IB
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 1704
[Report No. 105–441, Part I]
To establish a Congressional Office of Regulatory Analysis.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 22, 1997
Mrs. KELLY (for herself and Mr. TALENT) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, for a period to be sub-
sequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of
such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
MARCH 13, 1998
Reported from the Committee on the Judiciary with an amendment
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
MARCH 13, 1998
Referral to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight extended for
a period not later than March 23, 1998
MARCH 18, 1998
Additional sponsors: Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsylvania, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr.
LOBIONDO, Mr. HILL, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. WICKER, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr.
PETERSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. BAKER, Mr. BASS, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr.
POMBO, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. LAZIO of New York, Mr. AR-
CHER, Mr. HASTERT, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. BEREUTER, Mrs.
ROUKEMA, Mr. HORN, Mr. GANSKE, Mr. GOODE, Mr. WATTS of Okla-
homa, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. METCALF, Mr. GILMAN, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr.
PAPPAS, 
Mr. 
MCCOLLUM, 
Mr. 
LARGENT, 
Mr. 
NEUMANN, 
Mr.
CUNNINGHAM, Mr. SUNUNU, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. PARKER, Mr.
QUINN, Mrs. MALONEY of New York, Mr. MCINTOSH, Mr. HERGER, Mr.
BARR of Georgia, and Mr. CONDIT
MARCH 18, 1998
Referred to the Committee on House Oversight for a period ending not later
than May 1, 1998 for consideration of such provisions of the bill and
amendment reported by the Committee on the Judiciary as fall within its
jurisdiction pursuant to clause 1(h), rule X
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 22, 1997]
A BILL
To establish a Congressional Office of Regulatory Analysis.
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 ‘‘Congressional Office of
Regulatory Analysis Creation Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) Federal regulations have had a positive im-
pact in protecting the environment and the health
and safety of all Americans; however, uncontrolled in-
creases in the costs that regulations place on the econ-
omy cannot be sustained;
(2) the legislative branch has a responsibility to
see that the laws it passes are properly implemented
by the executive branch;
(3) effective implementation of chapter 8 of title
5, United States Code (relating to congressional re-
view of agency rulemaking) is essential to controlling
the regulatory burden that the Government places on
the economy; and
(4) in order for the legislative branch to fulfill its
responsibilities under chapter 8 of title 5, United
States Code, it must have accurate and reliable infor-
mation on which to base its decisions.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—There is established a Con-
gressional Office of Regulatory Analysis (hereinafter
in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Office’’). The Office
shall be headed by a Director.
(2) APPOINTMENT.—The Director shall be ap-
pointed by the Speaker of the House of Representa-
tives and the majority leader of the Senate without
regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis
of the Director’s ability to perform the duties of the
Office.
(3) TERM.—The term of office of the Director
shall be 4 years, but no Director shall be permitted
to serve more than 3 terms. Any individual appointed
as Director to fill a vacancy prior to the expiration
of a term shall serve only for the unexpired portion
of that term. An individual serving as Director at the
expiration of that term may continue to serve until
the individual’s successor is appointed.
(4) REMOVAL.—The Director may be removed by
a concurrent resolution of the Congress.
(5) COMPENSATION.—The Director shall receive
compensation at a per annum gross rate equal to the
rate of basic pay, as in effect from time to time, for
level III of the Executive Schedule in section 5314 of
title 5, United States Code.
(b) PERSONNEL.—The Director shall appoint and fix
the compensation of such personnel as may be necessary to
carry out the duties and functions of the Office. All person-
nel of the Office shall be appointed without regard to politi-
cal affiliation and solely on the basis of their fitness to per-
form their duties. The Director may prescribe the duties
and responsibilities of the personnel of the Office, and dele-
gate to them authority to perform any of the duties, powers,
and functions imposed on the Office or on the Director. For
purposes of pay (other than pay of the Director) and em-
ployment benefits, rights, and privileges, all personnel of
the Office shall be treated as if they were employees of the
House of Representatives.
(c) EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS.—In carrying out the
duties and functions of the Office, the Director may procure
the temporary (not to exceed one year) or intermittent serv-
ices of experts or consultants or organizations thereof by
contract as independent contractors, or, in the case of indi-
vidual experts or consultants, by employment at rates of
pay not in excess of the daily equivalent of the highest rate
of basic pay under the General Schedule of section 5332
of title 5, United States Code.
(d) RELATIONSHIP TO EXECUTIVE BRANCH.—The Di-
rector is authorized to secure information, data, estimates,
and statistics directly from the various departments, agen-
cies, and establishments of the executive branch of Govern-
ment, including the Office of Management and Budget, and
the regulatory agencies and commissions of the Government.
All such departments, agencies, establishments, and regu-
latory agencies and commissions shall promptly furnish the
Director any available material which the Director deter-
mines to be necessary in the performance of the Director’s
duties and functions (other than material the disclosure of
which would be a violation of law). The Director is also
authorized, upon agreement with the head of any such de-
partment, agency, establishment, or regulatory agency or
commission, to utilize its services, facilities, and personnel
with or without reimbursement; and the head of each such
department, agency, establishment, or regulatory agency or
commission is authorized to provide the Office such services,
facilities, and personnel.
(e) RELATIONSHIP
TO OTHER AGENCIES
OF CON-
GRESS.—In carrying out the duties and functions of the
Office, and for the purpose of coordinating the operations
of the Office with those of other congressional agencies with
a view to utilizing most effectively the information, services
and capabilities of all such agencies in carrying out the
various responsibilities assigned to each, the Director is au-
thorized to obtain information, data, estimates, and statis-
tics developed by the General Accounting Office, Congres-
sional Budget Office, and the Library of Congress, and
(upon agreement with them) to utilize their services, facili-
ties, and personnel with or without reimbursement. The
Comptroller General, the Director of the Congressional
Budget Office, and the Librarian of Congress are authorized
to provide the Office with the information, data, estimates,
and statistics, and the services, facilities, and personnel, re-
ferred to in the preceding sentence.
(f) APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized to be ap-
propriated to the Office to enable it to carry out its duties
and functions for fiscal years 1998 through 2006 such sums
as may be necessary but not to exceed the amount appro-
priated to carry out chapter 35 of title 44, United States
Code.
SEC. 4. RESPONSIBILITIES.
(a) TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS UNDER CHAPTER 8
FROM GAO TO OFFICE.—
(1) DIRECTOR’S NEW AUTHORITY.—(A) Section
801 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by
striking ‘‘Comptroller General’’ each place it occurs
and inserting ‘‘Director of the Office’’.
(B) Section 801(a)(2)(B) of title 5, United States
Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Comptroller General’s’’
and inserting ‘‘Director of the Office’s’’.
(2) DEFINITION.—Section 804 of title 5, United
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(4) The term ‘Director of the Office’ means the
Director of the Congressional Office of Regulatory Af-
fairs established by section 3 of the Congressional Of-
fice of Regulatory Analysis Creation Act.’’.
(3) MAJOR RULES.—
(A) REGULATORY
IMPACT
ANALYSIS.—In
addition to the assessment of an agency’s compli-
ance with the procedural steps for ‘‘major’’ rules
described in section 801(a)(2)(A) of title 5,
United States Code, the Office will also conduct
its own regulatory impact analysis of these
‘‘major’’ rules. This analysis shall include—
(i) a description of the potential bene-
fits of the rule, including any beneficial ef-
fects that cannot be quantified in monetary
terms and the identification of those likely
to receive the benefits;
(ii) a description of the potential costs
of the rule, including any adverse effects
that cannot be quantified in monetary
terms and the identification of those likely
to bear the costs;
(iii) a determination of the potential
net benefits of the rule, including an evalua-
tion of effects that cannot be quantified in
monetary terms;
(iv) a description of alternative ap-
proaches that could achieve the same regu-
latory goal at a lower cost, together with an
analysis of the potential benefit and costs
and a brief explanation of the legal reasons
why such alternatives, if proposed, could
not be adopted; and
(v) a summary of how these results dif-
fer, if at all, from the results that the pro-
mulgating agency received when conducting
similar analyses.
(B) TIME FOR REPORT TO COMMITTEES.—
Section 801(a)(2)(A) of title 5, United States
Code, is amended by striking ‘‘15’’ and inserting
‘‘45’’.
(4) NONMAJOR RULES.—The Office shall conduct
a regulatory impact analyses, as defined in para-
graph (3)(A), of any nonmajor rule, as defined in sec-
tion 804(3) of title 5, United States Code, when re-
quested to do so by a committee of the House of Rep-
resentatives or the Senate, or individual Representa-
tive or Senator.
(5) PRIORITIES.—
(A) ASSIGNMENT.—To ensure that analysis
of the most significant regulations occurs, the Of-
fice shall give first priority to, and is required
to conduct analyses of, all ‘‘major’’ rules, as de-
fined in section 804(2) of title 5, United States
Code. Secondary priority shall be assigned to re-
quests from committees of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Senate. Tertiary priority
shall be assigned to requests from individual
Representatives and Senators.
(B) DISCRETION
TO
DIRECTOR
OF
OF-
FICE.—The Director of the Office shall have the
discretion to assign priority among the second-
ary and tertiary requests.
(b) TRANSFER OF CERTAIN FUNCTIONS UNDER THE
UNFUNDED MANDATES REFORM ACT OF 1955 FROM CBO
TO OFFICE.—
(1) COST OF REGULATIONS.—Section 103 of the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C.
1511) is amended—
(A) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘the Di-
rector’’ and inserting ‘‘the Director of the Con-
gressional Office of Regulatory Analysis’’; and
(B) in subsection (c), by inserting after
‘‘Budget Office’’ the following: ‘‘or the Director of
the Congressional Office of Regulatory Analysis’’.
(2) ASSISTANCE TO THE CONGRESSIONAL OFFICE
OF REGULATORY ANALYSIS.—Section 206 of the Un-
funded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1536)
is amended—
(A) by amending the section heading to
read as follows: ‘‘SEC. 206. ASSISTANCE TO
THE
CONGRESSIONAL
OFFICE
OF
REGU-
LATORY ANALYSIS.’’; and
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘the Di-
rector of the Congressional Budget Office’’ and
inserting ‘‘the Director of the Congressional Of-
fice of Regulatory Analysis’’.
(c) OTHER REPORTS.—In addition to the regulatory
impact analyses of major and nonmajor rules described in
subsection (a) of this section, the Office shall also issue an
annual report on an estimate of the total cost of Federal
regulations on the United States economy.
SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall
take effect 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
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