II 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3547 

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

the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, of information relating 

to rule makings, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 9, 2016 

Mr. HATCH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

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 rule makings, 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 2016’’ or the ‘‘ALERT Act 

6 of 2016’’. 


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

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part I of title 5, United States 

5 Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 6 the fol6 lowing: 

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. 

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

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

‘‘654. Definitions. 

11 ‘‘§ 651. Agency monthly submission to Office of Infor12 mation 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— 

6 ‘‘(I) the legal basis restricts or 

7 precludes the agency from conducting 

8 an analysis of the costs or benefits of 

9 the rule during the rule making; and 

10 ‘‘(II) if the legal basis does not 

11 restrict or preclude the agency from 

12 conducting an analysis of the costs or 

13 benefits of the rule during the rule 

14 making, the agency plans to conduct 

15 an analysis of the costs or benefits of 

16 the rule during the rule making. 

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

18 exemption from the requirements of section 553 

19 under section 553(b)(B). 

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

21 the date of submission. 

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

23 under section 610. 

24 ‘‘(2) For any rule that the agency expects to fi25 nalize during the following year and for which the 


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1 agency has issued a general notice of proposed rule 

2 making: 

3 ‘‘(A) An approximate schedule for com4 pleting action on the rule. 

5 ‘‘(B) An estimate of whether the rule will 

6 cost— 

7 ‘‘(i) less than $50,000,000; 

8 ‘‘(ii) not less than $50,000,000 and 

9 less than $100,000,000; 

10 ‘‘(iii) not less than $100,000,000 and 

11 less than $500,000,000; 

12 ‘‘(iv) not less than $500,000,000 and 

13 less than $1,000,000,000; 

14 ‘‘(v) not less than $1,000,000,000 and 

15 less than $5,000,000,000; 

16 ‘‘(vi) not less than $5,000,000,000 

17 and less than $10,000,000,000; or 

18 ‘‘(vii) not less than $10,000,000,000. 

19 ‘‘(C) Subject to subparagraph (D), any es20 timate of the economic effects of the rule, in21 cluding any estimate of the net effect that the 

22 rule will have on the number of jobs in the 

23 United States, that was considered in drafting 

24 the rule. 


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1 ‘‘(D) If an estimate under subparagraph 

2 (C) is not available, a statement affirming that 

3 no information on the economic effects, includ4 ing the effect on the number of jobs, of the rule 

5 has been considered. 

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

7 publications 

8 ‘‘(a) AGENCY-SPECIFIC INFORMATION PUBLISHED

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

10 of information under section 651, the Administrator shall 

11 make such information publicly available on the Internet. 

12 ‘‘(b) CUMULATIVE ASSESSMENT OF AGENCY RULE

13 MAKING PUBLISHED ANNUALLY.— 

14 ‘‘(1) PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REG15 ISTER.—Not later than October 1 of each year, the 

16 Administrator shall publish in the Federal Register, 

17 for the previous year, the following: 

18 ‘‘(A) The information that the Adminis19 trator received from the head of each agency 

20 under section 651. 

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

22 each such rule— 

23 ‘‘(i) that was proposed by each agen24 cy, including, for each such rule, an indica25 tion of whether the issuing agency conVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:08 Dec 15, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3547.IS S3547

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1 ducted an analysis of the costs or benefits 

2 of the rule; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) that was finalized by each agen4 cy, including, for each such rule, an indica5 tion of whether— 

6 ‘‘(I) the issuing agency conducted 

7 an analysis of the costs or benefits of 

8 the rule; 

9 ‘‘(II) the agency claimed an ex10 emption from the procedures under 

11 section 553 under section 553(b)(B); 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(III)(aa) the rule was issued 

14 pursuant to a statutory mandate; or 

15 ‘‘(bb) the rule making is com16 mitted to agency discretion by law. 

17 ‘‘(C) The number of agency actions, and a 

18 list of each such action taken by each agency, 

19 that— 

20 ‘‘(i) repealed a rule; 

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

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

23 ‘‘(iv) accelerated the expiration date 

24 of a rule. 


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

2 cost by any offsetting benefits) of all rules pro3 posed or finalized and the number of rules for 

4 which an estimate of the cost of the rule was 

5 not available. 

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

7 later than October 1 of each year, the Administrator 

8 shall make publicly available on the Internet the fol9 lowing: 

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

11 if conducted, for each proposed or final rule 

12 issued by an agency for the previous year. 

13 ‘‘(B) The docket number and regulation 

14 identifier number for each proposed or final 

15 rule issued by an agency for the previous year. 

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

17 each such rule reviewed by the Director of the 

18 Office of Management and Budget for the pre19 vious year and the authority under which each 

20 such review was conducted. 

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

22 each such rule for which the head of an agency 

23 completed a review under section 610 for the 

24 previous year. 


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

2 each such rule submitted to the Comptroller 

3 General of the United States under section 801. 

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

5 each such rule for which a resolution of dis6 approval was introduced in the House of Rep7 resentatives or the Senate under section 802. 

8 ‘‘§ 653. Requirement for rules to appear in agency9 specific monthly publication 

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

11 may not take effect until the information required to be 

12 made publicly available on the Internet regarding that rule 

13 under section 652(a) has been so available for not less 

14 than 180 days. 

15 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply in 

16 the case of a rule— 

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

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

19 ‘‘(2) that the President determines by Executive 

20 order should take effect because the rule is— 

21 ‘‘(A) necessary because of— 

22 ‘‘(i) an imminent threat to health or 

23 safety; or 

24 ‘‘(ii) another emergency; 


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1 ‘‘(B) necessary for the enforcement of 

2 criminal laws; 

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

4 ‘‘(D) issued under any statute imple5 menting an international trade agreement. 

6 ‘‘§ 654. Definitions 

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

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

9 terms in section 551.’’. 

10 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

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

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

13 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’’. 

14 (c) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 

15 (1) AGENCY MONTHLY SUBMISSION TO THE OF16 FICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AF17 FAIRS.—The first submission required under section 

18 651 of title 5, United States Code, as added by sub19 section (a), shall be submitted not later than 30 

20 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

21 (2) CUMULATIVE ASSESSMENT OF AGENCY

22 RULE MAKING.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (b) of sec24 tion 652 of title 5, United States Code, as 


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

2 date that is 60 days after the date of the enact3 ment of this Act. 

4 (B) DEADLINE.—The first requirement to 

5 publish or make available, as applicable, under 

6 subsection (b) of section 652 of title 5, United 

7 States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall 

8 be the first October 1 after the effective date of 

9 that subsection. 

10 (C) FIRST PUBLICATION.—The require11 ment under section 652(b)(2)(A) of title 5, 

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

13 shall include, for the first publication under 

14 that section, any analysis of the costs or bene15 fits conducted for a proposed or final rule for 

16 the 10-year period preceding the date of the en17 actment of this Act. 

18 (3) REQUIREMENT FOR RULES TO APPEAR IN

19 AGENCY-SPECIFIC MONTHLY PUBLICATION.—Section 

20 653 of title 5, United States Code, as added by sub21 section (a), shall take effect on the date that is 240 

22 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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