[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2847 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2847

 To require greater transparency for Federal regulatory decisions that 
                        impact small businesses.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 25, 2016

  Mrs. Ernst introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
    referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require greater transparency for Federal regulatory decisions that 
                        impact small businesses.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Prove It Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. REVIEW PROCEDURES RELATING TO INITIAL REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY 
              ANALYSIS CERTIFICATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Section 605(b) of title 5, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' before ``Sections 603'';
            (2) in paragraph (1), as so designated, by inserting ``(in 
        this subsection referred to as the `Chief Counsel')'' after 
        ``Administration''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2)(A) If the Chief Counsel disagrees with a certification and 
statement providing the factual basis for the certification submitted 
by a Federal agency under paragraph (1) with respect to an initial 
regulatory flexibility analysis for a proposed rule, the Chief Counsel 
may submit a request to the Administrator of the Office of Information 
and Regulatory Affairs (in this section referred to as the 
`Administrator') for review of the certification and statement in 
accordance with this paragraph.
    ``(B) A request for review under subparagraph (A) shall--
            ``(i) be published in the Federal Register and on the 
        website of the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business 
        Administration not later than 10 days after the date on which 
        the Federal agency submitted the certification and statement to 
        the Chief Counsel under paragraph (1);
            ``(ii) include any documentation or comments the Chief 
        Counsel provided or made during the notice and comment period 
        for the proposed rule; and
            ``(iii) include an explanation of why the Chief Counsel 
        disagreed with the certification and statement received under 
        paragraph (1), which may include--
                    ``(I) an identification of any material facts in 
                controversy;
                    ``(II) an analysis of why the proposed rule will, 
                if promulgated, have a significant economic impact on a 
                substantial number of small entities, including any 
                data determined relevant to the analysis by the Chief 
                Counsel; and
                    ``(III) any other information the Chief Counsel 
                determines relevant.
    ``(C) Not later than 10 days after the date on which the Chief 
Counsel publishes in the Federal Register a request for review under 
subparagraph (A), the Federal agency shall submit to the Administrator 
and publish in the Federal Register and on the website of the Federal 
agency a response to the request for review.
    ``(D) In conducting a review of a certification and a statement of 
a Federal agency under this paragraph with respect to a proposed rule, 
the Administrator shall consider--
            ``(i) whether the agency correctly determined which small 
        entities will be affected by the proposed rule;
            ``(ii) whether the Federal agency considered adequate 
        economic data to assess whether the proposed rule will have a 
        significant impact on a substantial number of small entities; 
        and
            ``(iii) the economic implications of the proposed rule, 
        including whether the data supplied by the Chief Counsel in the 
        request for review under subparagraph (A) would lead to the 
        proposed rule having a significant economic impact on a 
        substantial number of small entities.
    ``(E) Not later than 40 days after the date on which the Chief 
Counsel submits to the Administrator a request for review under 
subparagraph (A), the Administrator shall submit to the Chief Counsel 
and the Federal agency and publish in the Federal Register and on the 
website of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs the results 
of the review. If the Administrator determines that the proposed rule 
will, if promulgated, have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities, the Federal agency shall perform 
an initial regulatory flexibility analysis and a final regulatory 
flexibility analysis for the proposed rule under sections 603 and 604, 
respectively.''.
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