Agency Accountability Act of 2023

Subjects: Government Operations and Politics


<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1431 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1431

To require agencies to publish a reference to the specific provision of 
  law, including any relevant statutory language, under which agency 
              rules are proposed, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 3, 2023

    Mr. Lee introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require agencies to publish a reference to the specific provision of 
  law, including any relevant statutory language, under which agency 
              rules are proposed, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Agency Accountability Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. STATUTORY AUTHORITY FOR RULEMAKING.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section, the terms ``agency'' and 
``rule'' have the meanings given those terms in section 551 of title 5, 
United States Code.
    (b) Statutory Authority for Rulemaking.--Section 553 of title 5, 
United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows:
            ``(2) a reference to--
                    ``(A) the specific provision of law that provides 
                the agency with regulatory authority over the subject 
                matter area affected by the rule; and
                    ``(B) the specific provision of law, including any 
                relevant statutory language, under which the rule is 
                proposed;''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (3)(B), by inserting ``and the 
                specific references described in paragraph (2)'' after 
                ``therefor''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f) When publishing a final rule in the Federal Register, 
including any rule for which a notice of proposed rulemaking is not 
required to be published, an agency shall include the references 
described in subsection (b)(2).''.
    (c) Notice Regarding Statutory Authority.--If an agency imposes a 
fine or other penalty on an individual related to the violation of a 
rule, the agency shall inform the individual of the specific statutory 
provision of law that forms the basis of the rule that the individual 
is accused of violating.
    (d) Affirmative Defense.--It shall be an affirmative defense 
against an alleged violation of a rule for a defendant in any 
administrative proceeding of an agency, or before a court of the United 
States, if an individual of ordinary intelligence could not anticipate 
from the statutory language of a provision of law purported to form the 
basis for the rule in question that the conduct of the individual would 
be unlawful.
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