I
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4162
To improve public understanding of, and access to, the information and
reasoning supporting significant Federal agency rulemaking proposals
by specifying a consistent and informative format for Federal Register
notices of such rulemaking actions.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 25, 1998
Mrs. CHENOWETH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To improve public understanding of, and access to, the infor-
mation and reasoning supporting significant Federal
agency rulemaking proposals by specifying a consistent
and informative format for Federal Register notices of
such rulemaking actions.
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 Informa-
tion Presentation Act of 1998’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) There is a substantial lack of consistency in
the presentation of information explaining and sup-
porting Federal rulemaking actions when such infor-
mation is published with proposed and final rules in
the Federal Register.
(2) This lack of consistency makes it more dif-
ficult for the public and Congress to understand
rulemaking actions and their justification and to lo-
cate particular relevant information.
(3) Presidential Executive Order 12866, pro-
mulgated September 30, 1993, specifies certain ana-
lytical components for Federal rulemaking that pro-
vide a useful design for consistent organization of
the information presented in Federal Register rule-
making notices.
(4) Such a consistent format will facilitate con-
gressional, executive branch, and public review of
proposed rulemaking actions.
SEC. 3. FORMATTING OF RULEMAKING ENTRIES IN THE
FEDERAL REGISTER.
(a) SIGNIFICANT RULES.—This section applies to
each significant rule that is published in the Federal Reg-
ister as a general notice of proposed rulemaking, or as
a final or interim final substantive rule, under section 553
of title 5, United States Code.
(b) INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN PROPOSED,
INTERIM FINAL, AND FINAL RULES.—Each agency shall,
in accordance with a uniform format to be established
(after public notice and an opportunity for public com-
ment) by the Office of the Federal Register, include in
the preamble (the ‘‘Supplementary Information’’) to each
such significant rule, both as a proposed and as a final
or interim final rule, the information specified in this sub-
section.
(1) RULEMAKING STATUS.—
(A)(i) The agency shall describe whether,
and if so the reason that, the rule has been de-
termined to be—
(I) a significant rule; or
(II) a major rule under section 804(2)
of title 5, United States Code.
(ii) If the agency determines that a rule is
not a significant rule, the agency shall provide
the reasons and justifications for such deter-
mination using each of the factors described in
section 5(3).
(B) The agency shall identify the nature
and timing of any applicable legal deadline or
other good cause for the issuance of the rule
more quickly than the normal work schedule
would provide.
(C) The agency shall provide an expla-
nation as to whether the President, the Vice
President, or any official in the Executive Of-
fice of the President has waived any provision
of any relevant Executive order or related policy
directive applicable to the rulemaking. If any
cost-benefit analysis, risk assessment, or other
evaluation of the rule prepared by the agency
displays an important gap in the analytical in-
formation relied upon therein, the agency shall
provide an explanation as to why it is or is not
feasible or reasonable to delay the rulemaking
until those gaps in information are filled.
(2) REGULATORY POLICY OFFICER.—The agen-
cy shall provide the name, telephone number, and
position of the regulatory policy officer of the agency
responsible at each stage of the regulatory process
for fostering the development of effective, innovative,
and least burdensome regulations and furthering the
principles set forth in any relevant Executive order
or related policy directive related to rulemaking.
(3) CONSULTATION.—The agency shall describe
any consultations with stakeholders, formal advisory
bodies, and State, local, or tribal governments under
title II of Public Law 104–4 (2 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.)
or other applicable authority, identifying the individ-
uals involved and the issues discussed.
(4) NEED.—The agency shall identify any ap-
plicable law requiring the specific rulemaking and
separately describe any compelling public need for
undertaking the rulemaking, including a detailed ex-
planation of the need for preempting, or regulating
instead of, State, local, or tribal governments.
(5) LEGAL
AUTHORITY.—The agency shall
identify the specific statutory provisions authorizing
the rule, the overall regulatory program involved,
and the scope of the statutory discretion of the
agency, if any, to regulate and the degree to which
the agency is regulating. Except in cases in which
the rule has no legal effect other than to implement
the literal wording of the applicable law, the agency
shall include in the preamble a legal analysis identi-
fying the scope of discretion available to the agency
in undertaking the rulemaking.
(6) ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED.—The agency
shall identify the principal regulatory alternatives
considered by the agency before determining which
alternative to propose for public comment, or to
adopt in the final or interim final rule.
(7) ALTERNATIVE
SELECTED.—Based on the
criteria set forth in title II of Public Law 104–4 (2
U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and any relevant Executive
order or related policy directive related to rule-
making, the agency shall identify and explain in rea-
sonable detail the reasons why the agency selected
the alternative to be adopted or adopted in the rule.
(8) COSTS.—The agency shall estimate the di-
rect and indirect costs of the rule, which shall be
stated to the extent reasonably possible as monetized
costs, quantified costs, or qualitative costs, in that
order.
(9) IMPACTS.—The agency shall identify the en-
tities that will be significantly impacted through
compliance with the rule, and shall evaluate and de-
scribe the nature of the impacts that are anticipated
to be caused by the costs to be imposed or other ac-
tions the entities are anticipated to take in order to
come into compliance with the rule. The agency shall
summarize any analysis or evaluation conducted
under title II of Public Law 104–4 (2 U.S.C. 1531
et seq.) or chapter 6 of title 5, United States Code,
or if the agency did not conduct such an analysis or
(1) IN GENERAL.—Each agency shall, in ac-
cordance with a uniform format to be established
(after public notice and opportunity for public com-
ment) by the Office of the Federal Register, include
in the preamble (the ‘‘Supplementary Information’’)
to each such significant rule, as a final or interim
final rule, the information specified in this sub-
section.
(2) SIGNIFICANT ISSUES.—
(A) Each agency shall provide a brief de-
scription of the significant issues raised—
(i) by the public in a statement placed
in the rulemaking file;
(ii) in consultations described in sub-
section (b)(3) by formal advisory bodies;
and
(iii) by any official in the Executive
Office of the President carrying out a re-
view under any relevant Executive order or
related policy directive related to rule-
making.
(B) If, under subparagraph (A)(iii), an of-
ficial did not raise any significant issue, the
agency shall provide a description to that effect.
The agency shall identify and describe any im-
portant gap in analytical information relied
upon in any cost-benefit analysis, risk assess-
ment, or other evaluation of the rule prepared
by the agency, and any assumptions and jus-
tification for such assumptions that were used
to fill those gaps.
(3) CONFLICT RESOLUTION.—The agency shall
describe in reasonable detail, both concerning the
specific review procedures used and also the sub-
stantive concerns raised—
(A) whether the rule was returned to the
agency for reconsideration by any official in the
Executive Office of the President, the nature of
any reasons for such return, and the nature of
the response of the agency to such return;
(B) the nature of any involvement by the
President or Vice President or their respective
staff in reviewing the rule, or any earlier ver-
sion of the rule, submitted for review by any of-
ficial in the Executive Office of the President
under any relevant Executive order or related
policy directive related to rulemaking; and
(C) the nature of the resolution of any dis-
agreement involved in such review or return.
(4) SIGNIFICANT SUBSTANTIVE CHANGES.—
(A) The agency shall provide a brief de-
scription of any substantive changes to the rule
made—
(i) following the end of the period for
public comment and the submission of the
draft final or interim final rule for review
by any official in the Executive Office of
the President under any relevant Executive
order or related policy directive related to
rulemaking; and
(ii) during any review of the draft
final or interim final rule by any official in
the Executive Office of the President
under any relevant Executive order or re-
lated policy directive related to rulemaking.
(B) The agency shall identify the individ-
ual primarily responsible for suggesting any
such substantive change, if such individual is
not within the program office directly respon-
sible for drafting the rule.
(5) COST-BENEFIT
DETERMINATION.—To the
extent permitted by law and as applicable, the agen-
cy shall provide a reasoned statement explaining the
way in which the estimated benefits of the rule jus-
tify its estimated costs, as described under sub-
sections (b)(8) and (b)(10), and any other impacts,
as described under subsection (b)(9). To the extent
that the agency relies upon qualitative benefits to
justify the action of the agency, the agency shall also
describe the subjective nature and uncertainties in-
herent in such a statement of qualitative benefits.
(d) GOOD CAUSE EXCEPTION.—When the agency for
good cause finds, and incorporates the finding and a brief
statement of reasons therefor in the rule, that providing
any portion of the information required by subsections (b)
and (c) is impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the
public interest, the agency may issue the rule without pro-
viding such portion of the information required. The agen-
cy shall identify in the preamble to the rule the portion
of the information that is not being provided and shall
state the reasons for not providing the preamble and when
the preamble will be provided. The agency shall make
every reasonable effort to provide such information before
the effective date of the rule.
SEC. 4. PUBLIC NOTICE.
Each agency shall, on an annual basis and in accord-
ance with a schedule and uniform format to be established
(after public notice and opportunity for public comment)
by the Office of the Federal Register, publish a notice in
the Federal Register that contains the following specified
statistics:
(1) The number of rules published as proposed,
interim final, and final rules.
(2) The number of rules under paragraph (1)
that are discretionary, in contrast to rules the con-
tents of which were specifically mandated by law as
described under section 3(b)(5).
(3) The number of pages in the Federal Reg-
ister for each category of rule under paragraphs (1)
and (2).
(4) The number of those rules that are—
(A) significant rules; and
(B) major rules under section 804(2) of
title 5, United States Code.
(5) The number of those rules reviewed under
any relevant Executive order or related policy direc-
tive related to rulemaking, the number of rules sub-
stantively changed during such reviews, and the
number of pertinent actions taken during such re-
views.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given
that term in section 551(1) of title 5, United States
Code.
(2) The term ‘‘rule’’ has the meaning given that
term in section 551(4) of title 5, United States
Code.
(3) The term ‘‘significant rule’’ means any
agency rulemaking action that is likely to result in
a rule that may—
(A) have an annual effect on the economy
of $1,000,000 or more or adversely affect in a
material way the economy, a sector of the econ-
omy, productivity, competition, jobs, the envi-
ronment, public health or safety, or State, local,
or tribal governments or communities;
(B) create a serious inconsistency or other-
wise interfere with an action taken or planned
by another agency;
(C) materially alter the budgetary impact
of entitlements, grants, user fees, or loan pro-
grams or the rights and obligations of recipi-
ents thereof; or
(D) raise novel legal or policy issues aris-
ing out of legal mandates, the priorities of the
President, or the regulatory principles set forth
in any relevant Executive order or related policy
directive.
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall take effect 90 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act.
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