[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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