Regulatory Report Card Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8006 To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to issue regulatory scorecards to agencies, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AUGUST 11, 2020 Mr. GOSAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committee on the Judi- ciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To direct the Comptroller General of the United States to issue regulatory scorecards to agencies, 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 ‘‘Regulatory Report 4 Card Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. REGULATORY SCORECARD. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 7 date of the enactment of this section, and every 2 years 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:54 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8006.IH H8006 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8006 IH thereafter, the Comptroller General shall issue to each 1 agency, and provide contemporaneously to the Committee 2 on Oversight and Reform of the House of Representatives 3 and the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern- 4 mental Affairs of the Senate, a regulatory scorecard that 5 assesses the regulatory activities conducted by each such 6 agency— 7 (1) over the life of each such agency; and 8 (2) in prior 2 years. 9 (b) PUBLIC PUBLICATION.—Not later than 1 month 10 after scorecard is issued under subsection (a), such score- 11 card shall be made available to the public on a website 12 of the Comptroller General. 13 (c) REQUIREMENT TO TESTIFY.—Except as provided 14 by the Chair of the Committee on Oversight and Reform 15 of the House of Representatives or the Chair of the Com- 16 mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 17 of the Senate, as applicable, not later than 6 months after 18 the scorecard is made available to the public under sub- 19 section (a), an official who oversees the regulatory policy 20 of an agency, or a spokesperson of that agency, shall tes- 21 tify to the Committee on Oversight and Reform of the 22 House of Representatives and the Committee on Home- 23 land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate 24 on— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:57 Sep 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8006.IH H8006 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8006 IH (1) the most recent regulatory scorecard issued 1 for the agency; and 2 (2) any action taken by the agency to improve 3 such scorecard. 4 (d) REGULATIONS.—The Comptroller General may 5 issue regulations as may be necessary to carry out this 6 section. 7 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 (1) ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE ACT.—The 9 term ‘‘Administrative Procedure Act’’ means sub- 10 chapter II of chapter 5 of title 5, United States 11 Code. 12 (2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 13 meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, 14 United States Code. 15 (3) COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—The term 16 ‘‘Comptroller General’’ means the Comptroller Gen- 17 eral of the United States. 18 (4) COVERED QUESTION.— 19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 20 subparagraph (B), the term ‘‘covered question’’ 21 means a question as follows: 22 (i) Is your agency in compliance with 23 Executive Order 13771 (requiring agencies 24 to remove two regulations for every one 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:54 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8006.IH H8006 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8006 IH proposed regulation), or any successor 1 order? 2 (ii) Is your agency in compliance with 3 Executive Order 13777 (requiring regu- 4 latory reform officer and task force for 5 each agency), or any successor order? 6 (iii) Does your agency estimate and 7 publicly disclose— 8 (I) the estimated annual cost to 9 the overall economy of the United 10 States of all regulations issued by 11 agency, including any guidance docu- 12 ment issued by the agency; and 13 (II) the annual cost to the agen- 14 cy of enforcing such regulations? 15 (iv) Are all formal regulations issued 16 after the date of the enactment of this Act 17 but within the prior 2 years, under sec- 18 tions 556 and 557 of title 5, United States 19 Code, in compliance with the Administra- 20 tive Procedure Act? 21 (v) Are all hybrid regulations issued 22 after the date of the enactment of this Act 23 but within the prior 2 years, under section 24 553 of title 5, United States Code, in com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:54 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8006.IH H8006 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8006 IH pliance with the Administrative Procedure 1 Act, and any other procedural require- 2 ments under applicable law? 3 (vi) Are all informal regulations 4 issued after the date of the enactment of 5 this Act but within the prior 2 years, 6 under section 553 of title 5, United States 7 Code, in compliance with the Administra- 8 tive Procedure Act? 9 (vii) Does your agency publicly dis- 10 close all regulatory guidance in a central- 11 ized web-based location? 12 (viii) Does your agency submit a copy 13 of a regulation to Congress and the Comp- 14 troller General, in accordance with chapter 15 8 of title 5, United States Code (commonly 16 known as the ‘‘Congressional Review 17 Act’’)? 18 (ix) Does your agency include sunset 19 provisions on a majority of regulations 20 issued after the date of the enactment of 21 this Act but within the prior 2 years? 22 (x) Does your agency publicly disclose 23 the cost incurred by States and municipali- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:54 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8006.IH H8006 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8006 IH ties in complying with regulations issued 1 by the agency? 2 (xi) Does your agency submit all sig- 3 nificant regulatory actions to the Office of 4 Information and Regulatory Affairs for re- 5 view in compliance with Executive Order 6 12866, or any successor order? 7 (xii) Does your agency allow for pub- 8 lic notice and comment on regulatory guid- 9 ance? 10 (xiii) Does your agency submit copies 11 of regulatory guidance to Congress and the 12 Comptroller General? 13 (B) DISCRETION.—The following shall not 14 be considered a covered question if the Execu- 15 tive order that is the subject of the question is 16 rescinded: 17 (i) The question described under 18 clause (i). 19 (ii) The question described under 20 clause (ii). 21 (iii) The question described under 22 clause (xi). 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:54 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8006.IH H8006 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8006 IH (5) ECONOMIC IMPACT SCORE.—The term ‘‘eco- 1 nomic impact score’’ means a score calculated by the 2 Comptroller General on the basis of— 3 (A) the ongoing impact score, calculated 4 by— 5 (i) determining the total estimated 6 cost incurred by individuals and entities 7 over the life of the agency in complying 8 with regulations issued by the agency; and 9 (ii) dividing such cost by the total 10 number of regulations issued by the agency 11 over the life of the agency; and 12 (B) the term economic impact score, cal- 13 culated by— 14 (i) determining the total estimated 15 cost incurred by individuals and entities in 16 the prior two years in complying with regu- 17 lations issued by the agency; and 18 (ii) dividing such cost by the total 19 number of regulations issued by the agency 20 in the prior two years. 21 (6) GUIDANCE DOCUMENT.—The term ‘‘guid- 22 ance document’’— 23 (A) means an agency statement of general 24 applicability (other than a regulation that has 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:54 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8006.IH H8006 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8006 IH the force and effect of law promulgated in ac- 1 cordance with the notice and public procedure 2 under section 553 of title 5, United States 3 Code) that— 4 (i) does not have the force and effect 5 of law; and 6 (ii) sets forth— 7 (I) an agency decision or a policy 8 on a statutory, regulatory, or tech- 9 nical issue; or 10 (II) an interpretation of a statu- 11 tory or regulatory issue; and 12 (B) may include any of the following: 13 (i) A memorandum. 14 (ii) A notice. 15 (iii) A bulletin. 16 (iv) A directive. 17 (v) A news release. 18 (vi) A letter. 19 (vii) A blog post. 20 (viii) A no-action letter. 21 (ix) A speech by an agency official. 22 (x) An advisory. 23 (xi) A manual. 24 (xii) A circular. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:54 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8006.IH H8006 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 8006 IH (xiii) Any combination of the items 1 described in clauses (i) through (xii). 2 (7) REGULATION.—The term ‘‘regulation’’— 3 (A) means an agency statement of general 4 applicability and future effect, which the agency 5 intends to have the force and effect of law, that 6 is designed to implement, interpret, or prescribe 7 law or policy or to describe the procedure or 8 practice requirements of an agency; 9 (B) includes regulations issued pursuant 10 to— 11 (i) an informal rulemaking under sec- 12 tion 553 of title 5, United States Code; 13 (ii) a formal rulemaking under sec- 14 tions 556 and 557 of title 5, United States 15 Code; and 16 (iii) any combination of the informal 17 rulemaking described in clause (i) and the 18 formal rulemaking described in clause (ii); 19 and 20 (C) does not include— 21 (i) regulations that pertain to a mili- 22 tary or foreign affairs function of the 23 United States, other than procurement 24 regulations and regulations involving the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:54 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8006.IH H8006 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 8006 IH import or export of non-defense articles 1 and services; 2 (ii) regulations or regulations that are 3 limited to agency organization, manage- 4 ment, or personnel matters; or 5 (iii) any other category of regulations 6 exempted by the Administrator of Office of 7 Information and Regulatory Affairs. 8 (8) REGULATORY POLICY SCORE.—The term 9 ‘‘regulatory policy score’’ means a score calculated 10 by the Comptroller General by— 11 (A) adding one point for each affirmative 12 answer provided by an agency to a covered 13 question; and 14 (B) dividing the total number of points 15 added under subparagraph (A) by the total 16 number of covered questions for which answers 17 are provided by the agency. 18 (9) REGULATORY SCORECARD.—The term ‘‘reg- 19 ulatory scorecard’’ means a scorecard that provides 20 an A, B, C, D, or F grade for the regulatory activi- 21 ties of an agency, determined by the Comptroller 22 General only on the basis of the number that is the 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:54 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8006.IH H8006 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 8006 IH average of the regulatory policy score for such agen- 1 cy and the economic impact score for such agency. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:54 Aug 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8006.IH H8006 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS