I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3521
To amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to provide for a report
by the General Accounting Office to Congress on agency regulatory
actions, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 24, 2000
Mr. MCINTOSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Government
Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to provide
for a report by the General Accounting Office to Con-
gress on agency regulatory actions, and for other pur-
poses.
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 Ac-
countability for Regulatory Information Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that—
(1) many Federal regulations have improved
the quality of life of the American public, however,
uncontrolled increases in regulatory costs and lost
opportunities for better regulation should not be
continued;
(2) the legislative branch has a responsibility to
ensure that laws passed by Congress are properly
implemented by the executive branch;
(3) in order for the legislative branch to fulfill
its responsibilities to ensure that laws passed by
Congress are implemented in an efficient, effective,
and fair manner, the Congress requires accurate and
reliable information on which to base decisions; and
(4) the legal effect of many Federal agency
guidance documents and other Federal agency state-
ments that are not published in the Code of Federal
Regulations is often not clear to the affected public.
SEC. 3. REPORTS ON REGULATORY ACTIONS BY THE GEN-
ERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 801(a)(2) of title 5,
United States Code, is amended by striking subparagraph
(B) and inserting the following:
‘‘(B)(i) After an agency publishes a regulatory action,
a committee of either House of Congress with legislative
or oversight jurisdiction relating to the action may request
the Comptroller General to review the action under clause
(ii).
‘‘(ii) Of requests made under clause (i), the Comp-
troller General shall provide a report on each regulatory
action selected under clause (iv) to the committee which
requested the report (and the committee of jurisdiction in
the other House of Congress)—
‘‘(I) except as provided in subclause (II), by not
later than 180 calendar days after the committee re-
quest is received; or
‘‘(II) in the case of a request for review of a no-
tice of proposed rule making or an interim final rule
making, by not later than the end of the 60-cal-
endar-day period beginning on the date the com-
mittee request is received, or the end of the period
for submission of comment regarding the rule mak-
ing, whichever is later.
The report shall include an independent analysis of the
regulatory action by the Comptroller General using any
relevant data or analyses available to or generated by the
General Accounting Office.
‘‘(iii) The independent analysis of the regulatory ac-
tion by the Comptroller General under clause (ii) shall
include—
‘‘(I) an analysis by the Comptroller General of
the potential benefits of the regulatory action, in-
cluding any beneficial effects that cannot be quan-
tified in monetary terms and the identification of
those likely to receive the benefits;
‘‘(II) an analysis by the Comptroller General of
the potential costs of the regulatory action, including
any adverse effects that cannot be quantified in
monetary terms and the identification of those likely
to bear the costs;
‘‘(III) an analysis by the Comptroller General
of any alternative regulatory approaches that could
achieve the same goal in a more cost-effective man-
ner or that could provide greater net benefits, and,
if applicable, a brief explanation of any statutory
reasons why such alternatives could not be adopted;
‘‘(IV) an analysis of the extent to which the
regulatory action would affect State or local govern-
ments; and
‘‘(V) a summary of how the results of the
Comptroller General’s analysis differ, if at all, from
the results of the analyses of the agency in promul-
gating the regulatory action.
‘‘(iv) In consultation with the Majority and Minority
Leaders of the Senate and the Speaker and Minority
Leader of the House of Representatives, the Comptroller
General shall develop procedures for determining the pri-
ority and number of those requests for review under clause
(i) that will be reported under clause (ii). The procedures
shall give the highest priority to requests regarding a no-
tice of proposed rule making for a major rule, and to re-
quests regarding an interim final rule making for a major
rule.
‘‘(C) Federal agencies shall cooperate with the Comp-
troller General by promptly providing the Comptroller
General with such records and information as the Comp-
troller General determines necessary to carry out this sec-
tion.’’.
(b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 804 of title 5, United
States Code, is amended—
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as
paragraphs (3) and (5), respectively;
(2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(2) The term ‘independent analysis’ means a
substantive review of the agency’s underlying assess-
ments and assumptions used in developing the regu-
latory action and any additional analysis the Comp-
troller General determines to be necessary.’’; and
(3) by inserting after paragraph (3) (as redesig-
nated by paragraph (1) of this subsection) the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(4) The term ‘regulatory action’ means—
‘‘(A) notice of proposed rule making;
‘‘(B) final rule making, including interim
final rule making; or
‘‘(C) a rule.’’.
SEC. 4. DISCLOSURE OF NONBINDING EFFECT OF GUID-
ANCE DOCUMENTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 8 of title 5, United
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 803 the
following:
‘‘§ 803a. Notice of nonbinding effect of agency guid-
ance
‘‘The head of an agency shall include on the first
page of each statement published by the agency that is
not a rule a notice that the statement has no general appli-
cability or future effect (or both), as applicable, and is
not binding on the public.’’.
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections
at the beginning of chapter 8 of title 5, United States
Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to
section 803 the following:
‘‘803a. Notice of nonbinding effect of agency guidance.’’.
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Gen-
eral Accounting Office to carry out chapter 8 of title 5,
United States Code, $5,200,000 for each of fiscal years
2000 through 2003.
SEC. 6. 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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