II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1431 To require agencies to publish a reference to the specific provision of law, including any relevant statutory language, under which agency rules are proposed, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 3, 2023 Mr. LEE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To require agencies to publish a reference to the specific provision of law, including any relevant statutory lan- guage, under which agency rules are proposed, 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 ‘‘Agency Accountability 4 Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:26 May 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1431.IS S1431 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1431 IS SEC. 2. STATUTORY AUTHORITY FOR RULEMAKING. 1 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘agen- 2 cy’’ and ‘‘rule’’ have the meanings given those terms in 3 section 551 of title 5, United States Code. 4 (b) STATUTORY AUTHORITY FOR RULEMAKING.— 5 Section 553 of title 5, United States Code, is amended— 6 (1) in subsection (b)— 7 (A) by amending paragraph (2) to read as 8 follows: 9 ‘‘(2) a reference to— 10 ‘‘(A) the specific provision of law that pro- 11 vides the agency with regulatory authority over 12 the subject matter area affected by the rule; 13 and 14 ‘‘(B) the specific provision of law, includ- 15 ing any relevant statutory language, under 16 which the rule is proposed;’’; and 17 (B) in paragraph (3)(B), by inserting ‘‘and 18 the specific references described in paragraph 19 (2)’’ after ‘‘therefor’’; and 20 (2) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(f) When publishing a final rule in the Federal Reg- 22 ister, including any rule for which a notice of proposed 23 rulemaking is not required to be published, an agency 24 shall include the references described in subsection 25 (b)(2).’’. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:26 May 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1431.IS S1431 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1431 IS (c) NOTICE REGARDING STATUTORY AUTHORITY.— 1 If an agency imposes a fine or other penalty on an indi- 2 vidual related to the violation of a rule, the agency shall 3 inform the individual of the specific statutory provision of 4 law that forms the basis of the rule that the individual 5 is accused of violating. 6 (d) AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE.—It shall be an affirma- 7 tive defense against an alleged violation of a rule for a 8 defendant in any administrative proceeding of an agency, 9 or before a court of the United States, if an individual 10 of ordinary intelligence could not anticipate from the stat- 11 utory language of a provision of law purported to form 12 the basis for the rule in question that the conduct of the 13 individual would be unlawful. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:26 May 12, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1431.IS S1431 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS