ALERT Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2779 To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for the publication, by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, of information relating to rulemakings, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 22, 2021 Mr. GOOD of Virginia (for himself, Mr. PERRY, Ms. MACE, and Mr. FEENSTRA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for the publication, by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, of information relating to rulemakings, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘All Economic Regula- 4 tions are Transparent Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘ALERT Act 5 of 2021’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:13 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2779.IH H2779 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2779 IH SEC. 2. OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AF- 1 FAIRS PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION RE- 2 LATING TO RULES. 3 (a) AMENDMENT.—Title 5, United States Code, is 4 amended by inserting after chapter 6, the following new 5 chapter: 6 ‘‘CHAPTER 6A—OFFICE OF INFORMATION 7 AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS PUBLICA- 8 TION OF INFORMATION RELATING TO 9 RULES 10 ‘‘Sec. 651. Agency monthly submission to office of information and regulatory affairs. ‘‘Sec. 652. Office of information and regulatory affairs publications. ‘‘Sec. 653. Requirement for rules to appear in agency-specific monthly publica- tion. ‘‘Sec. 654. Definitions. ‘‘SEC. 651. AGENCY MONTHLY SUBMISSION TO OFFICE OF 11 INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS. 12 ‘‘On a monthly basis, the head of each agency shall 13 submit to the Administrator of the Office of Information 14 and Regulatory Affairs (referred to in this chapter as the 15 ‘Administrator’), in such a manner as the Administrator 16 may reasonably require, the following information: 17 ‘‘(1) For each rule that the agency expects to 18 propose or finalize during the following year: 19 ‘‘(A) A summary of the nature of the rule, 20 including the regulation identifier number and 21 the docket number for the rule. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:13 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2779.IH H2779 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2779 IH ‘‘(B) The objectives of and legal basis for 1 the issuance of the rule, including— 2 ‘‘(i) any statutory or judicial deadline; 3 and 4 ‘‘(ii) whether the legal basis restricts 5 or precludes the agency from conducting 6 an analysis of the costs or benefits of the 7 rule during the rulemaking, and if not, 8 whether the agency plans to conduct an 9 analysis of the costs or benefits of the rule 10 during the rulemaking. 11 ‘‘(C) Whether the agency plans to claim an 12 exemption from the requirements of section 553 13 pursuant to section 553(b)(B). 14 ‘‘(D) The stage of the rulemaking as of the 15 date of submission. 16 ‘‘(E) Whether the rule is subject to review 17 under section 610. 18 ‘‘(2) For any rule for which the agency expects 19 to finalize during the following year and has issued 20 a general notice of proposed rulemaking— 21 ‘‘(A) an approximate schedule for com- 22 pleting action on the rule; 23 ‘‘(B) an estimate of whether the rule will 24 cost— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:13 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2779.IH H2779 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2779 IH ‘‘(i) less than $50,000,000; 1 ‘‘(ii) $50,000,000 or more but less 2 than $100,000,000; 3 ‘‘(iii) $100,000,000 or more but less 4 than $500,000,000; 5 ‘‘(iv) $500,000,000 or more but less 6 than $1,000,000,000; 7 ‘‘(v) $1,000,000,000 or more but less 8 than $5,000,000,000; 9 ‘‘(vi) $5,000,000,000 or more but less 10 than $10,000,000,000; or 11 ‘‘(vii) $10,000,000,000 or more; and 12 ‘‘(C) any estimate of the economic effects 13 of the rule, including any estimate of the net ef- 14 fect that the rule will have on the number of 15 jobs in the United States, that was considered 16 in drafting the rule. If such estimate is not 17 available, a statement affirming that no infor- 18 mation on the economic effects, including the 19 effect on the number of jobs, of the rule has 20 been considered. 21 ‘‘SEC. 652. OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AF- 22 FAIRS PUBLICATIONS. 23 ‘‘(a) AGENCY-SPECIFIC INFORMATION PUBLISHED 24 MONTHLY.—Not later than 30 days after the submission 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:13 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2779.IH H2779 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2779 IH of information pursuant to section 651, the Administrator 1 shall make such information publicly available on the 2 Internet. 3 ‘‘(b) CUMULATIVE ASSESSMENT OF AGENCY RULE- 4 MAKING PUBLISHED ANNUALLY.— 5 ‘‘(1) PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REG- 6 ISTER.—Not later than October 1 of each year, the 7 Administrator shall publish in the Federal Register, 8 for the previous year the following: 9 ‘‘(A) The information that the Adminis- 10 trator received from the head of each agency 11 under section 651. 12 ‘‘(B) The number of rules and a list of 13 each such rule— 14 ‘‘(i) that was proposed by each agen- 15 cy, including, for each such rule, an indica- 16 tion of whether the issuing agency con- 17 ducted an analysis of the costs or benefits 18 of the rule; and 19 ‘‘(ii) that was finalized by each agen- 20 cy, including for each such rule an indica- 21 tion of whether— 22 ‘‘(I) the issuing agency conducted 23 an analysis of the costs or benefits of 24 the rule; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:13 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2779.IH H2779 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2779 IH ‘‘(II) the agency claimed an ex- 1 emption from the procedures under 2 section 553 pursuant to section 3 553(b)(B); and 4 ‘‘(III) the rule was issued pursu- 5 ant to a statutory mandate or the 6 rulemaking is committed to agency 7 discretion by law. 8 ‘‘(C) The number of agency actions and a 9 list of each such action taken by each agency 10 that— 11 ‘‘(i) repealed a rule; 12 ‘‘(ii) reduced the scope of a rule; 13 ‘‘(iii) reduced the cost of a rule; or 14 ‘‘(iv) accelerated the expiration date 15 of a rule. 16 ‘‘(D) The total cost (without reducing the 17 cost by any offsetting benefits) of all rules pro- 18 posed or finalized, and the number of rules for 19 which an estimate of the cost of the rule was 20 not available. 21 ‘‘(2) PUBLICATION ON THE INTERNET.—Not 22 later than October 1 of each year, the Administrator 23 shall make publicly available on the Internet the fol- 24 lowing: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:13 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2779.IH H2779 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2779 IH ‘‘(A) The analysis of the costs or benefits, 1 if conducted, for each proposed rule or final 2 rule issued by an agency for the previous year. 3 ‘‘(B) The docket number and regulation 4 identifier number for each proposed or final 5 rule issued by an agency for the previous year. 6 ‘‘(C) The number of rules and a list of 7 each such rule reviewed by the Director of the 8 Office of Management and Budget for the pre- 9 vious year, and the authority under which each 10 such review was conducted. 11 ‘‘(D) The number of rules and a list of 12 each such rule for which the head of an agency 13 completed a review under section 610 for the 14 previous year. 15 ‘‘(E) The number of rules and a list of 16 each such rule submitted to the Comptroller 17 General under section 801. 18 ‘‘(F) The number of rules and a list of 19 each such rule for which a resolution of dis- 20 approval was introduced in either the House of 21 Representatives or the Senate under section 22 802. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:13 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2779.IH H2779 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2779 IH ‘‘SEC. 653. REQUIREMENT FOR RULES TO APPEAR IN AGEN- 1 CY-SPECIFIC MONTHLY PUBLICATION. 2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), a rule 3 may not take effect until the information required to be 4 made publicly available on the Internet regarding such 5 rule pursuant to section 652(a) has been so available for 6 not less than 6 months. 7 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.—The requirement of subsection 8 (a) shall not apply in the case of a rule— 9 ‘‘(1) for which the agency issuing the rule 10 claims an exception under section 553(b)(B); or 11 ‘‘(2) which the President determines by Execu- 12 tive order should take effect because the rule is— 13 ‘‘(A) necessary because of an imminent 14 threat to health or safety or other emergency; 15 ‘‘(B) necessary for the enforcement of 16 criminal laws; 17 ‘‘(C) necessary for national security; or 18 ‘‘(D) issued pursuant to any statute imple- 19 menting an international trade agreement. 20 ‘‘SEC. 654. DEFINITIONS. 21 ‘‘In this chapter, the terms ‘agency’, ‘agency action’, 22 ‘rule’, and ‘rulemaking’ have the meanings given those 23 terms in section 551.’’. 24 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 25 The table of chapters for part I of title 5, United States 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:13 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2779.IH H2779 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2779 IH Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 1 chapter 5, the following: 2 ‘‘6. The Analysis of Regulatory Functions ............................................. 601 ‘‘6A. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Publication of In- formation Relating to Rules .......................................... 651’’. (c) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 3 (1) AGENCY MONTHLY SUBMISSION TO THE OF- 4 FICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AF- 5 FAIRS.—The first submission required pursuant to 6 section 651 of title 5, United States Code, as added 7 by subsection (a), shall be submitted not later than 8 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 9 and monthly thereafter. 10 (2) CUMULATIVE ASSESSMENT OF AGENCY 11 RULEMAKING.— 12 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (b) of sec- 13 tion 652 of title 5, United States Code, as 14 added by subsection (a), shall take effect on the 15 date that is 60 days after the date of the enact- 16 ment of this Act. 17 (B) DEADLINE.—The first requirement to 18 publish or make available, as the case may be, 19 under subsection (b) of section 652 of title 5, 20 United States Code, as added by subsection (a), 21 shall be the first October 1 after the effective 22 date of such subsection. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:13 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2779.IH H2779 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2779 IH (C) FIRST PUBLICATION.—The require- 1 ment under section 652(b)(2)(A) of title 5, 2 United States Code, as added by subsection (a), 3 shall include for the first publication, any anal- 4 ysis of the costs or benefits conducted for a 5 proposed or final rule, for the 10 years before 6 the date of the enactment of this Act. 7 (3) REQUIREMENT FOR RULES TO APPEAR IN 8 AGENCY-SPECIFIC MONTHLY PUBLICATION.—Section 9 653 of title 5, United States Code, as added by sub- 10 section (a), shall take effect on the date that is 8 11 months after the date of the enactment of this Act. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:13 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2779.IH H2779 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS