What This Bill Does
This bill changes how federal agencies create new rules. It requires people and companies who submit research or studies to agencies to disclose who paid for that research and who might benefit from it. The bill also creates a new Office of the Public Advocate to help regular people participate in the rulemaking process.
##
Who It Affects
- Federal agencies that write rules
- Companies and individuals who submit information to agencies during rulemaking
- Publicly traded companies (those required to file annual reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission)
- The public trying to participate in rulemaking processes
##
Key Provisions
- Companies and individuals must disclose the funding sources and sponsors of any studies or research they submit to agencies during rulemaking, including how much money was involved and who reviewed the research (Sec. 4)
- Agencies must make research studies publicly available on their websites and in public dockets unless exempt under federal information laws (Sec. 5)
- Agencies must tell the public about conflicts of interest when research is submitted if at least 10 percent of funding comes from a company regulated by that agency or if the regulated company controlled the research (Sec. 5)
- A new Office of the Public Advocate will help ordinary people participate in rulemaking and study how rules affect different populations unfairly (Sec. 11)
- Agencies must respond within 60 days to public petitions that get more than 100,000 signatures, explaining whether they will make the requested rule change (Sec. 14)
##
What Changes
If this bill becomes law, agencies will have new requirements to tell the public about conflicts of interest in research submitted during rulemaking. Companies that knowingly submit false information could face civil penalties of at least $250,000 for the first violation and at least $1,000,000 for each subsequent violation. Agencies will have to speed up their rule review process, limiting it to 60 days plus one possible extension. The federal government will create a new office specifically to help average people and underrepresented groups participate in rulemaking.
##
Important Definitions
- **Rule**: Any substantive action by an agency that creates or is expected to create a final regulation (Sec. 18)
- **Interested person**: Individuals, partnerships, corporations, associations, or organizations (but not agencies) (Sec. 18)
- **Social equity impact**: Any effect of a proposed rule that might unfairly affect groups of people protected by law based on race, gender, or other characteristics (Sec. 18)
- **Significant regulatory action**: Rule changes affecting the economy by $100,000,000 or more per year, or that seriously affect the environment, public health, jobs, or state and local governments (Sec. 18)
##
Effective Date
The requirement for agencies to notify the public about proposed rules within two business days takes effect 30 days after the bill becomes law (Sec. 13). Other provisions take effect upon enactment unless otherwise specified.
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1507
To amend title 5, United States Code, to require disclosure of conflicts
of interest with respect to rulemaking, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 9, 2023
Ms. JAYAPAL (for herself, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr.
TAKANO, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. JOHNSON of Geor-
gia, Mr. LIEU, Ms. NORTON, and Ms. SCANLON) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addi-
tion to the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, for a period to
be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
A BILL
To amend title 5, United States Code, to require disclosure
of conflicts of interest with respect to rulemaking, 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 ‘‘Stop Corporate Cap-
4
ture Act’’.
5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
6
Congress finds the following:
7
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•HR 1507 IH
(1) Congress is dependent on providing discre-
1
tion to executive officials and agencies (including
2
independent agencies) to implement its statutes.
3
Congress provides appropriate oversight of the use
4
of this discretion.
5
(2) Regulatory legislation is often phrased in
6
broad terms, with an intelligible principle, to em-
7
power agencies to address issues, such as those pre-
8
sented by technological, scientific, or social develop-
9
ments that were not precisely foreseen when the leg-
10
islation was enacted; and to draw upon the agency’s
11
specialized knowledge, experience, and responsibility
12
for implementing the statute.
13
(3) Such broad authorizing language is often
14
necessary to empower the administering agency to
15
take effective action when new or unforeseen issues
16
arise, provided that the rule does not exceed clear
17
limits in statute nor implement it in an impermis-
18
sible manner.
19
(4) A rule that an agency has adopted to imple-
20
ment a broadly worded regulatory statute should
21
generally not be held to be invalid on the basis that
22
Congress has not addressed the agency’s proposed
23
course of action in specific terms.
24
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•HR 1507 IH
(5) A rule that an agency has adopted to imple-
1
ment a regulatory statute should generally not be
2
held to be invalid on the basis that the agency has
3
not previously adopted a similar rule or scheme of
4
regulation.
5
(6) The expectation that a rule will have broad
6
economic, political, or social signficance, should not,
7
standing alone, negate application of the principle
8
stated in paragraph (1), (2), or (3).
9
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
10
It is the sense of Congress that—
11
(1) agency economic analyses of regulatory ac-
12
tions commonly underestimate the benefits of regu-
13
latory actions that protect public health and safety
14
and overestimate the costs of regulatory action to in-
15
dustry;
16
(2) agency regulatory actions often fail to ade-
17
quately consider the distributional effects and social
18
equity impact of regulatory action; and
19
(3) an agency shall prioritize the statutory di-
20
rection of Congress when taking regulatory action.
21
SEC. 4. DISCLOSURE OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.
22
Section 553 of title 5, United States Code, is amend-
23
ed—
24
(1) in subsection (c)—
25
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•HR 1507 IH
(A) by striking ‘‘After notice required’’ and
1
inserting the following:
2
‘‘(1) After notice required’’; and
3
(B) by adding at the end the following:
4
‘‘(2) In the case of any submission under para-
5
graph (1) by an interested person that includes a
6
scientific, economic, or technical study or research
7
(or a citation thereto) that the interested person
8
funded directly or indirectly, or the nonpublic results
9
of any scientific, economic, or technical study or re-
10
search that the interested person funded directly or
11
indirectly, the interested person shall disclose to the
12
agency, the following:
13
‘‘(A) The amount of any funds that were
14
received by the person who conducted the study
15
or research.
16
‘‘(B) The entity that provided the funds
17
referred to in subparagraph (A).
18
‘‘(C) Any entity that was allowed to review
19
or revise the study or research, and the extent
20
of that review or revision.
21
‘‘(D) Any financial relationship between
22
the person who conducted the study or re-
23
search, and any person that would be affected
24
by the proposed rule.’’;
25
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•HR 1507 IH
(2) in subsection (c), in the first sentence, by
1
inserting ‘‘, subject to subsections (f) and (h),’’ after
2
‘‘the agency shall’’; and
3
(3) by adding at the end the following:
4
‘‘(f) With respect to any submission by an interested
5
person under subsection (c) or any other submission by
6
an interested person relating to a proposed rule or final
7
rule that includes a scientific, economic, or technical study
8
or research by the interested person not published in a
9
publicly available peer-reviewed publication, or any result
10
of a scientific, economic, or technical study or research
11
by the interested person not published in a publicly avail-
12
able peer-reviewed publication, the interested person, in
13
making that submission, shall disclose to the agency—
14
‘‘(1) the source of any funding for the study or
15
research, as applicable;
16
‘‘(2) any entity that sponsored the study or re-
17
search;
18
‘‘(3) the extent to which the findings of the
19
study or research were reviewed by a person that
20
may be affected by the rulemaking to which the sub-
21
mission relates;
22
‘‘(4) the identity of any person identified under
23
paragraph (3); and
24
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•HR 1507 IH
‘‘(5) the nature of any financial relationship, in-
1
cluding a consulting agreement, the support of any
2
expert witness, and the funding of research, between
3
any person that conducted the study or research and
4
any interested person with respect to the rulemaking
5
to which the submission relates.’’.
6
SEC. 5. INCREASING DISCLOSURES RELATING TO STUDIES
7
AND RESEARCH.
8
Section 553 of title 5, United States Code, as amend-
9
ed by section 4 of this Act, is amended by adding at the
10
end the following:
11
‘‘(g) With respect to a study or research that is sub-
12
mitted by an interested person to an agency under sub-
13
section (c), the agency shall ensure that the study or re-
14
search is available to the public (including on the Internet
15
website of the agency and on the public docket of the agen-
16
cy for the rulemaking) unless disclosure is exempted or
17
excluded under section 552.
18
‘‘(h)(1) If a study or research submitted by an inter-
19
ested person to an agency under subsection (c) presents
20
a conflict described in paragraph (2), the agency shall dis-
21
close the conflict to the public on the internet website of
22
the agency and on the public docket of the agency, and
23
by publication in the Federal Register, unless disclosure
24
is exempted or excluded under section 552.
25
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•HR 1507 IH
‘‘(2) A conflict described in this subsection means a
1
study or research for which—
2
‘‘(A) not less than 10 percent of the funding for
3
the study or research is from an entity subject to
4
the jurisdiction of the agency with respect to that
5
rulemaking; or
6
‘‘(B) an entity subject to the jurisdiction of the
7
agency with respect to that rulemaking that is regu-
8
lated by the agency exercises editorial control over
9
the study or research.
10
‘‘(i) In the case of a violation of the requirement to
11
make a disclosure—
12
‘‘(1) under subsection (c)(2) or subsection (f)
13
with respect to a submission; or
14
‘‘(2) under subsection (h) with respect to a con-
15
flict related to a submission referred to under sub-
16
section (g),
17
the agency may exclude from consideration or otherwise
18
disregard the submission, and the agency has no obliga-
19
tion to respond to the submission, except that the submis-
20
sion may be remade with required disclosures during the
21
opportunity for participation referred to in subsection
22
(c)(1). Nothing in this subsection may be construed to af-
23
fect the level of deference (in accordance with applicable
24
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•HR 1507 IH
law) accorded to agency action by a court reviewing such
1
action.’’.
2
SEC. 6. DISCLOSURE OF INTER-GOVERNMENTAL RULE
3
CHANGE.
4
With respect to any material provided to the Office
5
with regard to a regulatory action for purposes of central-
6
ized review of regulatory actions, the agency shall—
7
(1) not later than the date on which the agency
8
publishes a general notice of proposed rulemaking
9
required under section 553(b) of title 5, United
10
States Code, with respect to the action, place in the
11
rulemaking docket—
12
(A) the substance of any change between
13
the text of any draft regulatory action that the
14
agency provided to the Office and the text pub-
15
lished in the general notice with respect to the
16
action; and
17
(B) a statement regarding whether any
18
change described in subparagraph (A) was
19
made as a result of communication with—
20
(i) the Office;
21
(ii) another agency; or
22
(iii) any other Federal official; and
23
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•HR 1507 IH
(2) not later than the date on which the agency
1
publishes the regulatory action in the Federal Reg-
2
ister, place in the rulemaking docket—
3
(A) the substance of any changes between
4
the text of the regulatory action that the agency
5
provided to the Office and the text of the regu-
6
latory action that the agency published in the
7
Federal Register; and
8
(B) a statement regarding whether any
9
change described in subparagraph (A) was
10
made as a result of communication with—
11
(i) the Office;
12
(ii) another agency; or
13
(iii) any other Federal official.
14
SEC. 7. JUSTIFICATION OF WITHDRAWN RULES.
15
(a) IN GENERAL.—If an agency withdraws a regu-
16
latory action after providing the action to the Office under
17
section 6(a)(3) of the Executive order (or, if the agency
18
does not provide the regulatory action to the Office under
19
that section, after publishing the general notice of pro-
20
posed rulemaking with respect to the action under section
21
553(b) of title 5, United States Code), the agency shall
22
publish in the Federal Register, on the public docket of
23
the agency, and on the internet website of the agency a
24
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•HR 1507 IH
statement regarding the decision by the agency to with-
1
draw the action.
2
(b) CONTENTS.—A statement required under para-
3
graph (1) with respect to a decision by an agency to with-
4
draw a regulatory action shall include, at a minimum—
5
(1) a detailed explanation of the reasons that
6
the agency withdrew the action; and
7
(2) an explanation regarding whether the deci-
8
sion by the agency to withdraw the action was
9
based, in whole or in part, on a request by, or input
10
from—
11
(A) the Office;
12
(B) another agency; or
13
(C) any other Federal official.
14
SEC. 8. NEGOTIATED RULEMAKING.
15
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter 5 of
16
title 5, United States Code, is amended—
17
(1) in section 561, in the first sentence, by in-
18
serting ‘‘between agencies and Federal, State, local,
19
or tribal governments. This subchapter shall apply
20
only to information negotiations between Federal,
21
State, local, or tribal governments’’ after ‘‘informal
22
rule making process’’;
23
(2) in section 563—
24
(A) in subsection (a)—
25
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•HR 1507 IH
(i) in paragraph (2), by inserting
1
‘‘Federal, State, local, or tribal govern-
2
ment’’ after ‘‘identifiable’’; and
3
(ii) in paragraph (3), by striking
4
‘‘persons who’’ and inserting ‘‘representa-
5
tives of Federal, State, local, and tribal
6
governments that’’; and
7
(B) in subsection (b)—
8
(i) in paragraph (1)—
9
(I) in subparagraph (A)—
10
(aa) by striking ‘‘persons
11
who’’ and inserting ‘‘Federal,
12
State, local, or tribal govern-
13
ments that’’; and
14
(bb) by striking ‘‘, including
15
residents of rural areas’’; and
16
(II) in subparagraph (B)—
17
(aa) by striking ‘‘with such
18
persons’’ and inserting ‘‘with rep-
19
resentatives
of
those
govern-
20
ments’’; and
21
(bb) by striking ‘‘to such
22
persons’’ and inserting ‘‘to those
23
governments’’; and
24
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•HR 1507 IH
(ii) in paragraph (2), in the second
1
sentence—
2
(I) by striking ‘‘persons who’’
3
and inserting ‘‘representatives of Fed-
4
eral, State, local, or tribal govern-
5
ments that’’; and
6
(II) by striking ‘‘, including resi-
7
dents of rural areas’’;
8
(3) in section 564—
9
(A) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘;
10
applications for membership on committees’’;
11
(B) in subsection (a)—
12
(i) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘the
13
person or persons’’ and inserting ‘‘the rep-
14
resentatives of Federal, State, local, and
15
tribal governments’’;
16
(ii) in paragraph (6), by adding ‘‘and’’
17
at the end;
18
(iii) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘;
19
and’’ and inserting a period; and
20
(iv) by striking paragraph (8);
21
(C) by striking subsection (b);
22
(D) by redesignating subsection (c)
[Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]