[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7900 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7900

      To establish a regulatory review process for rules that the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency plans to propose, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 9, 2024

Mr. Finstad (for himself, Mr. Johnson of South Dakota, Mr. Bacon, Mrs. 
  Hinson, Mr. Scott Franklin of Florida, Mr. Van Orden, Mr. Newhouse, 
Mrs. Fischbach, Mr. Austin Scott of Georgia, Mr. Williams of Texas, Mr. 
 Flood, and Mr. Moore of Alabama) introduced the following bill; which 
 was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the 
       Committees on Energy and Commerce, and Transportation and 
   Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To establish a regulatory review process for rules that the 
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency plans to propose, 
                        and for other purposes.

    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 ``EPA Accountability to Farm Country 
Act''.

SEC. 2. REGULATORY REVIEW BY THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE.

    (a) Review of Regulatory Actions.--The Secretary shall review each 
covered publication not later than 30 days after the date on which such 
publication is issued to determine whether the covered publication may 
have a major economic impact on production or prices of agricultural 
commodities, retail food prices, or otherwise on the agricultural 
economy.
    (b) Information Gathering.--If the Secretary determines a covered 
publication may have a major economic impact on production or prices of 
agricultural commodities, retail food prices, and otherwise on the 
agricultural economy, within 30 days of such determination, the 
Secretary shall--
            (1) convene a review panel for analysis of the regulatory 
        action that is the subject of the covered publication that 
        includes--
                    (A) the Secretary;
                    (B) an employee of the Department of Agriculture;
                    (C) an employee of the Environmental Protection 
                Agency that is designated by the Administrator;
                    (D) an employee from the Office of Information and 
                Regulatory Affairs within the Office of Management and 
                Budget that is designated by the Director of the Office 
                of Management and Budget; and
                    (E) four active producers from different geographic 
                areas of the United States, and that represent a cross-
                section of agricultural commodities grown in the United 
                States;
            (2) notify the Committee on Agriculture of the House of 
        Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 
        and Forestry of the Senate--
                    (A) that such a review panel is being convened; and
                    (B) which covered publication is to be considered 
                by such review panel;
            (3) solicit from the Administrator any information the 
        Secretary determines necessary to facilitate a review of the 
        covered publication; and
            (4) issue an economic impact statement for the publication 
        item that contains a detailed estimate of potential costs to 
        the agriculture sector of the United States.
    (c) Duties of the Administrator.--The Administrator shall provide 
any information solicited by the Secretary under subsection (b)(3) for 
purposes of facilitating a review of the covered publication involved.
    (d) Duties and Report of the Review Panel.--
            (1) Duties.--A review panel convened under subsection (b) 
        with respect to a covered publication shall--
                    (A) review any information or material obtained by 
                the Secretary and prepared in connection with the 
                covered publication, including any draft proposed 
                guidance, policy, memorandum, regulation, assessment, 
                decision, or statement of general applicability and 
                future effect;
                    (B) collect advice and recommendations from 
                agricultural entity representatives with respect to 
                such publication; and
                    (C) compile and analyze such advice and 
                recommendations.
            (2) Report.--Not later than 60 days after the date a review 
        panel is convened under subsection (b) with respect to a 
        covered publication, the review panel shall submit to the 
        Secretary, the Administrator, the Committee on Agriculture of 
        the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Agriculture, 
        Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a report, which shall be 
        made publicly available by the Secretary, describing--
                    (A) the economic impact statement for the covered 
                publication issued under subsection (b)(4);
                    (B) the findings of the review panel; and
                    (C) any recommendations of the Administrator to 
                limit the scope of the covered publication to ensure 
                the regulatory action that is the subject of such 
                publication does not have a major economic impact on 
                production and prices of agricultural commodities, 
                retail food prices, and otherwise on the agricultural 
                economy.
    (e) Economic Impact of Regulatory Agenda.--Any regulatory action 
that is the subject of a covered publication that has been reviewed by 
a review panel under subsection (b) that has been determined to have a 
major economic impact or affects a substantial number of agricultural 
entities shall not be finalized until the Administrator implements the 
recommendations made by the review panel, as described in subsection 
(d).
    (f) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
            (2) Covered publication defined.--The term ``covered 
        publication'' means a publication that gives notice that the 
        Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is 
        preparing, or plans to prepare, any guidance, policy, 
        memorandum, regulation, assessment, decision, or statement of 
        general applicability and future effect, including--
                    (A) any regulatory agenda of the Environmental 
                Protection Agency published pursuant to section 602 of 
                title 5, United States Code;
                    (B) any regulatory plan or agenda published by the 
                Environmental Protection Agency or the Office of 
                Management and Budget pursuant to an Executive order, 
                including Executive Order 12866; and
                    (C) any other publication issued by the 
                Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency or 
                the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
                that may reasonably be foreseen to contain such a 
                notice.
            (3) Major economic impact.--The term ``major economic 
        impact'' means, with respect to a regulatory action that is the 
        subject of a covered publication, that the action would--
                    (A) have an annual effect on the economy of the 
                United States of $50,000,000 or more;
                    (B) cause a major increase in costs or prices for 
                agricultural entities, consumers, individual 
                industries, Federal, State, or local government 
                agencies, or geographic regions; or
                    (C) cause significant adverse effects on 
                employment, investment, productivity, innovation, or 
                the ability of United States-based enterprises to 
                compete with foreign-based enterprises in domestic and 
                export markets.
            (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Agriculture.
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