[Senate Report 118-28]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                       Calendar No. 72
118th Congress      }                                    {      Report
                                 SENATE
 1st Session        }                                    {      118-28
_______________________________________________________________________

                                     



       PROVIDING ACCOUNTABILITY THROUGH TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2023

                               __________

                              R E P O R T

                                 of the

                   COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND

                          GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                              to accompany

                                 S. 111

                  TO REQUIRE EACH AGENCY, IN PROVIDING
               NOTICE OF A RULEMAKING, TO INCLUDE A LINK
                TO A 100-WORD PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY OF
                           THE PROPOSED RULE








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                  May 16, 2023.--Ordered to be printed 
                  
                             _________
                              
                 U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
                 
39-010                   WASHINGTON : 2023
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
                  
        COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                   GARY C. PETERS, Michigan, Chairman
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware           RAND PAUL, Kentucky
MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire         RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona              JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada                  MITT ROMNEY, Utah
ALEX PADILLA, California             RICK SCOTT, Florida
JON OSSOFF, Georgia                  JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut      ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas

                   David M. Weinberg, Staff Director
                    Zachary I. Schram, Chief Counsel
               Emily I. Manna, Professional Staff Member
           William E. Henderson III, Minority Staff Director
              Christina N. Salazar, Minority Chief Counsel
                  Andrew J. Hopkins, Minority Counsel
                     Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk


















                                                       Calendar No. 72
118th Congress      }                                    {      Report
                                 SENATE
 1st Session        }                                    {      118-28

======================================================================



 
       PROVIDING ACCOUNTABILITY THROUGH TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2023

                                _______
                                

                  May 16, 2023.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

 Mr. Peters, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
                    Affairs, submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 111]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 111) to require 
each agency, in providing notice of a rulemaking, to include a 
link to a 100-word plain language summary of the proposed rule, 
having considered the same, reports favorably thereon without 
amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                    Page
  I. Purpose and Summary.............................................. 1
 II. Background and Need for the Legislation.......................... 2
III. Legislative History.............................................. 2
 IV. Section-by-Section Analysis...................................... 2
  V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact.................................. 3
 VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate........................ 3
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported............ 4

                         I. Purpose and Summary

    The Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act of 
2023 requires Federal agencies to include, as part of a notice 
of proposed rule making (NPRM), a link to a 100-word-or-less 
plain-language summary of the proposed rule. The summary itself 
will be made available on the website regulations.gov.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\On February 13, 2019, the Committee approved S. 522, the 
Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act of 2021, which is 
substantially similar to S. 111. Accordingly, this Committee report is, 
in many respects, similar to the Committee report for S. 522. See S. 
Rept. 117-25.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

              II. Background and Need for the Legislation

    The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) forms the procedural 
basis by which Federal agencies issue most regulations and 
other policies.\2\ The APA, which has been called the result of 
a ``fierce compromise,'' is intended to enable agencies to 
engage in policymaking while promoting the interests of those 
nongovernmental parties affected.\3\ Specifically, the 
procedure outlined in Section 553 of the APA for so-called 
``informal'' rule making ``establishes the minimum procedural 
requirements'' that agencies must observe for most 
regulations.\4\ Because regulations issued through such a 
process are generally considered legally binding, the APA 
formalizes a notice to the public of a forthcoming rule, and at 
that point, establishes an early opportunity for the general 
public to submit comments.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\Pub. L. 79-404.
    \3\George B. Shepherd, Fierce Compromise: The Administrative 
Procedure Act Emerges from New Deal Politics, Northwestern University 
Law Review, Vol. 90, No. 4 (1996).
    \4\Emily S. Bremer, A Primer on the Informal Rulemaking Process, 
Administrative Fix (blog), Administrative Conference of the United 
States (May 10, 2013) (https://www.acus.gov/newsroom/administrative-
fix-blog/primer-informal-rulemaking-process); 5 U.S.C. Sec. 553.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    However, the public's ability to offer useful feedback 
through comments is dependent upon the clarity and simplicity 
of the proposal, especially for parties who may not be experts 
in the particular subject of the rule. Therefore, this bill 
offers a uniform and universally accessible standard for 
agencies to better communicate their intended policies to the 
public: a plain-language summary of 100 words or less made 
available by agencies at regulations.gov.

                        III. Legislative History

    Senator James Lankford (R-OK) introduced S. 111 on January 
26, 2023, with Senators Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), James E. Risch 
(R-ID), Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Mike Braun (R-IN) as 
cosponsors. The bill was referred to the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) 
joined as a cosponsor on January 31, 2023.
    The Committee considered S. 111 at a business meeting on 
March 29, 2023. During the business meeting, the bill was 
ordered reported favorably by roll call vote of 11 yeas to 0 
nays, with Senators Peters, Hassan, Rosen, Padilla, Ossoff, 
Blumenthal, Paul, Lankford, Romney, Scott, and Hawley voting in 
the affirmative, and with Senators Carper, Sinema, Johnson, and 
Marshall voting yea by proxy, for the record only.

        IV. Section-by-Section Analysis of the Bill, as Reported


Section 1. Short title

    This section provides the bill's short title, the 
``Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act of 2023.''

Section 2. Requirement to post a 100-word summary to regulations.gov

    This section amends the list of information required for 
inclusion when agencies issue a notice of proposed rulemaking 
to add that they also include a link to a 100-word-or-less 
plain-language summary of the proposed rule. The summary shall 
be posted to regulations.gov.

                   V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact

    Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule 
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has 
considered the regulatory impact of this bill and determined 
that the bill will have no regulatory impact within the meaning 
of the rules. The Committee agrees with the Congressional 
Budget Office's statement that the bill contains no 
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the 
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) and would impose no costs 
on state, local, or tribal governments.

             VI. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate

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    S. 111 would require agencies to post an Internet address 
link for any proposed rule published in the Federal Register 
that would take the reader to a concise summary of not more 
than 100 words posted on regulations.gov. The Presidential 
Memorandum on Plain Language issued on June 1, 1998, and 
Executive Order 13563 already require agencies to use plain 
language in all proposed and final rules. CBO expects that 
preparing the short summary of proposed rules under S. 111 
would not significantly increase agencies' administrative 
costs. Thus, CBO estimates that implementing S. 111 would have 
no significant cost over the 2023-2028 period.
    Enacting the bill could affect direct spending by some 
agencies that are allowed to use fees, receipts from the sale 
of goods, and other collections to cover operating costs. CBO 
estimates that any net changes in direct spending by those 
agencies would be negligible because most of them can adjust 
amounts collected to reflect changes in operating costs.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew 
Pickford. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, 
Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
                                         Phillip L. Swagel,
                             Director, Congressional Budget Office.

       VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows: (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in brackets, new matter is 
printed in italic, and existing law in which no change is 
proposed is shown in roman):

UNITED STATES CODE

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


TITLE 5--GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEES

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


PART I--THE AGENCIES GENERALLY

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


Subchapter II--Administrative Procedure

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *



SEC. 553. RULE MAKING

    (a) * * *
    (b) * * *
          (1) * * *
          (2) reference to the legal authority under which the 
        rule is proposed; [and]
          (3) either the terms or substance of the proposed 
        rule or a description of the subjects and issues 
        involved[.]; and
          (4) the Internet address of a summary of not more 
        than 100 words in length of the proposed rule, in plain 
        language, that shall be posted on the Internet website 
        under section 206(d) of the E-Government Act of 2002 
        (44 U.S.C. 3501 note) (commonly known as 
        regulations.gov).

                                  [all]