; 

13 ‘‘(iv) $500,000,000 or more but less 

14 than $1,000,000,000; 

15 ‘‘(v) $1,000,000,000 or more but less 

16 than $5,000,000,000; 

17 ‘‘(vi) $5,000,000,000 or more but less 

18 than $10,000,000,000; or 

19 ‘‘(vii) $10,000,000,000 or more; and 

20 ‘‘(C) any estimate of the economic effects of 

21 the rule, including any estimate of the net effect 

22 that the rule will have on the number of jobs in 

23 the United States, that was considered in draft24 ing the rule. If such estimate is not available, a 

25 statement affirming that no information on the 


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1 economic effects, including the effect on the num2 ber of jobs, of the rule has been considered. 

3 ‘‘§ 652. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs 

4 Publications 

5 ‘‘(a) AGENCY-SPECIFIC INFORMATION PUBLISHED

6 MONTHLY.—Not later than 30 days after the submission of 

7 information pursuant to section 651, the Administrator 

8 shall make such information publicly available on the Inter9 net. 

10 ‘‘(b) CUMULATIVE ASSESSMENT OF AGENCY RULE

11 MAKING PUBLISHED ANNUALLY.— 

12 ‘‘(1) PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REG13 ISTER.—Not later than October 1 of each year, the 

14 Administrator shall publish in the Federal Register, 

15 for the previous year the following: 

16 ‘‘(A) The information that the Adminis17 trator received from the head of each agency 

18 under section 651. 

19 ‘‘(B) The number of rules and a list of each 

20 such rule— 

21 ‘‘(i) that was proposed by each agency, 

22 including, for each such rule, an indication 

23 of whether the issuing agency conducted an 

24 analysis of the costs or benefits of the rule; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) that was finalized by each agen2 cy, including for each such rule an indica3 tion of whether— 

4 ‘‘(I) the issuing agency conducted 

5 an analysis of the costs or benefits of 

6 the rule; 

7 ‘‘(II) the agency claimed an ex8 emption from the procedures under sec9 tion 553 pursuant to section 553(b)(B); 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(III) the rule was issued pursu12 ant to a statutory mandate or the rule 

13 making is committed to agency discre14 tion by law. 

15 ‘‘(C) The number of agency actions and a 

16 list of each such action taken by each agency 

17 that— 

18 ‘‘(i) repealed a rule; 

19 ‘‘(ii) reduced the scope of a rule; 

20 ‘‘(iii) reduced the cost of a rule; or 

21 ‘‘(iv) accelerated the expiration date of 

22 a rule. 

23 ‘‘(D) The total cost (without reducing the 

24 cost by any offsetting benefits) of all rules pro25 posed or finalized, and the number of rules for 


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1 which an estimate of the cost of the rule was not 

2 available. 

3 ‘‘(2) PUBLICATION ON THE INTERNET.—Not later 

4 than October 1 of each year, the Administrator shall 

5 make publicly available on the Internet the following: 

6 ‘‘(A) The analysis of the costs or benefits, if 

7 conducted, for each proposed rule or final rule 

8 issued by an agency for the previous year. 

9 ‘‘(B) The docket number and regulation 

10 identifier number for each proposed or final rule 

11 issued by an agency for the previous year. 

12 ‘‘(C) The number of rules and a list of each 

13 such rule reviewed by the Director of the Office 

14 of Management and Budget for the previous 

15 year, and the authority under which each such 

16 review was conducted. 

17 ‘‘(D) The number of rules and a list of each 

18 such rule for which the head of an agency com19 pleted a review under section 610 for the pre20 vious year. 

21 ‘‘(E) The number of rules and a list of each 

22 such rule submitted to the Comptroller General 

23 under section 801. 

24 ‘‘(F) The number of rules and a list of each 

25 such rule for which a resolution of disapproval 


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1 was introduced in either the House of Represent2 atives or the Senate under section 802. 

3 ‘‘§ 653. Requirement for rules to appear in agency-spe4 cific monthly publication 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), a rule 

6 may not take effect until the information required to be 

7 made publicly available on the Internet regarding such rule 

8 pursuant to section 652(a) has been so available for not less 

9 than 6 months. 

10 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.—The requirement of subsection (a) 

11 shall not apply in the case of a rule— 

12 ‘‘(1) for which the agency issuing the rule claims 

13 an exception under section 553(b)(B); or 

14 ‘‘(2) which the President determines by Execu15 tive Order should take effect because the rule is— 

16 ‘‘(A) necessary because of an imminent 

17 threat to health or safety or other emergency; 

18 ‘‘(B) necessary for the enforcement of crimi19 nal laws; 

20 ‘‘(C) necessary for national security; or 

21 ‘‘(D) issued pursuant to any statute imple22 menting an international trade agreement. 


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1 ‘‘§ 654. Definitions 

2 ‘‘In this chapter, the terms ‘agency’, ‘agency action’, 

3 ‘rule’, and ‘rule making’ have the meanings given those 

4 terms in section 551.’’. 

5 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The 

6 table of chapters for part I of title 5, United States Code, 

7 is amended by inserting after the item relating to chapter 

8 5, the following: 

‘‘6. The Analysis of Regulatory Functions .................................................. 601

‘‘6A. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Publication of Information Relating to Rules .................................................. 651’’. 

9 (c) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 

10 (1) AGENCY MONTHLY SUBMISSION TO THE OF11 FICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS.— 

12 The first submission required pursuant to section 651 

13 of title 5, United States Code, as added by subsection 

14 (a), shall be submitted not later than 30 days after 

15 the date of the enactment of this Act, and monthly 

16 thereafter. 

17 (2) CUMULATIVE ASSESSMENT OF AGENCY RULE

18 MAKING.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (b) of section 

20 652 of title 5, United States Code, as added by 

21 subsection (a), shall take effect on the date that 

22 is 60 days after the date of the enactment of this 

23 Act. 


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1 (B) DEADLINE.—The first requirement to 

2 publish or make available, as the case may be, 

3 under subsection (b) of section 652 of title 5, 

4 United States Code, as added by subsection (a), 

5 shall be the first October 1 after the effective date 

6 of such subsection. 

7 (C) FIRST PUBLICATION.—The requirement 

8 under section 652(b)(2)(A) of title 5, United 

9 States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall in10 clude for the first publication, any analysis of 

11 the costs or benefits conducted for a proposed or 

12 final rule, for the 10 years before the date of the 

13 enactment of this Act. 

14 (3) REQUIREMENT FOR RULES TO APPEAR IN

15 AGENCY-SPECIFIC MONTHLY PUBLICATION.—Section 

16 653 of title 5, United States Code, as added by sub17 section (a), shall take effect on the date that is 8 

18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 262 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2804 

[Report No. 113–354, Part I] 

A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to require 

poses. about rules on the Internet, and for other purand Regulatory Affairs to publish information the Administrator of the Office of Information 

FEBRUARY 21, 2014 

Reported from the Committee on Oversight and 

Government Reform with an amendment 

FEBRUARY 21, 2014 

The Committee on the Judiciary discharged; committed 

the Union and ordered to be printed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with BILLS