‘‘(2) had not more than 100 employees and a
net worth of not more than $7,000,000 at the time
the action addressed under subsection (1) was filed,
shall be awarded fees and other expenses as a prevailing
party under section 2412(d) of title 28, United States
Code, in accordance with the provisions of that section,
but without regard to whether the position of the United
States was substantially justified or special circumstances
make an award unjust. Any appeal of a determination of
fees pursuant to subsection (a) of this subsection shall be
determined without regard to whether the position of the
United States was substantially justified or special cir-
cumstances make an award unjust.
‘‘(c) APPLICABILITY.—
‘‘(1) COMMISSION
PROCEEDINGS.—Subsection
(a) of this section applies to proceedings commenced
on or after the date of enactment of this section.
‘‘(2) COURT PROCEEDINGS.—Subsection (b) of
this section applies to proceedings for judicial review
commenced on or after the date of enactment of this
section.’’.
TITLE V—PAPERWORK AND REG-
ULATORY 
IMPROVEMENTS
ACT
SEC. 501. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ‘‘Paperwork and Regu-
latory Improvements Act of 2004’’.
SEC. 502. 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
results 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 paperwork 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 Office of Management and Budget and the
Internal Revenue Service need to devote additional
attention to paperwork reduction.
(3) In 2002, the House Report accompanying
the Treasury and General Government Appropria-
tions Act, 2003 (House Report 107–575) stated,
‘‘The Office of Management and Budget has re-
ported that paperwork burdens on Americans have
increased in each of the last six years. Since the In-
ternal Revenue Service imposes over 80 percent of
these paperwork burdens, the Committee believes
that OMB should work to identify and review pro-
posed and existing IRS paperwork.’’.
(4) One key to success in paperwork reduction
is the Office of Management and Budget’s system-
atic review of every new and revised agency paper-
work proposal. 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 regula-
tions. Congress has a responsibility to review major
rules (as defined by section 804 of title 5, United
States Code) proposed by agencies, especially regu-
latory alternatives and the costs and benefits associ-
ated with each of them. In 2000, in the Truth in
Regulating Act, Congress established new responsi-
bility 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 bene-
fits to the public of Federal rules and paperwork re-
quirements, including an assessment of the effects of
Federal 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 simulta-
neously review both the on-budget and off-budget
costs associated with the regulatory and paperwork
requirements of each Federal agency. In 2000, Con-
gress made this a permanent annual reporting re-
quirement.
(7) The Office of Management and Budget re-
quires agencies to submit annual budget and paper-
work burden estimates in order to prepare certain
required reports for Congress, but it does not re-
quire agencies to submit estimates on costs and ben-
efits of agency rules and paperwork. The Office of
Management and Budget needs to require agencies
to submit such estimates on costs and benefits to
help prepare the annual accounting statement and
associated report required under section 624 of the
Treasury and General Government Appropriations
Act, 2001.
SEC. 503. REDUCTION OF TAX PAPERWORK.
Section 3504 of title 44, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(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
Treasury and the Office of Advocacy of the Small Busi-
ness Administration) conduct a review of the collections
of information 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. 504. 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 title.
SEC. 505. AMENDMENT OF TRUTH IN REGULATING ACT TO
MAKE PERMANENT PILOT PROJECT FOR RE-
PORT ON RULES.
(a) PERMANENT AUTHORITY.—The purpose of this
section is to make permanent the authority to request the
performance of regulatory analysis to enhance Congres-
sional responsibility for regulatory decisions developed
under the laws enacted by Congress. The Truth in Regu-
lating 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) in section 5, by striking ‘‘$5,200,000 for
each of fiscal years 2000 through 2002’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘$5,000,000 for each fiscal year beginning after
September 30, 2004’’; and
(3) in section 6—
(A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘AND DU-
RATION OF PILOT PROJECT’’;
(B) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘(a) EF-
FECTIVE DATE.—’’; and
(C) by striking subsections (b) and (c).
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section shall take effect 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this title.
SEC. 506. IMPROVED REGULATORY ACCOUNTING.
(a) REQUIREMENT FOR AGENCIES TO SUBMIT IN-
FORMATION
ON
REGULATIONS
AND
PAPERWORK
TO
OMB.—Section 624 of the Treasury and General Govern-
ment Appropriations 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 fol-
lowing 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) 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
budgeting for fiscal years 2006 and 2007. The designated
agencies shall include three regulatory agencies or offices
from among the following: the Department of Labor, the
Department of Transportation, the Department of Health
and Human Services, and the Environmental Protection
Agency.
‘‘(b) The study shall address the preparation of regu-
latory budgets. Such budgets shall include the presen-
tation of the varying estimated levels of benefits that
would be associated with the different estimated levels of
costs with respect to the regulatory alternatives under con-
sideration 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 as-
sociated report submitted to Congress for calendar year
2006 under section 624 of the Treasury and General Gov-
ernment Appropriations Act, 2001 (as enacted into law
by Public Law 106–554; 114 Stat. 2763A–161), a presen-
tation of the different levels of estimated regulatory bene-
fits and costs with respect to the regulatory alternatives
under consideration for one or more of the major regu-
latory programs of each of the agencies designated under
subsection (a).
‘‘(d) In the accounting statement and associated re-
port submitted to Congress for calendar year 2009 under
section 624 of the Treasury and General Government Ap-
propriations Act, 2001 (as so enacted), the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget, after consultation with
the Committees on the Budget and on Government Re-
form of the House of Representatives and the Committees
on the Budget and on Governmental Affairs of the Senate,
shall include a report on the study on regulatory budg-
eting. 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
considers necessary or expedient, proposed legisla-
tion regarding regulatory budgets.
‘‘(e) The report on the study on regulatory budgeting
required under subsection (d) shall also be submitted di-
rectly to the Committees on the Budget and on Govern-
ment Reform of the House of Representatives and the
Committees on the Budget and on Governmental Affairs
of the Senate.’’.
(2) The table of sections at the beginning of such
chapter is amended by adding at the end the following
new item:
‘‘1120. Regulatory budgeting.’’.
Passed the House of Representatives May 18, 2004.
Attest:
Clerk.