[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1820 Reported in Senate (RS)]

<DOC>





                                                       Calendar No. 614
114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 1820

                          [Report No. 114-343]

   To require agencies to publish an advance notice of proposed rule 
                        making for major rules.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 21, 2015

 Mr. Lankford (for himself, Ms. Heitkamp, Ms. Ayotte, Mrs. Ernst, and 
   Mr. Kirk) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

                           September 6, 2016

               Reported by Mr. Johnson, with an amendment
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require agencies to publish an advance notice of proposed rule 
                        making for major rules.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

<DELETED>SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    This Act may be cited as the ``Early Participation in 
Regulations Act of 2015''.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 2. ADVANCE NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE MAKING.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    Subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, 
is amended--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) in section 551--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) in paragraph (13), by striking ``and'' 
                at the end;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) in paragraph (14), by striking the 
                period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 
                and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (C) by adding at the end the 
                following:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(15) `major rule' means any rule that the 
        Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory 
        Affairs determines is likely to impose--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(A) an annual effect on the economy of 
                $100,000,000 or more;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(B) a major increase in costs or prices 
                for consumers, individual industries, Federal, State, 
                local, or tribal government agencies, or geographic 
                regions; or</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(C) significant effects on competition, 
                employment, investment, productivity, innovation, or on 
                the ability of United States-based enterprises to 
                compete with foreign-based enterprises in domestic and 
                export markets; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(16) the `Office of Information and Regulatory 
        Affairs' means the office established under section 3503 of 
        chapter 35 of title 44 and any successor to that office.''; 
        and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) in section 553, by adding at the end the 
        following:</DELETED>
<DELETED>    ``(f) Advance Notice of Proposed Rule Making for Major 
Rules.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph 
        (3), not later than 90 days before the date on which an agency 
        publishes a notice of proposed rule making for a major rule in 
        the Federal Register, the agency shall publish an advance 
        notice of proposed rule making for the major rule in the 
        Federal Register.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(2) Requirements.--An advance notice of proposed 
        rule making published under paragraph (1) shall--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(A) include a written statement 
                identifying, at a minimum--</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    ``(i) the nature and significance 
                        of the problem the agency may address with a 
                        major rule, including data and other evidence 
                        and information on which the agency expects to 
                        rely for the proposed major rule;</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    ``(ii) the legal authority under 
                        which a major rule may be proposed, including 
                        whether a rule making is required by statute, 
                        and if so, whether by a specific date, or 
                        whether the agency has discretion to commence a 
                        rule making; and</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    ``(iii) an achievable objective 
                        for the major rule and metrics by which the 
                        agency will measure progress toward that 
                        objective;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(B) solicit written data, views, and 
                argument from interested persons concerning the 
                information and issues addressed in the advance notice; 
                and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(C) provide for a period of not less 
                than 60 days for interested persons to submit such 
                written data, views, or argument to the 
                agency.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(3) Exceptions.--This subsection shall not apply 
        to a major rule if--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(A) the agency proposing the major rule 
                is not required to publish a notice of proposed rule 
                making in the Federal Register for the major rule under 
                subsection (b)(3)(B);</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(B) the Administrator of the Office of 
                Information and Regulatory Affairs determines that the 
                requirements described in this subsection would not 
                serve the public interest; or</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(C) the agency proposing the major rule 
                is otherwise specifically exempted by law from the 
                notice and comment rule making procedures under this 
                section.''.</DELETED>

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Early Participation in Regulations 
Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. ADVANCE NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE MAKING.

    Subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in section 551--
                    (A) in paragraph (13), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in paragraph (14), by striking the period at 
                the end and inserting a semicolon; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(15) `major rule' means any rule that the Administrator 
        of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs determines 
        is likely to impose--
                    ``(A) an annual effect on the economy of 
                $100,000,000 or more;
                    ``(B) a major increase in costs or prices for 
                consumers, individual industries, Federal, State, 
                local, or tribal government agencies, or geographic 
                regions; or
                    ``(C) significant effects on competition, 
                employment, investment, productivity, innovation, or on 
                the ability of United States-based enterprises to 
                compete with foreign-based enterprises in domestic and 
                export markets; and
            ``(16) the `Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs' 
        means the office established under section 3503 of chapter 35 
        of title 44 and any successor to that office.''; and
            (2) in section 553, by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f) Advance Notice of Proposed Rule Making for Major Rules.--
            ``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (3), not 
        later than 90 days before the date on which an agency publishes 
        a notice of proposed rule making for a major rule in the 
        Federal Register, the agency shall publish an advance notice of 
        proposed rule making for the major rule in the Federal 
        Register.
            ``(2) Requirements.--An advance notice of proposed rule 
        making published under paragraph (1) shall--
                    ``(A) include a written statement identifying, at a 
                minimum--
                            ``(i) the nature and significance of the 
                        problem the agency may address with a major 
                        rule, including data and other evidence and 
                        information on which the agency expects to rely 
                        for the proposed major rule;
                            ``(ii) a general description of regulatory 
                        alternatives under consideration;
                            ``(iii) the legal authority under which a 
                        major rule may be proposed, including whether a 
                        rule making is required by statute, and if so, 
                        whether by a specific date, or whether the 
                        agency has discretion to commence a rule 
                        making; and
                            ``(iv) an achievable objective for the 
                        major rule and metrics by which the agency 
                        expects to measure progress toward that 
                        objective;
                    ``(B) solicit written data, views, and argument 
                from interested persons concerning the information and 
                issues addressed in the advance notice; and
                    ``(C) provide for a period of not less than 60 days 
                for interested persons to submit such written data, 
                views, or argument to the agency.
            ``(3) Exceptions.--This subsection shall not apply to a 
        major rule if--
                    ``(A) the agency proposing the major rule is not 
                required to publish a notice of proposed rule making in 
                the Federal Register for the major rule under 
                subsection (b)(3)(B);
                    ``(B) the Administrator of the Office of 
                Information and Regulatory Affairs determines that 
                complying with the requirements described in this 
                subsection--
                            ``(i) would not serve the public interest; 
                        or
                            ``(ii) would be unduly burdensome and 
                        duplicative of processes required by specific 
                        statutory requirements as rigorous as those 
                        prescribed in paragraph (2); or
                    ``(C) the agency proposing the major rule is 
                otherwise specifically exempted by law from the notice 
                and comment rule making procedures under this section.
            ``(4) Judicial review.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A determination made by the 
                Administrator of the Office of Information and 
                Regulatory Affairs in accordance with paragraph (3)(B) 
                shall not be subject to judicial review.
                    ``(B) Arbitrary and capricious.--Any deviation 
                between policies set forth in the written statement of 
                an agency under paragraph (2)(A) and any final agency 
                action shall not be considered arbitrary, capricious, 
                an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance 
                with the law under section 706(2)(A).''.
                                                       Calendar No. 614

114th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                                S. 1820

                          [Report No. 114-343]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

   To require agencies to publish an advance notice of proposed rule 
                        making for major rules.

_______________________________________________________________________

                           September 6, 2016

                       Reported with an amendment