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the incremental benefits of the rule exceeded the
incremental costs of the rule, both generally and
regarding each of the specific industries and sec-
tors it covers;
(B) whether the rule as a whole, or any
major feature of it, is outdated, obsolete, or un-
necessary, whether by change of technology, the
marketplace, or otherwise;
(C) the extent to which the rule or informa-
tion required to comply with the rule duplicated,
conflicted, or overlapped with requirements
under rules of other agencies;
(D) in the case of a rule addressing a risk
to health or safety or the environment, what the
perceived risk was at the time of issuance and to
what extent the risk predictions were accurate;
(E) whether the rule unnecessarily impeded
domestic or international competition or unnec-
essarily intruded on free market forces, and
whether the rule unnecessarily interfered with
opportunities or efforts to transfer to the private
sector duties carried out by the Government;
(F) whether, and to what extent, the rule
imposed unfunded mandates on, or otherwise af-
fected, State and local governments;
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(G) whether compliance with the rule re-
quired substantial capital investment and wheth-
er terminating the rule on that next termination
date would create an unfair advantage to those
who are not in compliance with it;
(H) whether the rule constituted the least
cost method of achieving its objective consistent
with the criteria of the Act under which the rule
was issued, and to what extent the rule provided
flexibility to those who were subject to it;
(I) whether the rule was worded simply and
clearly, including clear identification of those
who were subject to the rule;
(J) whether the rule created negative unin-
tended consequences;
(K) the extent to which information require-
ments under the rule can be reduced; and
(L) the extent to which the rule has contrib-
uted positive benefits, particularly health or safe-
ly or environmental benefits.
(b) PRELIMINARY REPORTS ON SUNSET REVIEWS.—
The preliminary report under section 6(b)(2) on the sunset
review of a rule shall request public comments and con-
tain—
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(1) specific factual findings and legal conclu-
sions of the head of the agency conducting the review
regarding the application of section 5 to the rule, the
continued need for the rule, and whether the rule du-
plicates functions of another rule;
(2) a preliminary determination on whether the
rule should be continued without change, modified,
consolidated with another rule, or allowed to termi-
nate; and
(3) if consolidation or modification of the rule is
recommended, the proposed text of the consolidated or
modified rule and other relevant information required
by law in a notice of proposed rulemaking.
(c) FINAL REPORTS ON SUNSET REVIEWS.—The final
report under section 6(b)(3) on the sunset review of a rule
shall contain—
(1) the final factual findings and legal conclu-
sions of the head of the agency conducting the review
regarding the application of section 5 to the rule and
whether the rule should be continued without change,
modified, consolidated with another rule, or allowed
to terminate; and
(2) in the case of a rule that is continued with-
out change, modified, or consolidated with another
rule, the text of the rule.
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SEC. 9. DESIGNATION OF AGENCY REGULATORY REVIEW
OFFICERS.
The head of each agency shall designate an officer of
the agency as the Regulatory Review Officer of the agency.
The Regulatory Review Officer of an agency shall be respon-
sible for the implementation of this Act by the agency and
shall report directly to the head of the agency and the Ad-
ministrator with respect to that responsibility.
SEC. 10. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAW; SEVERABILITY.
(a) RELATIONSHIP TO APA.—Except to the extent that
there is a direct conflict with the provisions of this Act,
nothing in this Act is intended to supersede the provisions
of chapters 5, 6, and 7 of title 5, United States Code.
(b) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act, or
the application of any provision of this Act to any person
or circumstance, is held invalid, the application of such
provision to other persons or circumstances, and the re-
mainder of this Act, shall not be affected thereby.
SEC. 11. EFFECT OF TERMINATION OF A COVERED RULE.
(a) EFFECT OF TERMINATION, GENERALLY.—If the ef-
fectiveness of a covered rule terminates under section 3—
(1) this Act shall not be construed to prevent the
President or an agency from exercising any authority
that otherwise exists to implement the statute under
which the rule was issued;
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(2) in an agency proceeding or court action be-
tween an agency and a non-agency party, the rule
shall be given no legal effect (subject to paragraph
(3)) except at the request of the non-agency party;
and
(3) notwithstanding section 3, this Act shall not
be construed to prevent the continuation or institu-
tion of any enforcement action that is based on a vio-
lation of the rule that occurred before the effectiveness
of the rule terminated.
(b) EFFECT OF DEADLINES.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Notwithstanding subsection
(a), any deadline for, relating to, or involving any
action dependent upon, any rule terminated under
this Act is suspended until the agency that issued the
rule issues a new rule on the same matter, unless oth-
erwise provided by a law.
(2) DEADLINE DEFINED.—In this subsection, the
term ‘‘deadline’’ means any date certain for fulfilling
any obligation or exercising any authority established
by or under any Federal rule, or by or under any
court order implementing any Federal rule.
SEC. 12. JUDICIAL REVIEW.
(a) IN GENERAL.—A denial or substantial inexcusable
delay in granting or denying a petition under section 4(c)
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shall be considered final agency action. A denial of a con-
gressional request under section 4(d) shall not be subject to
judicial review.
(b) TIME LIMITATION OF FILING A CIVIL ACTION.—
Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, an action
seeking judicial review of a final agency action under this
Act may not be brought—
(1) in the case of a final agency action denying
a public petition under section 4(c) or continuing
without change, modifying, or consolidating a covered
rule, more than 30 days after the effective date of that
agency action; or
(2) in the case of an action challenging a delay
in granting or denying a petition for a rule under
section 4(c), more than 1 year after the period appli-
cable to the rule under section 4(c)(4).
(c) AVAILABILITY
OF
JUDICIAL
REVIEW
UNAF-
FECTED.—Except to the extent that there is a direct conflict
with the provisions of this Act, nothing in this Act is in-
tended to affect the availability or standard of judicial re-
view for agency regulatory action.
SEC. 13. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) 
ADMINISTRATOR.—The 
term 
‘‘Adminis-
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Office of In-
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formation and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of
Management and Budget.
(2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the mean-
ing given that term in section 551(1) of title 5,
United States Code.
(3) APPROPRIATE
COMMITTEE
OF
THE
CON-
GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committee of the
Congress’’ means, with respect to a rule, each stand-
ing committee of Congress having authority under the
rules of the House of Representatives or the Senate to
report a bill to amend the provision of law under
which the rule is issued.
(4) RULE.—
(A) GENERAL RULE.—Subject to subpara-
graph (B), the term ‘‘rule’’ means any agency
statement of general applicability and future ef-
fect, including agency guidance documents, de-
signed to implement, interpret, or prescribe law
or policy, or describing the procedures or prac-
tices of an agency, or intended to assist in such
actions, but does not include—
(i) regulations or other agency state-
ments issued in accordance with formal
rulemaking provisions of section 556 and
557 of title 5, United States Code;
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(ii) regulations or other agency state-
ments that are limited to agency organiza-
tion, management, or personnel matters;
(iii) regulations or other agency state-
ments issued with respect to a military or
foreign affairs function of the United States;
(iv) regulations, statements, or other
agency actions that are reviewed and usu-
ally modified each year (or more fre-
quently), or are reviewed regularly and usu-
ally modified based on changing economic
or seasonal conditions;
(v) regulations or other agency actions
that grant an approval, license, permit, reg-
istration, or similar authority or that grant
or recognize an exemption or relieve a re-
striction, or any agency action necessary to
permit new or improved applications of
technology or to allow the manufacture, dis-
tribution, sale, or use of a substance or
product; and
(vi) regulations or other agency state-
ments that the Administrator certifies in
writing are necessary for the enforcement of
the Federal criminal laws.
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(B) SCOPE OF A RULE.—For purposes of
this Act, each set of rules designated in the Code
of Federal Regulations as a part shall be treated
as one rule. Each set of rules that do not appear
in the Code of Federal Regulations and that are
comparable to a part of that Code under guide-
lines established by the Administrator shall be
treated as one rule.
(5) SUNSET REVIEW.—The term ‘‘sunset review’’
means a review of a rule under this Act.
SEC. 14. SUNSET OF THIS ACT.
This Act shall have no force or effect after the 10-year
period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Regulatory
Sunset and Review Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to require agencies to regularly
review their significant rules to deter-
mine whether they should be continued
without change, modified, consolidated
with another rule, or terminated;
(2) to require agencies to consider the
comments of the public, the regulated
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community, and the Congress regarding
the actual costs and burdens of rules
being reviewed under this Act, and
whether the rules are obsolete, unneces-
sary, duplicative, conflicting, or other-
wise inconsistent;
(3) to require that any rules contin-
ued in effect under this Act meet all the
legal requirements that would apply to
the issuance of a new rule, including any
applicable Federal cost/benefit and risk
assessment requirements;
(4) to provide for the review of sig-
nificant rules and other rules through a
sunset review process and to provide for
the repeal or other change in such rules
in accordance with chapters 5 and 7 of
title 5, United States Code;
(5) to provide for a petition process
that allows the public and appropriate
committees of the Congress to request
that other rules that are not significant
be reviewed in the same manner as sig-
nificant rules; and
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(6) to require the Administrator to co-
ordinate and be responsible for sunset re-
views conducted by the agencies.
SEC. 3. REVIEW OF REGULATIONS.
A covered rule shall be subject to review
in accordance with this Act. Upon completion
of such review, the agency which has jurisdic-
tion over such rule shall—
(1) issue a final report under section
8(c)(2) continuing such rule, or
(2) conduct a rulemaking in accord-
ance with section 8(d) to modify, consoli-
date with another rule, or terminate such
rule.
SEC. 4. RULES COVERED.
(a) COVERED RULES.—For purposes of this
Act, a covered rule is a rule that—
(1) is determined by the Adminis-
trator to be a significant rule under sub-
section (b); or
(2) is any other rule designated by
the agency which has jurisdiction over
such rule or the Administrator under this
Act for sunset review.