I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1759 

To amend title 5, united States Code, to provide for the publication, by 

the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, of information relating 

to rulemakings, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 13, 2015 

Mr. RATCLIFFE (for himself, Mr. HOLDING, Mr. COLLINS of Georgia, Mr. 

FORBES, Mr. MARINO, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. CHABOT, and Mr. 

ZINKE) 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 

A BILL 

To amend title 5, united States Code, to provide for the 

publication, by the Office of Information and Regulatory 

Affairs, of information relating to rulemakings, 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 ‘‘All Economic Regula5 tions are Transparent Act of 2015’’ or the ‘‘ALERT Act 

6 of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AF2 FAIRS PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION RE3 LATING TO RULES. 

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

5 amended by inserting after chapter 6, the following new 

6 chapter: 

7 ‘‘CHAPTER 6A—OFFICE OF INFORMATION 

8 AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS PUBLICA9 TION OF INFORMATION RELATING TO 

10 RULES 

‘‘Sec. 651. Agency monthly submission to office of information and regulatory 

affairs. 

‘‘Sec. 652. Office of information and regulatory affairs publications. 

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

‘‘Sec. 654. Definitions. 

11 ‘‘SEC. 651. AGENCY MONTHLY SUBMISSION TO OFFICE OF 

12 INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS. 

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

14 submit to the Administrator of the Office of Information 

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

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

17 may reasonably require, the following information: 

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

19 propose or finalize during the following year: 

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

21 including the regulation identifier number and 

22 the docket number for the rule. 


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1 ‘‘(B) The objectives of and legal basis for 

2 the issuance of the rule, including— 

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

4 and 

5 ‘‘(ii) whether the legal basis restricts 

6 or precludes the agency from conducting 

7 an analysis of the costs or benefits of the 

8 rule during the rule making, and if not, 

9 whether the agency plans to conduct an 

10 analysis of the costs or benefits of the rule 

11 during the rule making. 

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

13 exemption from the requirements of section 553 

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

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

16 the date of submission. 

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

18 under section 610. 

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

20 to finalize during the following year and has issued 

21 a general notice of proposed rule making— 

22 ‘‘(A) an approximate schedule for com23 pleting action on the rule; 

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

25 cost— 


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1 ‘‘(i) less than $50,000,000; 

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

3 than $100,000,000; 

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

5 than $500,000,000; 

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

7 than $1,000,000,000; 

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

9 than $5,000,000,000; 

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

11 than $10,000,000,000; or 

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

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

14 of the rule, including any estimate of the net ef15 fect that the rule will have on the number of 

16 jobs in the United States, that was considered 

17 in drafting the rule. If such estimate is not 

18 available, a statement affirming that no infor19 mation on the economic effects, including the 

20 effect on the number of jobs, of the rule has 

21 been considered. 

22 ‘‘SEC. 652. OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AF23 FAIRS PUBLICATIONS. 

24 ‘‘(a) AGENCY-SPECIFIC INFORMATION PUBLISHED

25 MONTHLY.—Not later than 30 days after the submission 


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1 of information pursuant to section 651, the Administrator 

2 shall make such information publicly available on the 

3 Internet. 

4 ‘‘(b) CUMULATIVE ASSESSMENT OF AGENCY RULE

5 MAKING PUBLISHED ANNUALLY.— 

6 ‘‘(1) PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REG7 ISTER.—Not later than October 1 of each year, the 

8 Administrator shall publish in the Federal Register, 

9 for the previous year the following: 

10 ‘‘(A) The information that the Adminis11 trator received from the head of each agency 

12 under section 651. 

13 ‘‘(B) The number of rules and a list of 

14 each such rule— 

15 ‘‘(i) that was proposed by each agen16 cy, including, for each such rule, an indica17 tion of whether the issuing agency con18 ducted an analysis of the costs or benefits 

19 of the rule; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) that was finalized by each agen21 cy, including for each such rule an indica22 tion of whether— 

23 ‘‘(I) the issuing agency conducted 

24 an analysis of the costs or benefits of 

25 the rule; 


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1 ‘‘(II) the agency claimed an ex2 emption from the procedures under 

3 section 553 pursuant to section 

4 553(b)(B); and 

5 ‘‘(III) the rule was issued pursu6 ant to a statutory mandate or the rule 

7 making is committed to agency discre8 tion by law. 

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

10 list of each such action taken by each agency 

11 that— 

12 ‘‘(i) repealed a rule; 

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

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

15 ‘‘(iv) accelerated the expiration date 

16 of a rule. 

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

18 cost by any offsetting benefits) of all rules pro19 posed or finalized, and the number of rules for 

20 which an estimate of the cost of the rule was 

21 not available. 

22 ‘‘(2) PUBLICATION ON THE INTERNET.—Not 

23 later than October 1 of each year, the Administrator 

24 shall make publicly available on the Internet the fol25 lowing: 


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

2 if conducted, for each proposed rule or final 

3 rule issued by an agency for the previous year. 

4 ‘‘(B) The docket number and regulation 

5 identifier number for each proposed or final 

6 rule issued by an agency for the previous year. 

7 ‘‘(C) The number of rules and a list of 

8 each such rule reviewed by the Director of the 

9 Office of Management and Budget for the pre10 vious year, and the authority under which each 

11 such review was conducted. 

12 ‘‘(D) The number of rules and a list of 

13 each such rule for which the head of an agency 

14 completed a review under section 610 for the 

15 previous year. 

16 ‘‘(E) The number of rules and a list of 

17 each such rule submitted to the Comptroller 

18 General under section 801. 

19 ‘‘(F) The number of rules and a list of 

20 each such rule for which a resolution of dis21 approval was introduced in either the House of 

22 Representatives or the Senate under section 

23 802. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 653. REQUIREMENT FOR RULES TO APPEAR IN AGEN2 CY-SPECIFIC MONTHLY PUBLICATION. 

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

4 may not take effect until the information required to be 

5 made publicly available on the Internet regarding such 

6 rule pursuant to section 652(a) has been so available for 

7 not less than 6 months. 

8 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.—The requirement of subsection 

9 (a) shall not apply in the case of a rule— 

10 ‘‘(1) for which the agency issuing the rule 

11 claims an exception under section 553(b)(B); or 

12 ‘‘(2) which the President determines by Execu13 tive order should take effect because the rule is— 

14 ‘‘(A) necessary because of an imminent 

15 threat to health or safety or other emergency; 

16 ‘‘(B) necessary for the enforcement of 

17 criminal laws; 

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

19 ‘‘(D) issued pursuant to any statute imple20 menting an international trade agreement. 

21 ‘‘SEC. 654. DEFINITIONS. 

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

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

24 terms in section 551.’’. 

25 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

26 The table of chapters for part I of title 5, United States 


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1 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

2 chapter 5, the following: 

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

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

3 (c) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 

4 (1) AGENCY MONTHLY SUBMISSION TO THE OF5 FICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AF6 FAIRS.—The first submission required pursuant to 

7 section 651 of title 5, United States Code, as added 

8 by subsection (a), shall be submitted not later than 

9 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

10 and monthly thereafter. 

11 (2) CUMULATIVE ASSESSMENT OF AGENCY

12 RULE MAKING.— 

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (b) of sec14 tion 652 of title 5, United States Code, as 

15 added by subsection (a), shall take effect on the 

16 date that is 60 days after the date of the enact17 ment of this Act. 

18 (B) DEADLINE.—The first requirement to 

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

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

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

22 shall be the first October 1 after the effective 

23 date of such subsection. 


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1 (C) FIRST PUBLICATION.—The require2 ment under section 652(b)(2)(A) of title 5, 

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

4 shall include for the first publication, any anal5 ysis of the costs or benefits conducted for a 

6 proposed or final rule, for the 10 years before 

7 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

8 (3) REQUIREMENT FOR RULES TO APPEAR IN

9 AGENCY-SPECIFIC MONTHLY PUBLICATION.—Section 

10 653 of title 5, United States Code, as added by sub11 section (a), shall take effect on the date that is 8 

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

Æ 


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