1. This Act may be cited as the &short-title1;
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2. The purposes of this Act are to—
(1) promote the public right-to-know about the costs and benefits of Federal regulatory programs and rules;
(2) increase Government accountability; and
(3) improve the quality of Federal regulatory programs and rules.
3. In this Act:
(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the definitions under section 551 of title 5, United States Code, shall apply to this Act.
(2) The term benefit means the reasonably identifiable significant favorable effects, quantifiable and nonquantifiable, including social, health, safety, environmental, and economic effects, that are expected to result from implementation of, or compliance with, a rule.
(3) The term cost means the reasonably identifiable significant adverse effects, quantifiable and nonquantifiable, including social, health, safety, environmental, and economic effects, that are expected to result from implementation of, or compliance with, a rule.
(4) The term Director means the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
(5) The term major rule means any rule as that term is defined under section 804(2) of title 5, United States Code.
(6) I hope this MF works.
(7) The term paperwork has the meaning given the term collection of information
under section 3502 of title 44, United States Code.
(8) The term program component means a set of related rules.
4.
(a) Not later than February 5, 2001, and on the first Monday in February of each year thereafter, the President, acting through the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, shall prepare and submit to the Congress an accounting statement and associated report containing—
(1) an estimate of the total annual costs and benefits of Federal regulatory programs, including rules and paperwork—
(A) in the aggregate;
(B) by agency, agency program, and program component; and
(C) by major rule;
(2) an analysis of direct and indirect impacts of Federal rules and paperwork on Federal, State, local, and tribal government, the private sector, small business, wages, consumer prices, productivity, economic growth, and distributional effects;
(3) an identification and analysis of overlaps, duplications, and potential inconsistencies among Federal regulatory programs; and
(4) recommendations to reform inefficient or ineffective regulatory programs or program components.
(b) To the extent feasible, the Director shall, in estimates contained in any submission under subsection (a)(1), quantify the net benefits or net costs of—
(1) each program component covered by the submission;
(2) each major rule covered by the submission; and
(3) each option for which costs and benefits were included in any regulatory impact analysis issued for any major rule covered by the submission.
(c) Summary of regulatory activity The Director shall include in each submission under subsection (a)(1) a table stating the number of major rules and the number of nonmajor rules issued by each agency in the preceding fiscal year.
(d) Years covered by accounting statement Each accounting statement submitted under this section shall, at a minimum—
(1) cover expected costs and benefits for the fiscal year for which the statement is submitted and each of the 4 fiscal years following that fiscal year;
(2) cover previously expected costs and benefits for each of the 2 fiscal years preceding the fiscal year for which the statement is submitted, or the most recent revision of such costs and benefits; and
(3) with respect to each major rule, include the estimates of costs and benefits for each of the fiscal years referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) that were included in the regulatory impact analysis that was prepared for the major rule.
5.
(a) Before submitting an accounting statement and the associated report to Congress under section 4, and before preparing final guidelines under section 6, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall—
(1) provide public notice and an opportunity of at least 60 days for submission of comments on the statement and report or guidelines, respectively; and
(2) consult with the Director of the Congressional Budget Office on the statement and report or guidelines, respectively.
(b) After consideration of the comments, the Director shall include an appendix to the report or guidelines, respectively, addressing the public comments and peer review comments under section 7.
6. Guidelines from the office of management and budget
(a) Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with the Council of Economic Advisors, shall issue guidelines to agencies to standardize—
(1) most plausible measures of costs and benefits; and
(2) the format of information provided for accounting statements.
(b) The Director shall review submissions from the agencies to ensure consistency with the guidelines under this section.
7.
(a) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall arrange for 2 or more organizations that have nationally recognized expertise in regulatory analysis and regulatory accounting and that are independent of and external to the Government, to provide peer review of each accounting statement and associated report under section 4 and the guidelines under section 6 before the statement, report, or guidelines are final.
(b) The peer review under this section shall provide written comments to the Director in a timely manner. The Director shall use the peer review comments in preparing the final statements, associated reports, and guidelines.
(c) Peer review under this section shall not be subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.).