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[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1419 Reported in Senate (RS)]

<DOC>

                                                       Calendar No. 192
116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1419

                          [Report No. 116-88]

To require agencies to publish an advance notice of proposed rulemaking 
                            for major rules.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 13, 2019

  Mr. Lankford (for himself and Ms. Sinema) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland 
                   Security and Governmental Affairs

                           September 10, 2019

               Reported by Mr. Johnson, with an amendment
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To require agencies to publish an advance notice of proposed rulemaking 
                            for major rules.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

<DELETED>SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    This Act may be cited as the ``Early Participation in 
Regulations Act of 2019''.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 2. ADVANCE NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    Subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, 
is amended--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) in section 551--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) in paragraph (13), by striking ``and'' 
                at the end;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) in paragraph (14), by striking the 
                period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 
                and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (C) by adding at the end the 
                following:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(15) `major rule' means any rule that the 
        Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory 
        Affairs determines is likely to impose--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(A) an annual effect on the economy of 
                $100,000,000 or more;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(B) a major increase in costs or prices 
                for consumers, individual industries, Federal, State, 
                local, or tribal government agencies, or geographic 
                regions; or</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(C) significant effects on competition, 
                employment, investment, productivity, innovation, 
                health, safety, the environment, or on the ability of 
                United States-based enterprises to compete with 
                foreign-based enterprises in domestic and export 
                markets; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(16) `Office of Information and Regulatory 
        Affairs' means the office established under section 3503 of 
        title 44 and any successor to that office.''; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) in section 553, by adding at the end the 
        following:</DELETED>
<DELETED>    ``(f) Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Major 
Rules.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph 
        (3), not later than 90 days before the date on which an agency 
        publishes a notice of proposed rulemaking for a major rule in 
        the Federal Register, the agency shall publish an advance 
        notice of proposed rulemaking for the major rule in the Federal 
        Register.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(2) Requirements.--An advance notice of proposed 
        rulemaking published under paragraph (1) shall--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(A) include a written statement 
                identifying, at a minimum--</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    ``(i) the nature and significance 
                        of the problem the agency may address with a 
                        major rule, including any data and other 
                        information on which the agency at the time 
                        expects to rely for the proposed major 
                        rule;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    ``(ii) a general description of 
                        regulatory alternatives under 
                        consideration;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    ``(iii) the legal authority under 
                        which a major rule may be proposed; 
                        and</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    ``(iv) an achievable objective for 
                        the major rule;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(B) solicit written data, views, and 
                argument from interested persons concerning the 
                information and issues identified in the advance 
                notice; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(C) provide for a period of not less 
                than 60 days for interested persons to submit such 
                written data, views, or argument to the 
                agency.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(3) Exceptions.--This subsection shall not apply 
        to a major rule if--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(A) the agency proposing the major rule 
                is not required to publish a notice of proposed 
                rulemaking in the Federal Register for the major rule 
                under subparagraph (A) or (B) of subsection (b); 
                or</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(B) the Administrator of the Office of 
                Information and Regulatory Affairs determines that 
                complying with the requirements described in this 
                subsection--</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    ``(i) would not serve the public 
                        interest; or</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    ``(ii) would be unduly burdensome 
                        and duplicative of processes required by 
                        specific statutory requirements as rigorous as 
                        those prescribed in paragraph (2).</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(4) Judicial review.--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(A) In general.--A determination made by 
                the Administrator of the Office of Information and 
                Regulatory Affairs in accordance with paragraph (3)(B) 
                shall not be subject to judicial review.</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(B) Arbitrary and capricious.--Any 
                difference between policies set forth in the written 
                statement of an agency under paragraph (2)(A) and the 
                notice of proposed rulemaking shall not be reviewable 
                under section 706(2)(A).''.</DELETED>

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Early Participation in Regulations 
Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. ADVANCE NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE MAKING.

    Subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in section 551--
                    (A) in paragraph (13), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in paragraph (14), by striking the period at 
                the end and inserting a semicolon; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(15) `major rule' means any rule that the Administrator 
        of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs determines 
        is likely to impose--
                    ``(A) an annual effect on the economy of 
                $100,000,000 or more;
                    ``(B) a major increase in costs or prices for 
                consumers, individual industries, Federal, State, 
                local, or tribal government agencies, or geographic 
                regions; or
                    ``(C) significant effects on competition, 
                employment, investment, productivity, innovation, 
                health, safety, the environment, or the ability of 
                United States-based enterprises to compete with 
                foreign-based enterprises in domestic and export 
                markets; and
            ``(16) `Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs' means 
        the office established under section 3503 of title 44 and any 
        successor to that office.''; and
            (2) in section 553, by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f) Advance Notice of Proposed Rule Making for Major Rules.--
            ``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (3), not 
        later than 90 days before the date on which an agency publishes 
        a notice of proposed rule making for a major rule in the 
        Federal Register, the agency shall publish an advance notice of 
        proposed rule making for the major rule in the Federal 
        Register.
            ``(2) Requirements.--An advance notice of proposed rule 
        making published under paragraph (1) shall--
                    ``(A) include a written statement identifying, at a 
                minimum--
                            ``(i) the nature and significance of the 
                        problem the agency may address with a major 
                        rule, including any data or categories of data 
                        that the agency has identified as relevant or 
                        that the agency intends to consult for the 
                        proposed major rule;
                            ``(ii) a general description of regulatory 
                        alternatives under consideration; and
                            ``(iii) the legal authority under which a 
                        major rule may be proposed;
                    ``(B) solicit written data, views, and argument 
                from interested persons concerning the information and 
                issues identified in the advance notice; and
                    ``(C) provide for a period of not less than 30 days 
                for interested persons to submit such written data, 
                views, or argument to the agency.
            ``(3) Exceptions.--This subsection shall not apply to a 
        major rule if--
                    ``(A) the agency proposing the major rule is not 
                required to publish a notice of proposed rule making in 
                the Federal Register for the major rule under 
                subparagraph (A) or (B) of subsection (b);
                    ``(B) the Administrator of the Office of 
                Information and Regulatory Affairs determines that 
                complying with the requirements described in this 
                subsection--
                            ``(i) would not serve the public interest;
                            ``(ii) would be duplicative of processes as 
                        rigorous and effective as those prescribed in 
                        paragraph (2) and would be unnecessary to 
                        ensure meaningful public participation; or
                            ``(iii) would not be practicable due to a 
                        statutory or court-imposed deadline; or
                    ``(C) the Administrator of the Office of 
                Information and Regulatory Affairs determines that the 
                major rule falls within a category of major rules that 
                are routine or periodic in nature.
            ``(4) Judicial review.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A determination made by the 
                Administrator of the Office of Information and 
                Regulatory Affairs in accordance with subparagraph (B) 
                or (C) of paragraph (3) shall not be subject to 
                judicial review.
                    ``(B) Arbitrary and capricious.--Any difference 
                between policies set forth in the written statement of 
                an agency under paragraph (2)(A) and the notice of 
                proposed rule making shall not be reviewable under 
                section 706(2)(A).''.
                                                       Calendar No. 192

116th CONGRESS

  1st Session

                                S. 1419

                          [Report No. 116-88]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

To require agencies to publish an advance notice of proposed rulemaking 
                            for major rules.

_______________________________________________________________________

                           September 10, 2019

                       Reported with an amendment
```