I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 450

To ensure economy and efficiency of Federal Government operations by establishing a moratorium on regulatory rulemaking actions, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 9, 1995

Mr. DELAY (for himself, Mr. MCINTOSH, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. BONILLA,

Mr. HASTERT, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. MICA, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr.

HUTCHINSON, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. POMBO, Mr. TALENT, Mr. ZELIFF,

Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. HEFLEY, Mr. SCARBOROUGH, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr.

SOUDER, Mr. LONGLEY, Mr. TATE, Mr. WAMP, Mr. STOCKMAN, Mr.

WELLER, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. EHRLICH, Mrs.

SEASTRAND, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. FOX, Mr. BARR, Mrs. SMITH, Mr. BLILEY, and Mr. EWING) introduced the following bill; which was referred

to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight 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

JANUARY 23, 1995

Additional sponsors: Ms. DUNN of Washington, Mr. DICKEY, Mr. FORBES,

Mr. HANCOCK, Mr. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. FUNDERBURK, Mr. GOODLATTE,

Mr. COBURN, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. JONES, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. MARTINI, Mr. BONO, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mr. COX of

California, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. LARGENT, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr.

CLINGER, Mr. DORNAN, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. BUNNING of Kentucky, Mr.

WICKER, Mr. DREIER, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. BAKER of California, Mr. DAVIS, Mr. BLUTE, Mr. NETHERCUTT, Mr. LINDER, Mr.

NEY, Mr. CANADY of Florida, Mr. COMBEST, Mr. ROYCE, Mr.

THORNBERRY, Mr. BARCIA, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. GALLEGLY,

Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mr. PETE GEREN of Texas, Mr. BAKER of Louisiana,

Ms. DANNER, Ms. PRYCE, Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. SKEEN, and Mr. LATOURETTE
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•HR 450 SC

A BILL

To ensure economy and efficiency of Federal Government

operations by establishing a moratorium on regulatory

rulemaking actions, 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 Transition

5 Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDING.

7 The Congress finds that effective steps for improving

8 the efficiency and proper management of Government op9 erations will be promoted if a moratorium on new rule10 making actions is imposed and an inventory of such action

11 is conducted.

12 SEC. 3. MORATORIUM ON REGULATIONS.

13 (a) MORATORIUM.—Until the end of the moratorium

14 period, a Federal agency may not take any regulatory

15 rulemaking action, unless an exception is provided under

16 section 5. Beginning 30 days after the date of the enact17 ment of this Act, the effectiveness of any regulatory rule18 making action taken or made effective during the morato19 rium period but before the date of the enactment shall

20 be suspended until July 1, 1995, unless an exception is

21 provided under section 5.
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•HR 450 SC

1 (b) INVENTORY OF RULEMAKINGS.—Not later than

2 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the

3 President shall conduct an inventory and publish in the

4 Federal Register a list of all regulatory rulemaking actions

5 covered by subsection (a) taken or made effective during

6 the moratorium period but before the date of the enact7 ment.

8 SEC. 4. SPECIAL RULE ON STATUTORY, REGULATORY, AND

9 JUDICIAL DEADLINES.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any deadline for, relating to, or

11 involving any action dependent upon, any regulatory rule12 making actions authorized or required to be taken before

13 the end of the moratorium period is extended for 5 months

14 or until July 1, 1995, whichever is later.

15 (b) DEADLINE DEFINED.—The term ‘‘deadline’’

16 means any date certain for fulfilling any obligation or ex17 ercising any authority established by or under any Federal

18 statute or regulation, or by or under any court order im19 plementing any Federal statute or regulation.

20 (c) IDENTIFICATION OF POSTPONED DEADLINES.—

21 Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment

22 of this Act, the President shall identify and publish in the

23 Federal Register a list of deadlines covered by subsection

24 (a).
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•HR 450 SC

1 SEC. 5. EMERGENCY EXCEPTIONS; EXCLUSIONS.

2 (a) EMERGENCY EXCEPTION.—Section 3(a) or 4(a),

3 or both, shall not apply to a regulatory rulemaking action

4 if—

5 (1) the head of a Federal agency otherwise au6 thorized to take the action submits a written request

7 to the President and a copy thereof to the appro8 priate committees of each House of the Congress;

9 (2) the President finds, by Executive order,

10 that a waiver for the action is (A) necessary because

11 of an imminent threat to health or safety or other

12 emergency, or (B) necessary for the enforcement of

13 criminal laws; and

14 (3) the Federal agency head publishes the find15 ing and waiver in the Federal Register.

16 (b) EXCLUSIONS.—The head of an agency shall pub17 lish in the Federal Register any action excluded because

18 of a certification under section 6(3)(B).

19 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

20 For purposes of this Act:

21 (1) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal

22 agency’’ means any agency as that term is defined

23 in section 551(1) of title 5, United States Code (re24 lating to administrative procedure).
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•HR 450 SC

1 (2) MORATORIUM PERIOD.—The term ‘‘morato2 rium period’’ means that period of time beginning

3 November 9, 1994, and ending June 30, 1995.

4 (3) REGULATORY RULEMAKING ACTION.—

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘regulatory

6 rulemaking action’’ means any rulemaking on

7 any rule normally published in the Federal Reg8 ister, including—

9 (i) the issuance of any substantive

10 rule, interpretative rule, statement of agen11 cy policy, notice of inquiry, advance notice

12 of proposed rulemaking, or notice of pro13 posed rulemaking, and

14 (ii) any other action taken in the

15 course of the process of rulemaking (except

16 a cost benefit analysis or risk assessment,

17 or both).

18 (B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘regulatory

19 rulemaking’’ does not include—

20 (i) any agency action that the head of

21 the agency certifies is limited to repealing,

22 narrowing, or streamlining a rule, regula23 tion, or administrative process or otherwise

24 reducing regulatory burdens; or
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•HR 450 SC

1 (ii) any action that the head of the

2 agency certifies is limited to matters relat3 ing to military or foreign affairs functions,

4 statutes implementing international trade

5 agreements, or agency management, per6 sonnel, or public property, loans, grants,

7 benefits, or contracts.

8 (4) RULE.—The term ‘‘rule’’ means the whole

9 or a part of an agency statement of general or par10 ticular applicability and future effect designed to im11 plement, interpret, or prescribe law or policy. Such

12 term does not include the approval or prescription,

13 on a case-by-case or consolidated case basis, for the

14 future of rates, wages, corporation, or financial

15 structures or reorganizations thereof, prices, facili16 ties, appliances, services or allowances therefor, or of

17 valuations, costs, or accounting, or practices bearing

18 on any of the foregoing. Such term also does not in19 clude the granting an application for a license, reg20 istration, or similar authority, granting or recogniz21 ing an exemption, granting a variance or petition for

22 relief from a regulatory requirement, or other action

23 relieving a restriction or taking any action necessary

24 to permit new or improved applications of tech25 nology.
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•HR 450 SC

1 (5) RULEMAKING.—The term ‘‘rulemaking’’

2 means agency process for formulating, amending, or

3 repealing a rule.

4 (6) LICENSE.—The term ‘‘license’’ means the

5 whole or part of an agency permit, certificate, ap6 proval, registration, charter, membership, statutory

7 exemption, or other form of permission.

8 SEC. 7. CIVIL ACTION.

9 In addition to any remedy otherwise available, who10 ever is adversely affected by any conduct of a Federal

11 agency in violation of section 3 or 4 may obtain appro12 priate relief in a civil action against that agency. The court

13 may award a prevailing plaintiff in an action under this

14 section reasonable attorney’s fees.

15 SEC. 8. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAW; SEVERABILITY.

16 (a) APPLICABILITY.—This Act shall apply notwith17 standing any other provision of law.

18 (b) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act, or

19 the application of any provision of this Act to any person

20 or circumstance, is held invalid, the application of such

21 provision to other persons or circumstances, and the re22 mainder of this Act, shall not be affected thereby.

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