II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 168

To provide for procedures for the review of Federal department and agency

regulations, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 21 (legislative day, JANUARY 5), 1993

Mr. GLENN (for himself and Mr. AKAKA) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To provide for procedures for the review of Federal

department and agency regulations, 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 Review

5 Sunshine Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

7 For purposes of this Act, the term—

8 (1) ‘‘agency’’ means an agency as defined under

9 section 551(1) of title 5, United States Code, and

10 section 552(f) of title 5, United States Code;
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1 (2) ‘‘regulatory review’’ means the evaluation,

2 review, oversight, supervision, or coordination of

3 agency rulemaking activity by a reviewing entity di4 rected by the President or his designee to conduct

5 such review on an ongoing basis;

6 (3) ‘‘reviewing entity’’ means any agency, or

7 other establishment in the executive branch of the

8 Federal Government established by the President,

9 which engages, in whole or in part in regulatory re10 view;

11 (4) ‘‘review action’’ means any action, including

12 but not limited to a recommendation or direction, re13 garding an agency rulemaking activity taken by a re14 viewing entity; and

15 (5) ‘‘rulemaking activity’’ means any activity

16 involving a rulemaking as defined under section

17 551(5) of title 5, United States Code, and includes

18 activity involving a schedule or plan for rulemaking,

19 strategy statements, guidelines, policy manuals,

20 grant and loan procedures, advance notices of pro21 posed rulemaking, press releases and other docu22 ments announcing or implementing regulatory policy

23 that affects the public.
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1 SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE BY A REVIEWING ENTITY.

2 (a) PUBLIC ACCESS.—A reviewing entity shall

3 establish procedures, consistent with subsection (b), to

4 provide public access to information concerning each agen5 cy rulemaking activity under its review. Such information

6 shall include a copy of—

7 (1) all written communications, regardless of

8 format, including drafts of all proposals and associ9 ated analyses, between the reviewing entity and the

10 rulemaking agency;

11 (2) all written communications, regardless of

12 format, between the reviewing entity and any person

13 not employed by the Federal Government relating to

14 the substance of an agency rulemaking activity;

15 (3) a record, including the date, participants,

16 and substance, of all oral communications relating to

17 the substance of an agency rulemaking activity, in18 cluding meetings, between the reviewing entity and

19 any person not employed by the Federal Govern20 ment;

21 (4) a written explanation as required by section

22 4(c) and the date of any significant review action;

23 and

24 (5) any notice of any extensions of review under

25 section 6.
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1 (b) PROCEDURES.—Information described under sub2 section (a) shall be made available to the public upon re3 quest—

4 (1) within 14 days of conclusion of review;

5 (2) in a manner consistent with the require6 ments of section 552(a) of title 5, United States

7 Code; and

8 (3) for review, and copying, in a publicly acces9 sible reading room during normal business hours.

10 SEC. 4. DISCLOSURE TO A RULEMAKING AGENCY BY A RE11 VIEWING ENTITY.

12 (a) WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS.—A reviewing entity

13 shall transmit to the rulemaking agency, on a timely basis,

14 copies of any written communications between the review15 ing entity and any person not employed by the Federal

16 Government concerning the substance of a rulemaking ac17 tivity of that agency.

18 (b) ORAL COMMUNICATIONS.—A reviewing entity

19 shall disclose to the rulemaking agency, on a timely basis,

20 all oral communications, including meetings, between any

21 person not employed by the Federal Government and the

22 reviewing entity concerning the substance of a rulemaking

23 activity of that agency. The reviewing entity shall—
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1 (1) advise the rulemaking agency of the date,

2 participants, and substance of such communications;

3 and

4 (2) invite the rulemaking agency head or des5 ignee to all scheduled meetings involving such com6 munications.

7 (c) EXPLANATION OF SIGNIFICANT REVIEW AC8 TION.—A reviewing entity shall, in a timely manner, pro9 vide the rulemaking agency with a written explanation of

10 any significant review action taken by the reviewing entity

11 concerning an agency rulemaking activity.

12 SEC. 5. PUBLIC DISCLOSURE BY A RULEMAKING AGENCY.

13 (a) STATUS OF REVIEW.—A rulemaking agency shall

14 upon request identify a rulemaking activity, the date upon

15 which it was submitted to a reviewing entity for review,

16 and any notice of any extensions of review under section

17 6.

18 (b) EXPLANATIONS.—For each proposed and final

19 rule, a rulemaking agency shall explain in its rulemaking

20 notice any significant changes made to such rule as a con21 sequence of regulatory review.

22 (c) RECORD.—A rulemaking agency shall place in the

23 appropriate rulemaking record all of the documents re24 ceived from a reviewing entity as required under section

25 4.
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1 SEC. 6. TIME LIMITS FOR REVIEW.

2 (a) TIME LIMITS.—Within 60 days after the receipt

3 of a rulemaking activity submitted to a reviewing entity

4 for review, the reviewing entity shall conclude review of

5 the rulemaking activity. The reviewing entity may, for

6 good cause explained to the rulemaking agency extend the

7 time for review for 30 days.

8 (b) RESOLUTION OF OUTSTANDING ISSUES.—If the

9 President, or such other person or entity as the President

10 may designate, reviews for resolution an issue arising out

11 of a regulatory review—

12 (1) the applicable time limits described under

13 subsection (a) may be extended, although any such

14 issue shall be resolved as promptly as practicable;

15 and

16 (2) any such review shall be subject to the re17 quirements of this Act, except for section 6(a).

18 (c) EXTENSIONS.—A reviewing entity shall notify the

19 rulemaking agency of an extension beyond 60 days and

20 provide public notice, pursuant to sections 3 and 7. The

21 rulemaking agency shall promptly publish a notice of any

22 such extension in the Federal Register, and shall give pub23 lic notice pursuant to section 5.

24 SEC. 7. PUBLIC ACCOUNTING OF REGULATORY REVIEW.

25 (a) PUBLICATION OF ACCOUNTING.—The Office of

26 Management and Budget shall prepare and make available
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1 to the public a monthly and an annual accounting of regu2 latory review conducted by any and all reviewing entities.

3 Such accounting shall include a list of all rulemaking ac4 tivities submitted to a reviewing entity for review, under

5 review by a reviewing entity, or for which a review action

6 was taken by a reviewing entity during the reporting pe7 riod.

8 (b) INFORMATION INCLUDED IN ACCOUNTING.—The

9 monthly accounting required under subsection (a) shall be

10 prepared and made available to the public within 10 work11 ing days of the end of each month and shall include the

12 name and type of each rulemaking activity reviewed, the

13 reviewing entity, the rulemaking agency, the date of sub14 mission, the status of review, notice of any extensions of

15 review under section 6, any review action, the date of such

16 action, and the authority for review.

17 (c) FEDERAL REGISTER PUBLICATION.—Each rule18 making agency shall publish in the Federal Register with19 in 10 working days of the end of each month a list of

20 all rulemaking activities undergoing regulatory review dur21 ing the preceding month. Such list shall include the name

22 and type of each rulemaking activity, the reviewing entity,

23 the date of submission, any review action taken during the

24 reporting period, and the date of any such action.
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1 SEC. 8. EXCLUSIONS.

2 Oral communications with the President, the Vice

3 President, the Administrator of the Environmental Pro4 tection Agency, the Director of the Office of Management

5 and Budget, and the heads of executive departments as

6 defined under section 101 of title 5, United States Code,

7 are not covered by this Act.

8 SEC. 9. EFFECT OF ACT.

9 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—Nothing in this Act authorizes

10 a reviewing entity to—

11 (1) review a rulemaking activity; or

12 (2) direct an agency to make a decision with re13 gard to a rulemaking activity unless specifically au14 thorized by law.

15 (b) ALTERATIONS.—Nothing in this Act alters in any

16 manner—

17 (1) rulemaking authority vested by law in the

18 head of an agency;

19 (2) any legally mandated criteria for rule20 making; or

21 (3) the application of any statutory or judicial

22 deadline or the authority of an agency to undertake

23 rulemaking activity in an emergency situation.

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