Tell Senators McCaskill and Heitkamp to Support Regulatory Accountability Act

The US Chamber of Commerce is requesting industry leaders in Missouri and North Dakota contact Senators McCaskill and Heitkamp, urging them to cosponsor the Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA) in the Senate.  RAA has already passed the US House with bipartisan support.  The legislation would target the most expensive and burdensome rules to ensure there is greater scrutiny and transparency in the rule-making process, that the data backing decisions are sound and appropriate, and that these rule-making agencies are held accountable for their actions.

“The federal government relies on a 70 year old system to create new regulations, created in 1946,” the Chamber said in a statement.  “That’s failing our 21st Century economy and businesses and workers.”

The bill would not dismantle existing regulations, but rather modify the regulatory process going forward.  More specifically, the bill includes the following provisions:

• Title I which requires agencies to choose the lowest-cost rulemaking alternative that meets statutory objectives and requires greater opportunity for public input and vetting of critical information.

• Title II which repeals the Chevron and Auer doctrines to end judicial deference to bureaucrats’ statutory and regulatory interpretations.

• Title III which requires agencies to account for the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of new regulations on small businesses and find flexible ways to reduce them. Specifically, the title amends the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) and the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) to ensure agencies adequately analyze proposed rules for their potential impacts on small businesses.

• Title IV which amends the Administrative Procedure Act to require federal agencies to postpone the implementation of any rule imposing an annual cost on the economy of more than $1 billion (classified as a “high-impact” rule) if a petition seeking judicial review of that regulation is filed within the statutorily provided time for challenging the rule’s issuance (or a default period of 60 days). Under the bill, implementation would be postponed until any judicial review is resolved.

• Title V which requires federal agencies to submit monthly regulatory updates to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for all rules expected to be proposed or released in the upcoming year. The bill requires that most regulations must be published in such reports at least six months before becoming effective.
• Title VI which requires agencies to post on the regulations.gov website an abbreviated summary of proposed rules. Summaries would be required to be no more than 100 words in length.