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TITLE VI-MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

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EFFECTIVE DATE

SEC. 601. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the 4 amendments made by this Act shall take effect sixty days 5 after the date of enactment of this Act.

6 (b) The amendments made by title II shall take effect

7 with respect to proceedings commenced after the date of en8 actment of this Act.

To provide for the regulatory analysis of proposed rules and the review of existing rules by the agencies, to make other improvements in regulatory procedures, to establish the Administrative Conference of the United States, and for

other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 31 (legislative day, JANUARY 15), 1979

Mr. RIBICOFF (for himself, Mr. PERCY, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. BAKER, Mr. COHEN, Mr. EAGLETON, Mr. GLENN, Mr. JAVITS, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LONG, Mr. MATHIAS, Mr. METZENBAUM, Mr. NUNN, Mr. PROXMIRE, Mr. PRYOR, Mr. ROTH, and Mr. TALMADGE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred jointly, by unanimous consent, to the Committees on Governmental Affairs and the Judiciary, with instructions that after one committee orders the bill reported, the other shall have 45 days in which to report or be deemed discharged from further consideration

A BILL

To provide for the regulatory analysis of proposed rules and the review of existing rules by the agencies, to make other improvements in regulatory procedures, to establish the Administrative Conference of the United States, and for other purposes.

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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

1 That this Act may be cited as the "Reform of Federal Regu

2 lation Act of 1979".

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TITLE I—THE ANALYSIS, PLANNING AND

MANAGEMENT OF REGULATORY FUNCTIONS

FINDINGS AND PURPOSES

SEC. 101. The Congress finds and declares that—

(1) the agency decisionmaking process should be rational and systematic, and should examine the need

for proposed action as well as practical alternatives, projected consequences, anticipated achievements, and other impacts of such action;

(2) to assure effective regulatory decisions, consideration of the justifications for, consequences of, and alternatives to proposed agency action should occur at

an early stage in the decisionmaking process;

(3) to ensure a full and balanced discussion of the desirability of proposed agency action and its alternatives, each agency should maximize the opportunity for timely and meaningful public comment in the decisionmaking process;

(4) good planning and management procedures, including the establishment and observance by the agency of deadlines for completing action on proposed regulations, should be adopted to help each agency

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avoid unnecessary delay and make the regulatory proc

ess as efficient as possible; and

(5) the head of each agency should be responsible

for assuring full and effective achievement of the pur

poses of this Act.

IMPROVING THE REGULATORY PROCESS

SEC. 102. Title 5, United States Code, is amended by

8 adding immediately after chapter 5 the following new

9 chapter:

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"CHAPTER 6-THE ANALYSIS, PLANNING AND

MANAGEMENT OF REGULATORY FUNCTIONS

"SUBCHAPTER I-ANALYSIS OF REGULATORY PROPOSALS

"601. Definitions.

"602. Initial regulatory analysis.

"603. Final regulatory analysis.

"604. Elimination of duplicative analyses.

"605. Conditions for waiver.

"606. Review by the Congressional Budget Office.

"607. Judicial review.

"SUBCHAPTER II-ESTABLISHING REGULATORY PRIORITIES AND SCHEDULES FOR COMPLETING PROCEEDINGS

"621. Definition of regulatory functions.

"622. Agenda of regulatory priorities.

"623. Establishment of deadlines.

"624. Annual report on regulatory activities.

"625. Offices for regulatory planning and management.

"SUBCHAPTER I—ANALYSIS OF REGULATORY

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"(1) the term 'agency' means an agency as defined in section 552(e) of this title;

"(2) the term 'rule' has the same meaning as in section 551(4) of this title, except that the term 'rule' does not include a rule issued with respect to (A) a

military or foreign affairs function of the United States,

(B) agency management or personnel, or (C) agency organization, procedure, or practice; and

“(3) the term 'major rule' means any rule which in the judgment of the agency is likely to result in an effect on the economy in any one year of $100,000,000 or more, or any other rule which the agency determines is likely to have an equally significant effect on the national economy.

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16 "(a)(1) Prior to publishing notice of any proposed rule 17 for public comment, each agency shall determine whether the 18 rule is a major rule in accordance with section 601(3). If an 19 agency determines that a rule is not a major rule for purposes 20 of this chapter, the agency shall publish, at the time of publi21 cation of the proposed rule, a statement explaining the rea22 sons for such determination.

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“(2) Whenever an agency is required by section 553(b) 24 of this title, or by any other law, to publish notice of any 25 proposed rule which the agency determines is a major rule in