tional Public Advocate shall make rules to carry out this 
section.’’. 
(2) In the table of sections for such chapter, by 
inserting after the item relating to section 507 the 
following: 
‘‘508. Office of the Public Advocate.’’. 
SEC. 12. SCOPE OF REVIEW. 
Section 706 of title 5, United States Code, is amend-
ed— 
(1) in the first sentence of the matter preceding 
paragraph (1)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘agency action.’’ and in-
serting ‘‘agency action. If a statute that an 
agency administers is silent or ambiguous as to 
the proper construction of a particular term or 
provision or set of terms or provisions, and an 
agency has followed the applicable procedures 
in subchapter II of chapter 5, has otherwise 
lawfully adjudicated a matter, or has followed 
the corresponding procedural provisions of the 
relevant statute, as applicable, a reviewing court 
shall defer to the agency’s reasonable or per-
missible interpretation of that statute, regard-
less of the significance of the related agency ac-
tion or a possible future agency action.’’; and 
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(B) by striking ‘‘To the extent necessary’’ 
and inserting: 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—To the extent necessary’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) UNREASONABLE DELAY.—For purposes of sub-
section (a)(1), unreasonable delay shall include— 
‘‘(1) when an agency has not issued a notice of 
proposed rulemaking before the date that is 1 year 
of the date of enactment of the legislation man-
dating the rulemaking, where no deadline for the 
rulemaking was specified in the enacted law; 
‘‘(2) when an agency has not issued a final 
version of a proposed rule before the date that is 1 
year of the date on which the proposed rule was 
published in the Federal Register; 
‘‘(3) when an agency has not implemented a 
final rule before the date that is 1 year of the imple-
mentation date published in the Federal Register or, 
if no implementation date was provided, before the 
date that is 1 year of the date on which the final 
rule was published in the Federal Register; and 
‘‘(4) when an agency has not issued or imple-
mented a final rule, upon a showing of good cause 
therefor.’’. 
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SEC. 
13. 
EXPANDING 
PUBLIC 
AWARENESS 
OF 
RULEMAKINGS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 553 of title 5, United 
States Code, as amended by section 8 of this Act, is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(l)(1) The head of each agency shall take such ac-
tions as may be necessary to— 
‘‘(A) expand public awareness of the initiation 
of each rulemaking proceeding; 
‘‘(B) expand public awareness of the publication 
of each proposed rule; 
‘‘(C) expand public awareness when a rule is 
published; and 
‘‘(D) establish a participation log, including all 
rulemaking participants, with respect to each rule-
making. 
‘‘(2) Not later than two business days after the date 
on which an agency publishes a notice of proposed rule-
making or a final rule under this section, the agency shall 
notify interested persons of the publication, including by 
using contact information that interested persons have 
provided to the agency and by publishing such notice on 
the agency’s website and any social media accounts.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
this section shall take effect beginning on the date that 
is 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 
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SEC. 14. PUBLIC PETITIONS. 
Section 553(e) of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘Each agency’’; 
and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(2) Not later than 60 days after the date on 
which an agency receives more than 100,000 signa-
tures on a single petition under paragraph (1), the 
agency shall provide a written response that in-
cludes— 
‘‘(A) an explanation of whether the agency 
has engaged or is engaging in the requested 
issuance, amendment, or repeal of a rule; and 
‘‘(B) if the agency has not engaged in the 
requested issuance, amendment, or repeal of a 
rule, a written explanation for not engaging in 
the requested issuance, amendment, or repeal. 
‘‘(3) Not later than 30 days after the effective 
date of this paragraph, the head of each agency shall 
establish and publish procedures for the processing 
of a petition under paragraph (1), including— 
‘‘(A) using the agency website, the Federal 
Register, and other Federal websites to educate 
the public about how to file petition under para-
graph (1); and 
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‘‘(B) creating an accessible docket on the 
internet website of the agency, or on any exist-
ing Government-wide internet website, of any 
petition filed under paragraph (1). 
‘‘(4) No agency action under this subsection 
shall be subject to review under chapter 7.’’. 
SEC. 15. AMENDMENT TO CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW ACT. 
Section 801(b) of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘(1)’’; and 
(2) by striking paragraph (2). 
SEC. 16. REINSTATEMENT OF DISAPPROVED RULES. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
(1) the term ‘‘covered rule’’ means a rule for 
which a joint resolution of disapproval was enacted 
under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, be-
fore the date of enactment of this Act; and 
(2) the term ‘‘Federal agency’’ has the meaning 
given the term ‘‘agency’’ in section 551(1) of title 5, 
United States Code. 
(b) FAST TRACK REINSTATEMENT.—A Federal agen-
cy may reinstate a covered rule by publishing the covered 
rule in the Federal Register during the 1-year period be-
ginning on the date of enactment of this Act. 
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(c) REINSTATEMENT AFTER 1-YEAR PERIOD.—After 
the end of the 1-year period beginning on the date of en-
actment of this Act, a Federal agency may reinstate a cov-
ered rule using the rulemaking procedures described in 
section 553 of title 5, United States Code. 
SEC. 17. COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS. 
(a) REQUIREMENT OF REGULATORY IMPACT.—If an 
agency is performing a cost-benefit or regulatory impact 
analysis in the course of issuing a rule, the agency shall— 
(1) take into account the benefits of the rule to 
the public, including the nonquantifiable benefits of 
the rule; and 
(2) except for good cause shown, prioritize 
adoption of a rule that provides benefits to the pub-
lic, including nonquantifiable benefits. 
(b) REQUIREMENT OF DISTRIBUTIONAL EFFECTS.— 
An agency shall agency shall take into account distribu-
tional effects and the social equity impact of a rule when 
issuing such rule. 
(c) SCOPE
OF REVIEW.—Section 706 of title 5, 
United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
following: ‘‘When acting under paragraph (2)(A), the 
court shall not require an agency to demonstrate that the 
challenged action meets a cost-benefit analysis standard 
except where explicitly required by law.’’. 
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SEC. 18. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) AGENCY; RULE.—The terms ‘‘agency’’ and 
‘‘rule’’ shall have the meanings given such terms in 
section 551 of title 5, United States Code. 
(2) INTERESTED
PERSON.—The term ‘‘inter-
ested person’’ includes individuals, partnerships, cor-
porations, associations, or public or private organiza-
tions of any character other than an agency. 
(3) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the Of-
fice of Information and Regulatory Affairs of the Of-
fice of Management and Budget. 
(4) REGULATORY
ACTION.—The term ‘‘regu-
latory action’’ means any substantive action by an 
agency that promulgates or is expected to lead to the 
promulgation of a final rule or regulation, including 
notices of inquiry, advance notices of proposed rule-
making, and notices of proposed rulemaking. 
(5) SIGNIFICANT
REGULATORY
ACTION.—The 
term ‘‘significant regulatory action’’ means any reg-
ulatory action that is likely to result in a rule that 
may— 
(A) have an annual effect on the economy 
of $100,000,000 or more or adversely affect in 
a material way the economy, a sector of the 
economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the 
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environment, 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 President’s prior-
ities, or the general principles of regulation cus-
tomarily practiced by the executive branch. 
(6) SOCIAL EQUITY IMPACT.—The term ‘‘social 
equity impact’’ means any impact of a proposed 
rule, whether intended or unintended, that might 
reasonably be expected to disproportionately affect a 
population of interested persons that is part of a 
protected class or set of protected classes, based on 
the rules’s plain language, stated intention, and 
based on credible statistical projections and data on 
the impacts of similar rules, laws, and policies. 
(7) SOCIAL
EQUITY
ASSESSMENT.—The term 
‘‘social equity assessment’’ means a written and pub-
licly available report that shall specifically consider 
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any social equity impact, positive or negative, that 
the proposed policy might have on a population of 
interested persons who share a common char-
acteristic that renders them part of a protected 
class, where that population was previously subjected 
to discriminatory or exclusionary practices by the 
agency promulgating the rule or where credible de-
mographic evidence demonstrates significant dispari-
ties experienced by different populations within a 
protected class. 
Æ 
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