[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 21, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5212-S5213]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. DAINES (for himself, Mr. Blunt, and Mr. Gardner):
S. 1807. A bill to require agencies to publish the categorization of
certain proposed and final rules, and for other purposes; to the
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Regulatory
Impact Scale on the Economy Small Business Act, also known as the RISE
Act. One of Congress's most fundamental responsibilities is to provide
oversight to its vast regulatory structure, particularly as it pertains
to small businesses. However, Congress lacks the proper framework to
effectively monitor the impact of regulatory activity on small
businesses. Today, there is no transparent, standardized means to
realize the economic scale of regulatory rules, either proposed or
finalized, to frame their economic significance on a comparative basis.
Likewise, the American public also has no means to effectively gauge
and monitor the significance of regulatory rules. With the current lack
of scale, there is no means to categorically delineate between a ``big
regulation'' and a ``really big regulation,'' resulting in less
effective oversight.
In addition, agencies wield tremendous discretionary power in
determining whether required small business analysis applies. Today,
regulatory flexibility analysis is triggered when a proposed rule is
determined by the issuing agency to have a ``significant economic
impact'' on a substantial number of small entities. However,
[[Page S5213]]
Congress has provided no bright-line standard to determine what
constitutes significant economic impact, allowing agencies to exercise
an unnecessary amount of leniency to bypass regulatory flexibility
analysis, which is meant to give special consideration to small
businesses.
To improve both Congress and public's ability to provide regulatory
oversight, I recommend that Congress should require agencies to
categorize each proposed and final rule based on the following
categories of economic impact: category 1 between $100 million and $500
million; category 2 between $500 million and $1 billion; category 3
between $1 billion and $5 billion; category 4 between $5 billion and
$10 billion; and category 5 at $10 billion and over. To disallow
agencies from abusing broad discretionary power, Congress should
establish a bright-line standard for ``significant economic impact'' of
$100 million. Providing such guidance will provide accountability and
consistency across the vast regulatory structure and provide
efficiencies for Congress. I believe this important piece of
legislation will provide clarity and direction for our regulatory
efforts, and I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this bill.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 1807
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 ``Regulatory Impact Scale on
the Economy Small Business Act of 2015'' or the ``RISE Small
Business Act of 2015''.
SEC. 2. CATEGORIZATION OF RULES.
Section 553 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by
adding at the end the following:
``(f) Categorization of Rules.--
``(1) In general.--Before an agency promulgates a proposed
or final rule that the agency determines is likely to have an
annual effect on the economy of not less than $100,000,000,
the agency shall--
``(A) assign the rule to the applicable category described
in paragraph (2) based on the highest possible annual effect
that the agency determines the proposed or final rule is
likely to have on the economy; and
``(B) publish in the Federal Register the assigned category
for the rule.
``(2) Categories.--A proposed or final rule is a--
``(A) category 1 rule, if the agency determines that the
rule is likely to result in an annual effect on the economy
of not less than $100,000,000 and not more than $499,999,999;
``(B) category 2 rule, if the agency determines that the
rule is likely to result in an annual effect on the economy
of not less than $500,000,000 and not more than $999,999,999;
``(C) category 3 rule, if the agency determines that the
rule is likely to result in an annual effect on the economy
of not less than $1,000,000,000 and not more than
$4,999,999,999;
``(D) category 4 rule, if the agency determines that the
rule is likely to result in an annual effect on the economy
of not less than $5,000,000,000 and not more than
$9,999,999,999; and
``(E) category 5 rule, if the agency determines that the
rule is likely to result in an annual effect on the economy
of not less than $10,000,000,000.
``(3) Submission to oira.--Each agency shall, on an annual
basis, submit to the Administrator of the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs a list of the rules, by
category, that the agency published in the Federal Register
under paragraph (1) during the preceding year.
``(4) Publication on oira website.--Not later than 60 days
after the date on which the Administrator of the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs receives a list of rules
from an agency under paragraph (3), the Administrator shall
publish on www.reginfo.gov--
``(A) the list of rules received from the agency under
paragraph (3); and
``(B) an estimate of the costs and benefits of each rule
included on the list.''.
SEC. 3. DEFINING SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC IMPACT FOR INITIAL AND
FINAL REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY ANALYSES.
Section 601 of title 5, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in paragraph 6, by striking ``and'' at the end;
(2) in paragraph 7, by striking the period at the end and
inserting a semicolon;
(3) in paragraph 8--
(A) by striking ``Recordkeeping'' and all that follows
through ``The'' and inserting ``the''; and
(B) by striking the period at the end and inserting ``;
and''; and
(4) by adding at the end the following:
``(9) the term `significant economic impact' means an
annual economic effect of not less than $100,000,000.''.
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