IB 
Union Calendar No. 338 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 373 
[Report No. 112–483, Part I] 
To amend the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 to ensure that 
actions taken by regulatory agencies are subject to that Act, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 20, 2011 
Ms. FOXX (for herself, Mr. CUELLAR, and Mr. KISSELL) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Gov-
ernment Reform, and in addition to the Committees on Rules, the Budg-
et, and the Judiciary, 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 committee concerned 
MAY 16, 2012 
Additional sponsors: Mr. FORBES, Mr. SCHOCK, Mr. GOODLATTE, and Mr. 
YODER 
MAY 16, 2012 
Reported from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform with an 
amendment 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
MAY 16, 2012 
The Committees on Rules, the Budget, and the Judiciary discharged; com-
mitted to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 
and ordered to be printed 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 20, 2011] 
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A BILL 
To amend the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 
to ensure that actions taken by regulatory agencies are 
subject to that Act, and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Un-
funded Mandates Information and Transparency Act of 
2011’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Purpose. 
Sec. 3. Providing for Congressional Budget Office studies on policies involving 
changes in conditions of grant aid. 
Sec. 4. Clarifying the definition of direct costs to reflect Congressional Budget Of-
fice practice. 
Sec. 5. Expanding the scope of reporting requirements to include regulations im-
posed by independent regulatory agencies. 
Sec. 6. Amendments to replace Office of Management and Budget with Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs. 
Sec. 7. Applying substantive point of order to private sector mandates. 
Sec. 8. Regulatory process and principles. 
Sec. 9. Expanding the scope of statements to accompany significant regulatory 
actions. 
Sec. 10. Enhanced stakeholder consultation. 
Sec. 11. New authorities and responsibilities for Office of Information and Regu-
latory Affairs. 
Sec. 12. Retrospective analysis of existing Federal regulations. 
Sec. 13. Expansion of judicial review. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is— 
(1) to improve the quality of the deliberations of 
Congress with respect to proposed Federal mandates 
by— 
(A) providing Congress and the public with 
more complete information about the effects of 
such mandates; and 
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(B) ensuring that Congress acts on such 
mandates only after focused deliberation on their 
effects; and 
(2) to enhance the ability of Congress and the 
public to identify Federal mandates that may impose 
undue harm on consumers, workers, employers, small 
businesses, and State, local, and tribal governments. 
SEC. 3. PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE 
STUDIES ON POLICIES INVOLVING CHANGES 
IN CONDITIONS OF GRANT AID. 
Section 202(g) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 
(2 U.S.C. 602(g)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new paragraph: 
‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL STUDIES.—At the request of 
any Chairman or ranking member of the minority of 
a Committee of the Senate or the House of Represent-
atives, the Director shall conduct an assessment com-
paring the authorized level of funding in a bill or res-
olution to the prospective costs of carrying out any 
changes to a condition of Federal assistance being im-
posed on State, local, or tribal governments partici-
pating in the Federal assistance program concerned 
or, in the case of a bill or joint resolution that au-
thorizes such sums as are necessary, an assessment of 
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an estimated level of funding compared to such 
costs.’’. 
SEC. 4. CLARIFYING THE DEFINITION OF DIRECT COSTS TO 
REFLECT CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE 
PRACTICE. 
Section 421(3) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 
(2 U.S.C. 658(3)(A)(i)) is amended— 
(1) in subparagraph (A)(i), by inserting ‘‘incur 
or’’ before ‘‘be required’’; and 
(2) in subparagraph (B), by inserting after ‘‘to 
spend’’ the following: ‘‘or could forgo in profits, in-
cluding costs passed on to consumers or other entities 
taking into account, to the extent practicable, behav-
ioral changes,’’. 
SEC. 5. EXPANDING THE SCOPE OF REPORTING REQUIRE-
MENTS TO INCLUDE REGULATIONS IMPOSED 
BY INDEPENDENT REGULATORY AGENCIES. 
Paragraph (1) of section 421 of the Congressional 
Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 658) is amended by striking 
‘‘, but does not include independent regulatory agencies’’. 
SEC. 6. AMENDMENTS TO REPLACE OFFICE OF MANAGE-
MENT AND BUDGET WITH OFFICE OF INFOR-
MATION AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS. 
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Public 
Law 104–4; 2 U.S.C. 1511 et seq.) is amended— 
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(1) in section 103(c) (2 U.S.C. 1511(c))— 
(A) in the subsection heading, by striking 
‘‘OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET’’ and 
inserting ‘‘OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGU-
LATORY AFFAIRS’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget’’ and inserting ‘‘Ad-
ministrator of the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs’’; 
(2) in section 205(c) (2 U.S.C. 1535(c))— 
(A) in the subsection heading, by striking 
‘‘OMB’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget’’ and inserting ‘‘Ad-
ministrator of the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs’’; and 
(3) in section 206 (2 U.S.C. 1536), by striking 
‘‘Director of the Office of Management and Budget’’ 
and inserting ‘‘Administrator of the Office of Infor-
mation and Regulatory Affairs’’. 
SEC. 7. APPLYING SUBSTANTIVE POINT OF ORDER TO PRI-
VATE SECTOR MANDATES. 
Section 425(a)(2) of the Congressional Budget Act of 
1974 (2 U.S.C. 658d(a)(2)) is amended— 
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(1) by striking ‘‘Federal intergovernmental man-
dates’’ and inserting ‘‘Federal mandates’’; and 
(2) by inserting ‘‘or 424(b)(1)’’ after ‘‘section 
424(a)(1)’’. 
SEC. 8. REGULATORY PROCESS AND PRINCIPLES. 
Section 201 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 
1995 (2 U.S.C. 1531) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 201. REGULATORY PROCESS AND PRINCIPLES. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each agency shall, unless other-
wise expressly prohibited by law, assess the effects of Federal 
regulatory actions on State, local, and tribal governments 
and the private sector (other than to the extent that such 
regulatory actions incorporate requirements specifically set 
forth in law) in accordance with the following principles: 
‘‘(1) Each agency shall identify the problem that 
it intends to address (including, if applicable, the 
failures of private markets or public institutions that 
warrant new agency action) as well as assess the sig-
nificance of that problem. 
‘‘(2) Each agency shall examine whether existing 
regulations (or other law) have created, or contributed 
to, the problem that a new regulation is intended to 
correct and whether those regulations (or other law) 
should be modified to achieve the intended goal of reg-
ulation more effectively. 
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‘‘(3) Each agency shall identify and assess avail-
able alternatives to direct regulation, including pro-
viding economic incentives to encourage the desired 
behavior, such as user fees or marketable permits, or 
providing information upon which choices can be 
made by the public. 
‘‘(4) If an agency determines that a regulation 
is the best available method of achieving the regu-
latory objective, it shall design its regulations in the 
most cost-effective manner to achieve the regulatory 
objective. In doing so, each agency shall consider in-
centives for innovation, consistency, predictability, 
the costs of enforcement and compliance (to the gov-
ernment, regulated entities, and the public), flexi-
bility, distributive impacts, and equity. 
‘‘(5) Each agency shall assess both the costs and 
the benefits of the intended regulation and, recog-
nizing that some costs and benefits are difficult to 
quantify, propose or adopt a regulation, unless ex-
pressly prohibited by law, only upon a reasoned de-
termination that the benefits of the intended regula-
tion justify its costs. 
‘‘(6) Each agency shall base its decisions on the 
best reasonably obtainable scientific, technical, eco-
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nomic, and other information concerning the need for, 
and consequences of, the intended regulation. 
‘‘(7) Each agency shall identify and assess alter-
native forms of regulation and shall, to the extent fea-
sible, specify performance objectives, rather than 
specifying the behavior or manner of compliance that 
regulated entities must adopt. 
‘‘(8) Each agency shall avoid regulations that 
are inconsistent, incompatible, or duplicative with its 
other regulations or those of other Federal agencies. 
‘‘(9) Each agency shall tailor its regulations to 
minimize the costs of the cumulative impact of regu-
lations. 
‘‘(10) Each agency shall draft its regulations to 
be simple and easy to understand, with the goal of 
minimizing the potential for uncertainty and litiga-
tion arising from such uncertainty. 
‘‘(b) REGULATORY ACTION DEFINED.—In this section, 
the term ‘regulatory action’ means any substantive action 
by an agency (normally published in the Federal Register) 
that promulgates or is expected to lead to the promulgation 
of a final rule or regulation, including advance notices of 
proposed rulemaking and notices of proposed rulemaking.’’. 
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