[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on June 11, 2003] 
A BILL 
To amend the Paperwork Reduction Act and titles 5 and 
31, United States Code, to reform Federal paperwork 
and regulatory processes. 
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 ‘‘Paperwork and Regu-
latory Improvements Act of 2004’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) In 1980, in the Paperwork Reduction Act, 
Congress established the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget. OIRA’s principal responsibility is 
to reduce the paperwork burden on the public that re-
sults from the collection of information by or for the 
Federal Government. In 2002, OIRA estimated that 
the paperwork burden imposed on the public was 7.7 
billion hours, at a cost of $230 billion. The Internal 
Revenue Service accounted for 83 percent of the pa-
perwork burden.
(2) In 1995, Congress amended the Paperwork 
Reduction Act and established annual government-
wide paperwork reduction goals of 10 percent for each 
of fiscal years 1996 and 1997, and 5 percent for each 
of fiscal years 1998 through 2001, but the paperwork 
burden increased, rather than decreased, in each of 
those fiscal years and fiscal year 2002. Both the Of-
fice of Management and Budget and the Internal Rev-
enue Service need to devote additional attention to 
paperwork reduction. 
(3) In 2002, the House Report accompanying the 
Treasury and General Government Appropriations 
Act, 2003 (House Report 107–575) stated, ‘‘The Office 
of Management and Budget has reported that paper-
work burdens on Americans have increased in each of 
the last six years. Since the Internal Revenue Service 
imposes over 80 percent of these paperwork burdens, 
the Committee believes that OMB should work to 
identify and review proposed and existing IRS paper-
work.’’. 
(4) One key to success in paperwork reduction is 
the Office of Management and Budget’s systematic re-
view of every new and revised agency paperwork pro-
posal. Recent statutory exemptions from that office’s
review responsibility, especially those without any 
stated justification, should be removed. 
(5) In 2000, researchers Mark Crain of George 
Mason University and Thomas Hopkins of the Roch-
ester Institute of Technology, in their October 2001 
publication titled ‘‘The Impact of Regulatory Costs on 
Small Firms’’, estimated that Americans spend $843 
billion annually to comply with Federal regulations. 
Congress has a responsibility to review major rules 
(as defined by section 804 of title 5, United States 
Code) proposed by agencies, especially regulatory al-
ternatives and the costs and benefits associated with 
each of them. In 2000, in the Truth in Regulating 
Act, Congress established new responsibility within 
the General Accounting Office to assist Congress with 
this responsibility. 
(6) In 1996, because of the increasing costs and 
incompletely estimated benefits of Federal rules and 
paperwork, Congress required the Office of Manage-
ment and Budget for the first time to submit an an-
nual report to Congress on the total costs and benefits 
to the public of Federal rules and paperwork require-
ments, including an assessment of the effects of Fed-
eral rules on the private sector and State and local 
governments. In 1998, Congress changed the annual
report’s due date to coincide with the due date of the 
President’s budget, so that Congress and the public 
could be given an opportunity to simultaneously re-
view both the on-budget and off-budget costs associ-
ated with the regulatory and paperwork requirements 
of each Federal agency. In 2000, Congress made this 
a permanent annual reporting requirement. 
(7) The Office of Management and Budget re-
quires agencies to submit annual budget and paper-
work burden estimates in order to prepare certain re-
quired reports for Congress, but it does not require 
agencies to submit estimates on costs and benefits of 
agency rules and paperwork. The Office of Manage-
ment and Budget needs to require agencies to submit 
such estimates on costs and benefits to help prepare 
the annual accounting statement and associated re-
port required under section 624 of the Treasury and 
General Government Appropriations Act, 2001. 
SEC. 3. REDUCTION OF TAX PAPERWORK. 
Section 3504 of title 44, United States Code, is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(i) In carrying out subsection (c)(3), the Director 
shall (in consultation with the Internal Revenue Service 
and the Office of Tax Policy of the Department of the Treas-
ury and the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Ad-
ministration) conduct a review of the collections of informa-
tion conducted by the Internal Revenue Service to identify 
actions that the Internal Revenue Service can take to reduce 
the information collection burden imposed on small business 
concerns, consistent with section 3520(c)(1) of this chapter. 
The Director shall include the results of the review in the 
annual report that the Director submits under section 3514 
of this chapter for fiscal year 2006.’’. 
SEC. 4. REPEAL OF EXEMPTIONS FROM PAPERWORK RE-
DUCTION ACT, ETC. 
(a) REPEALS.—The following provisions of the Farm 
Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Public Law 
107–171) are repealed: 
(1) Subparagraphs (A) and (C) of section 
1601(c)(2). 
(2) Section 1601(c)(3). 
(3) Section 2702(b)(1)(A). 
(4) Section 2702(b)(2)(A). 
(5) Section 2702(c). 
(6) Subparagraphs (A) and (C) of section 
6103(b)(2). 
(7) Section 6103(b)(3). 
(8) Subparagraphs (A) and (C) of section 
10105(d)(2). 
(9) Section 10105(d)(3).
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The repeals of the provisions 
listed in subsection (a) shall take effect 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 5. AMENDMENT OF TRUTH IN REGULATING ACT TO 
MAKE PERMANENT PILOT PROJECT FOR RE-
PORT ON RULES. 
The purpose of this section is to make permanent the 
authority to request the performance of regulatory analysis 
to enhance Congressional responsibility for regulatory deci-
sions developed under the laws enacted by Congress. The 
Truth in Regulating Act of 2000 (Public Law 106–312; 5 
U.S.C. 801 note) is amended— 
(1) in the heading for section 4, by striking 
‘‘PILOT PROJECT FOR’’, 
(2) by striking section 5 and redesignating sec-
tion 6 as section 5; and 
(3) in section 5 (as redesignated by paragraph 
(2))— 
(A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘AND DURA-
TION OF PILOT PROJECT’’; 
(B) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘(a) EF-
FECTIVE DATE.—’’; and 
(C) by striking subsections (b) and (c).
SEC. 6. IMPROVED REGULATORY ACCOUNTING. 
(a) REQUIREMENT FOR AGENCIES TO SUBMIT INFOR-
MATION ON REGULATIONS AND PAPERWORK TO OMB.— 
Section 624 of the Treasury and General Government Ap-
propriations Act, 2001 (as enacted into law by Public Law 
106–554; 114 Stat. 2763A–161), is amended 
(1) by redesignating subsections (b), (c), and (d) 
as subsection (c), (d), and (e), respectively, and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following 
new subsection: 
‘‘(b) AGENCY SUBMISSIONS TO OMB.—To carry out 
subsection (a), the Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall require each agency annually to submit to the 
Office of Management and Budget an estimate of the total 
annual costs and benefits of Federal rules and paperwork, 
to the extent feasible— 
‘‘(1) for the agency in the aggregate; and 
‘‘(2) for each agency program.’’. 
(b) INTEGRATION OF OMB ACCOUNTING STATEMENT 
AND REPORT INTO PRESIDENT’S BUDGET.—Section 624 of 
the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 
2001 (as enacted into law by Public Law 106–554; 114 
Stat. 2763A–161) is further amended in subsection (a), by 
striking ‘‘with the budget’’ and inserting ‘‘as part of the 
budget’’.
(c) REGULATORY BUDGETING.—(1) Chapter 11 of title 
31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 
the following new section: 
‘‘§ 1120. Regulatory budgeting 
‘‘(a) The Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget, after consultation with the head of each agency, 
shall designate not less than three agencies (or offices within 
an agency) to participate in a study on regulatory budg-
eting for fiscal years 2006 and 2007. The designated agen-
cies shall include three regulatory agencies or offices from 
among the following: the Department of Labor, the Depart-
ment of Transportation, the Department of Health and 
Human Services, and the Environmental Protection Agen-
cy. 
‘‘(b) The study shall address the preparation of regu-
latory budgets. Such budgets shall include the presentation 
of the varying estimated levels of benefits that would be as-
sociated with the different estimated levels of costs with re-
spect to the regulatory alternatives under consideration by 
the agency (or office within the agency). 
‘‘(c) The Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall include, in the accounting statement and asso-
ciated report submitted to Congress for calendar year 2006 
under section 624 of the Treasury and General Government 
Appropriations Act, 2001 (as enacted into law by Public
Law 106–554; 114 Stat. 2763A–161), a presentation of the 
different levels of estimated regulatory benefits and costs 
with respect to the regulatory alternatives under consider-
ation for one or more of the major regulatory programs of 
each of the agencies designated under subsection (a). 
‘‘(d) In the accounting statement and associated report 
submitted to Congress for calendar year 2009 under section 
624 of the Treasury and General Government Appropria-
tions Act, 2001 (as so enacted), the Director of the Office 
of Management and Budget shall include a report on the 
study on regulatory budgeting. The report shall— 
‘‘(1) assess the feasibility and advisability of in-
cluding a regulatory budget as part of the annual 
budget submitted under section 1105; 
‘‘(2) describe any difficulties encountered by the 
Office of Management and Budget and the partici-
pating agencies in conducting the study; and 
‘‘(3) recommend, to the extent the President con-
siders necessary or expedient, proposed legislation re-
garding regulatory budgets.’’. 
(2) The table of sections at the beginning of such chap-
ter is amended by adding at the end the following new item: 
‘‘1120. Regulatory budgeting.’’.
Union Calendar No. 277 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 2432 
[Report No. 108–490, Part I] 
A BILL 
To amend the Paperwork Reduction Act and titles 
5 and 31, United States Code, to reform Federal 
paperwork and regulatory processes. 
MAY 14, 2004 
Reported from the Committee on Government Reform 
with an amendment 
MAY 14, 2004 
Referral to the Committee on the Budget extended for a 
period ending not later than May 14, 2004 
MAY 14, 2004 
Committee on the Budget discharged; committed to the 
Committee of the Whole House on the State of the 
Union and ordered to be printed