I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1591
To ensure congressional approval of the amount of compliance costs imposed
on the private sector by regulations issued under new or reauthorized
Federal laws.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 14, 1997
Mr. SMITH of Texas (for himself, Mr. CONDIT, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr.
HERGER, Mr. MCINTOSH, Mr. GEKAS, Mrs. CHENOWETH, Mr. BURTON
of Indiana, Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mr.
GOODLATTE, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr.
BOB SCHAFFER of Colorado, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr. PARKER, Mr.
PITTS, Mr. THORNBERRY, and Mr. BLUNT) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform and Over-
sight, and in addition to the Committees on Rules, and the Budget, 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 com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To ensure congressional approval of the amount of compli-
ance costs imposed on the private sector by regulations
issued under new or reauthorized Federal laws.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Regulatory Account-
ability Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY: REQUIREMENT
FOR CONGRESS TO APPROVE REGULATORY
COSTS THAT MAY BE IMPOSED UNDER NEW
AND REAUTHORIZED FEDERAL REGULATORY
LAWS.
(a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 421 of the Congressional
Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C.
658) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (7) (relating to the definition
of the term ‘‘Federal private sector mandate’’) by in-
serting ‘‘a controlled Federal private sector mandate
described in paragraph (14)(B) or’’ after ‘‘means’’;
and
(2) by adding at the end the following new
paragraphs:
‘‘(14) CONTROLLED FEDERAL PRIVATE SECTOR
MANDATE.—The term ‘controlled Federal private
sector mandate’ means—
‘‘(A) a Federal private sector mandate that
will result in costs for the private sector of
$100,000,000 or more; or
‘‘(B) a provision in legislation, that author-
izes appropriations to implement or enforce a
Federal private sector mandate under an exist-
ing Federal law that will result in the imposi-
tion on the private sector, after the first date
for which appropriations are authorized under
the provision, of $100,000,000 or more in costs.
‘‘(15) CONTROLLED
PRIVATE
REGULATORY
LEGISLATION.—The term ‘controlled private regu-
latory legislation’ means a bill, joint resolution,
amendment, motion, or conference report that con-
tains a controlled Federal private sector mandate.
‘‘(16) REGULATORY
COST
AUTHORIZATION.—
The term ‘regulatory cost authorization’ means a
statement of a dollar amount of costs incurred by
the private sector that are authorized to result from
regulations that—
‘‘(A) implement or enforce a controlled
Federal private sector mandate, in the case of
a controlled Federal private sector mandate de-
scribed in paragraph (14)(A); or
‘‘(B) implement or enforce a Federal pri-
vate sector mandate with respect to which ap-
propriations are authorized by a controlled Fed-
eral private sector mandate described in para-
graph (14)(B).
‘‘(17) COSTS.—In paragraphs (14) and (16) of
this section and section 424(b)(4) only, the term
‘costs’ means the reasonably quantifiable costs, in-
cluding social, environmental, and economic, that are
expected to result directly or indirectly from imple-
mentation of, or compliance with, a rule or an alter-
native to a rule.’’.
(b) REQUIREMENT
FOR REGULATORY COST AU-
THORIZATION.—Section 425(a) of the Congressional
Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C.
658d(a)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ after
the semicolon at the end;
(2) in paragraph (2) by striking the period at
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
‘‘(3) any controlled private regulatory legisla-
tion, unless the legislation specifies a regulatory cost
authorization—
‘‘(A) in the case of a controlled Federal
private sector mandate described in section
421(14)(A), for each controlled Federal private
sector mandate contained in the legislation; and
‘‘(B) in the case of a controlled Federal
private sector mandate described in section
421(14)(B), for each Federal private sector
mandate with respect to which appropriations
are authorized by the controlled Federal private
sector mandate.’’.
(c) REQUIREMENT FOR CBO SCORING OF COSTS OF
CONTROLLED FEDERAL PRIVATE SECTOR MANDATES.—
Section 424(b) of the Congressional Budget and Impound-
ment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658c(b)) is amended
by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
‘‘(4) CONTROLLED FEDERAL PRIVATE SECTOR
MANDATES.—In addition to the other information
required by this subsection, the Director shall pre-
pare and include in the statement—
‘‘(A) an identification of each controlled
Federal private sector mandate in the bill or
joint resolution; and
‘‘(B) for each controlled Federal private
sector mandate identified under subparagraph
(A)—
‘‘(i) in the case of a controlled Federal
private sector mandate described in section
421(14)(A), an estimate of the costs that
will be incurred by the private sector under
the controlled Federal private sector man-
date; or
‘‘(ii) in the case of a controlled Fed-
eral private sector mandate described in
section 421(14)(B), an estimate of the
costs that will be incurred by the private
sector, after the first date for which appro-
priations are authorized under the man-
date, to comply with each Federal private
sector mandate with respect to which ap-
propriations are authorized by the con-
trolled Federal private sector mandate.’’.
SEC. 3. RESTRICTION ON PRIVATE REGULATORY COSTS EX-
CEEDING CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORIZATION.
(a) RULES EXCEEDING REGULATORY COST AUTHOR-
IZATION NOT EFFECTIVE.—Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, and except as provided in subsection
(d)—
(1) the total amount of costs that are required
to be incurred by the private sector to comply with
covered regulations issued under a covered law may
not exceed the regulatory cost authorization for that
covered law; and
(2) a proposed covered regulation shall not take
effect unless the Director has published in the Fed-
eral Register a certification under this section that
implementation of the regulation will not violate
paragraph (1).
(b) SCORING
OF
COVERED
REGULATIONS
BY
OMB.—
(1) SUBMISSION REQUIREMENT.—Before issu-
ing a final covered regulation, the head of an agency
shall submit the proposed covered regulation to the
Director with a request that the Director certify
under this section that implementation of the regula-
tion will not violate subsection (a)(1).
(2) ISSUANCE OR DENIAL OF CERTIFICATION.—
Not later than 90 days after receiving a request for
certification under paragraph (1) for a proposed cov-
ered regulation, the Director shall—
(A) after publication of notice and an op-
portunity for public comment, estimate the
costs that would be incurred by the private sec-
tor in complying with the regulation;
(B) determine whether implementation of
the regulation would violate subsection (a)(1);
and
(C) publish in the Federal Register the es-
timate under subparagraph (A) and—
(i) a certification that implementation
of the regulation will not violate subsection
(a)(1); or
(ii) a finding that implementation of
the regulation would violate subsection
(a)(1).
(c) MAINTENANCE
OF
RECORD
OF
AGGREGATE
COSTS OF COVERED REGULATIONS.—The Director shall
maintain and make publicly available for each covered law
an estimate of the costs required to be incurred by the
private sector to comply with each covered regulation in
effect under the covered law.
(d) EMERGENCY EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) shall
not apply to a regulation for which the President issues
a written finding that the regulation is necessary because
of an emergency.
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
(1) COVERED LAW.—The term ‘‘covered law’’
means a provision of law that—
(A) is a controlled Federal private sector
mandate under section 421(14)(A) of the Con-
gressional Budget and Impoundment Control
Act of 1974, as amended by section 2 of this
Act; or
(B) is a Federal private sector mandate
that may be implemented or enforced using
amounts appropriated under the authority of a
provision which, when considered by Congress