[Senate Report 115-120]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 157
_______________________________________________________________________
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 115-120
PROVIDING ACCOUNTABILITY THROUGH TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2017
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
TO ACCOMPANY
S. 577
TO REQUIRE EACH AGENCY, IN PROVIDING NOTICE OF A
RULE MAKING, TO INCLUDE A LINK TO A 100 WORD PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY OF
THE PROPOSED RULE
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
June 28, 2017.--Ordered to be printed
________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
69-010 WASHINGTON: 2017
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin Chairman
JOHN McCAIN, Arizona CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri
ROB PORTMAN, Ohio THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware
RAND PAUL, Kentucky JON TESTER, Montana
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming GARY C. PETERS, Michigan
JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire
STEVE DAINES, Montana KAMALA D. HARRIS, California
Christopher R. Hixon, Staff Director
Gabrielle D'Adamo Singer, Chief Counsel
Satya P. Thallam, Chief Economist
Margaret E. Daum, Minority Staff Director
Stacia M. Cardille, Minority Chief Counsel
Charles A. Moskowitz, Minority Senior Legislative Counsel
Katherine C. Sybenga, Minority Counsel
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 157
115th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 115-120
======================================================================
PROVIDING ACCOUNTABILITY THROUGH TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2017
_______
June 28, 2017.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Johnson, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 577]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 577) to require
each agency, in providing notice of a rule making, to include a
link to a 100 plain language summary of the proposed rule,
having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with an
amendment and recommends that the bill, as amended, 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
2017 requires Federal agencies to include, as part of a notice
of proposed rulemaking (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.''
II. Background and the Need for Legislation
The Administrative Procedure Act (APA)\1\ forms the
procedural basis by which Federal agencies issue most
regulations and other policies. The APA, which has been called
the result of a ``fierce compromise,''\2\ is intended as a
means 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'' rulemaking
``establishes the minimum procedural requirements''\4\ that
agencies must observe for most regulations.\5\ 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Pub. Law 79-404, 60 Stat. 237.
\2\George B. Shepherd, ``Fierce Compromise: The Administrative
Procedure Act Emerges from New Deal Politics,'' Northwestern University
Law Review, Vol. 90, No. 4.
\3\Id.
\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\5 U.S.C. Sec. 553
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
However, the public's ability to offer useful feedback
through comments, especially parties who may not be experts in
the particular subject of the rule, is dependent upon the
clarity and simplicity of the proposal. Therefore, this bill
offers a uniform and universally accessible standard for
agencies to better communicate their intended policies to the
public: a 100-word plain language summary made available by
agencies at regulations.gov.
III. Legislative History
Senator James Lankford (R-OK) introduced S. 577 on March 8,
2017, with Senator James E. Risch (R-ID). The bill was referred
to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) later joined as a co-sponsor of the
bill. The Committee considered S. 577 at a May 17, 2017
business meeting.
The Committee ordered S. 577 reported favorably on May 17,
2017, by voice vote en bloc. Senators present were Senators
Johnson, McCain, Portman, Paul, Lankford, Enzi, Hoeven, Daines,
McCaskill, Tester, Heitkamp, Peters, Hassan, and Harris.
Consistent with Committee Rule 11, the Committee reports the
bill with a technical amendment by mutual agreement of the
Chairman and Ranking Member.
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 2017.''
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
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
June 2, 2017.
Hon. Ron Johnson,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S.
Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 577, the Providing
Accountability Through Transparency Act of 2017.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Matthew
Pickford.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall.
Enclosure.
S. 577--Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act of 2017
S. 577 would require agencies to post the Internet address
of the website (regulations.gov), which would contain a summary
of every rule the agencies propose. Under the bill, those
summaries could not exceed 100 words in length. Executive
Orders 12866, 13563, and the June 1, 1998, Presidential
Memorandum on Plain Language require agencies to use plain
language in all proposed and final rules. Thus, CBO expects
that preparing the short summary of proposed rules under S. 577
would have no significant cost.
Enacting the bill would affect direct spending by agencies
not funded through annual appropriations; therefore, pay-as-
you-go procedures apply. CBO estimates, however, that any net
increase in spending by those agencies would not be
significant. Enacting S. 577 would not affect revenues.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 577 would not increase net
direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
S. 577 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal
governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew
Pickford. This estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss,
Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
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
S. 1820 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
* * * * * * *
CHAPTER 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE
* * * * * * *
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).