Us Congress Senate Bill SB1615 Latest Draft

                            II 
118THCONGRESS 
1
STSESSION S. 1615 
To improve agency rulemaking, and for other purposes. 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MAY16, 2023 
Mr. L
ANKFORD(for himself, Mr. THUNE, Mr. JOHNSON, and Mr. MARSHALL) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 
A BILL 
To improve agency 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 ‘‘Regulatory Account-4
ability Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
Section 551 of title 5, United States Code, is amend-7
ed— 8
(1) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘rule making’’ 9
and inserting ‘‘rulemaking’’; 10
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 
•S 1615 IS
(2) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘rule making’’ 1
and inserting ‘‘rulemaking’’; 2
(3) in paragraph (13), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 3
end; 4
(4) in paragraph (14), by striking the period at 5
the end and inserting a semicolon; and 6
(5) by adding at the end the following: 7
‘‘(15) ‘guidance’ means an agency statement of 8
general applicability that— 9
‘‘(A) is not intended to have the force and 10
effect of law; and 11
‘‘(B) sets forth a policy on a statutory, 12
regulatory, or technical issue or an interpreta-13
tion of a statutory or regulatory issue; 14
‘‘(16) ‘major guidance’ means guidance that the 15
Administrator finds is— 16
‘‘(A) likely to lead to— 17
‘‘(i) an annual effect on the economy 18
of $100,000,000 or more; 19
‘‘(ii) a major increase in costs or 20
prices for consumers, individual industries, 21
Federal, State, local, or Tribal government 22
agencies, or geographic regions; or 23
‘‘(iii) significant adverse effects on 24
competition, employment, investment, pro-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 
•S 1615 IS
ductivity, innovation, public health and 1
safety, or the ability of United States- 2
based enterprises to compete with foreign- 3
based enterprises in domestic and export 4
markets; or 5
‘‘(B) a departure from a prior statutory in-6
terpretation or agency policy; 7
‘‘(17) ‘major rule’ means any rule that the Ad-8
ministrator determines is likely to— 9
‘‘(A) cause an annual effect on the econ-10
omy of $100,000,000 or more; 11
‘‘(B) cause a major increase in costs or 12
prices for consumers, individual industries, Fed-13
eral, State, local, or Tribal government agen-14
cies, or geographic regions; 15
‘‘(C) cause significant adverse effects on 16
competition, employment, investment, produc-17
tivity, innovation, public health and safety, or 18
the ability of United States-based enterprises to 19
compete with foreign-based enterprises in do-20
mestic and export markets; or 21
‘‘(D) raise novel legal or policy issues aris-22
ing out of legal mandates; 23
‘‘(18) ‘Office of Information and Regulatory Af-24
fairs’ means the office established under section 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 
•S 1615 IS
3503 of title 44 and any successor to that office; 1
and 2
‘‘(19) ‘Administrator’ means the Administrator 3
of the Office of Information and Regulatory Af-4
fairs.’’. 5
SEC. 3. RULEMAKING. 6
Section 553 of title 5, United States Code, is amend-7
ed— 8
(1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘Rule 9
making’’ and inserting ‘‘Rulemaking’’; 10
(2) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘(a) This sec-11
tion applies’’ and inserting the following: 12
‘‘(a) A
PPLICABILITY.—This section applies’’; and 13
(3) by striking subsections (b) through (e) and 14
inserting the following: 15
‘‘(b) R
ULEMAKING CONSIDERATIONS.—In a rule-16
making, an agency shall consider, in addition to other ap-17
plicable considerations, the following: 18
‘‘(1) The legal authority under which a rule 19
may be proposed, including whether rulemaking is 20
required by statute or is within the discretion of the 21
agency. 22
‘‘(2) The nature and significance of the problem 23
the agency intends to address with a rule. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(3) Whether existing Federal laws or rules 1
have created or contributed to the problem the agen-2
cy may address with a rule and, if so, whether those 3
Federal laws or rules could be amended or rescinded 4
to address the problem in whole or in part. 5
‘‘(4) A reasonable number of alternatives for or 6
to a new rule, with the consideration of 3 alter-7
natives presumed to be reasonable, that— 8
‘‘(A) meet the objectives of the statutory 9
provision on which the rulemaking relies, in-10
cluding substantial alternatives or other re-11
sponses identified by the agency or by inter-12
ested persons; and 13
‘‘(B) consider not only mandating par-14
ticular conduct or manners of compliance, but 15
also— 16
‘‘(i) specifying performance objectives; 17
‘‘(ii) establishing economic incentives, 18
including marketable permits, to encourage 19
desired behavior; 20
‘‘(iii) establishing disclosure require-21
ments that will provide information upon 22
which choices can be made by the public; 23
or 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(iv) adopting other means of meeting 1
the objectives of the statutory provision on 2
which the rulemaking relies without man-3
dating particular conduct or manners of 4
compliance. 5
‘‘(5) For any major rule, unless prohibited by 6
law, the potential costs and benefits associated with 7
potential alternative rules and other responses con-8
sidered under paragraph (4), including quantitative 9
and qualitative analyses of— 10
‘‘(A) the direct costs and benefits, with 11
costs and benefits measured over equal time pe-12
riods; 13
‘‘(B) the nature and degree of risks ad-14
dressed by the rule and the countervailing risks 15
that might be posed by agency action; and 16
‘‘(C) to the extent practicable, the cumu-17
lative costs and benefits, and an analysis of the 18
effects that the rule is anticipated to have on 19
entities that purchase products or services 20
from, sell products or services to, or otherwise 21
conduct business with entities to which the rule 22
will apply. 23
‘‘(c) N
OTICE OFPROPOSEDRULEMAKING.— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If an agency determines 1
that the objectives of the agency require the agency 2
to issue a rule, the agency shall— 3
‘‘(A) submit a notice of proposed rule-4
making to the Administrator for review; 5
‘‘(B) refrain from publishing the notice 6
until the Administrator concludes the review 7
under subparagraph (A); and 8
‘‘(C) at the conclusion of review by the Ad-9
ministrator, publish a notice of proposed rule-10
making in the Federal Register, which shall in-11
clude— 12
‘‘(i) a statement of the time, place, 13
and nature of any public rulemaking pro-14
ceedings; 15
‘‘(ii) a reference to the legal authority 16
under which the rule is proposed, including 17
the specific statutory provision on which 18
the rulemaking relies; 19
‘‘(iii) the text of the proposed rule; 20
‘‘(iv) a summary of information 21
known to the agency concerning the con-22
siderations described in subsection (b); and 23
‘‘(v) where otherwise consistent with 24
applicable law, for any major rule— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(I) a reasoned preliminary ex-1
planation regarding how— 2
‘‘(aa) the proposed rule 3
meets the objectives of the statu-4
tory provision on which the rule-5
making relies; and 6
‘‘(bb) the benefits of the 7
proposed rule justify the costs; 8
‘‘(II) a discussion of— 9
‘‘(aa) the costs and benefits 10
of alternatives considered by the 11
agency under subsection (b)(4); 12
‘‘(bb) whether the alter-13
natives considered by the agency 14
under subsection (b)(4) meet the 15
objectives of the statutory provi-16
sion on which the rulemaking re-17
lies; and 18
‘‘(cc) the reasons why the 19
agency did not propose an alter-20
native considered by the agency 21
under subsection (b)(4); and 22
‘‘(III) a solicitation of public 23
comment, including on all issues and 24
alternatives discussed under sub-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 
•S 1615 IS
clauses (I) and (II) and subsection 1
(k)(1)(A). 2
‘‘(2) A
CCESSIBILITY.— 3
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than the 4
date on which an agency publishes a notice of 5
proposed rulemaking under paragraph (1), all 6
studies, models, scientific literature, and other 7
information developed or relied upon by the 8
agency, and actions taken by the agency to ob-9
tain that information, in connection with the 10
determination of the agency to propose the rule 11
that is the subject of the rulemaking shall be 12
placed in the docket for the proposed rule and 13
made accessible to the public. 14
‘‘(B) I
NFORMATION CONTROLLED BY NON -15
GOVERNMENTAL PERSON .—With respect to any 16
information to which a nongovernmental person 17
holds a legal right to prohibit or limit reproduc-18
tion, distribution, or public display, the infor-19
mation shall be— 20
‘‘(i) placed in the docket through cita-21
tion or incorporation by reference, includ-22
ing a specification of the identity of the 23
nongovernmental person who holds a legal 24
right to prohibit or limit reproduction, dis-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 
•S 1615 IS
tribution, or public display of the informa-1
tion and the means by which a member of 2
the public may request a full copy of the 3
information from that holder; and 4
‘‘(ii) considered made accessible to the 5
public after a placement described in 6
clause (i), provided that the nongovern-7
mental person who holds a legal right to 8
prohibit or limit reproduction, distribution, 9
or public display of the information makes 10
the information reasonably available upon 11
request in a timely manner to any member 12
of the public who requests a copy of the in-13
formation. 14
‘‘(C) E
XCEPTION.—Subparagraphs (A) 15
and (B) shall not apply with respect to informa-16
tion that is exempt from disclosure under sec-17
tion 552(b). 18
‘‘(3) I
NFORMATION QUALITY .—If an agency 19
proposes a rule that rests upon scientific, technical, 20
or economic information, the agency shall— 21
‘‘(A) propose the rule on the basis of the 22
best publicly available scientific, technical, or 23
economic information; and 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(B) to the maximum extent practicable, 1
use that information in compliance with the 2
guidelines issued under section 515 of the 3
Treasury and General Government Appropria-4
tions Act, 2001 (Public Law 106–554; 114 5
Stat. 2763A–154). 6
‘‘(4) P
UBLIC COMMENT.— 7
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—After publishing a no-8
tice of proposed rulemaking under paragraph 9
(1), an agency shall provide interested persons 10
an opportunity to participate in the rulemaking 11
through the submission of written material, 12
data, views, or arguments with or without op-13
portunity for oral presentation, except that 14
when a rule is required by statute to be made 15
on the record after opportunity for an agency 16
hearing, sections 556 and 557 shall apply. 17
‘‘(B) T
IMELINE.— 18
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to sub-19
paragraph (C), an agency shall provide not 20
less than 60 days, or, with respect to a 21
proposed major rule, not less than 90 days, 22
for interested persons to submit written 23
material, data, views, or arguments under 24
subparagraph (A). 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 12 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(ii) ADEQUATE REVIEW PERIOD .—If 1
a proposed rule relies on information 2
placed in the docket through citation or in-3
corporation by reference as described in 4
paragraph (3)(B), the comment period re-5
quired under clause (i) shall be adequate 6
to allow interested persons to receive and 7
review that information to inform their 8
submission. 9
‘‘(C) R
ESPONSIVE COMMENT PERIOD FOR 10
MAJOR RULES.—With respect to a proposed 11
major rule, an interested person who made a 12
submission under subparagraph (A) during the 13
comment period under subparagraph (B) with 14
respect to the rule may, during the period be-15
ginning on the day after the date on which that 16
comment period closes and ending on the date 17
that is 30 days after that day, respond to any 18
other submission made by any other interested 19
person under subparagraph (A) during the ini-20
tial comment period. 21
‘‘(D) A
CCESSIBILITY.—All comments and 22
responses submitted under this paragraph shall 23
be promptly placed in the docket and made ac-24
cessible to the public. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 13 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(5) CHANGE OF CLASSIFICATION AFTER PUB -1
LICATION OF NOTICE.—If, after an agency submits 2
for review and publishes the notice of proposed rule-3
making required under paragraph (1), a proposed 4
rule is determined to be a major rule, the agency 5
shall— 6
‘‘(A) publish a notice in the Federal Reg-7
ister with respect to the change of the classi-8
fication of the rule; and 9
‘‘(B) allow interested persons an additional 10
opportunity of not less than 30 days to com-11
ment on— 12
‘‘(i) the rule; and 13
‘‘(ii) the change of the classification of 14
the rule. 15
‘‘(6) P
ROHIBITION ON CERTAIN COMMUNICA -16
TIONS.— 17
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 18
subparagraph (B), after an agency publishes a 19
notice of proposed rulemaking required under 20
paragraph (1), or after an agency publishes a 21
notice of initiation of rulemaking under sub-22
section (d)(1)(B), the agency, and any indi-23
vidual acting in an official capacity on behalf of 24
the agency, may not communicate, and a person 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 14 
•S 1615 IS
who receives Federal funds from the agency 1
may not use those funds to communicate, 2
through written, oral, electronic, or other 3
means, to the public with respect to the pro-4
posed rule in a manner that— 5
‘‘(i) directly advocates, in support of 6
or against the proposed rule, for the sub-7
mission of information that will form part 8
of the record for the proposed rule; 9
‘‘(ii) appeals to the public, or solicits 10
a third party, to undertake advocacy in 11
support of or against the proposed rule; or 12
‘‘(iii) is directly or indirectly for the 13
purpose of publicity or propaganda within 14
the United States in a manner that Con-15
gress has not authorized. 16
‘‘(B) E
XCEPTION.—The prohibition under 17
subparagraph (A) shall not apply to a commu-18
nication that requests comments on, or provides 19
information regarding, a proposed rule in an 20
impartial manner. 21
‘‘(d) A
DVANCEDNOTICE OF PROPOSEDRULE-22
MAKING FORMAJORRULES.— 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 15 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(1) NOTICE FOR MAJOR RULES .—When an 1
agency determines to initiate a rulemaking that may 2
result in a major rule, the agency shall— 3
‘‘(A) establish an electronic docket for that 4
rulemaking, which may have a physical counter-5
part; and 6
‘‘(B) publish an advanced notice of pro-7
posed rulemaking in the Federal Register, 8
which shall, at a minimum— 9
‘‘(i) briefly describe the nature and 10
significance of the problem the agency may 11
address with the rule, including any data 12
or categories of data that the agency has 13
identified as relevant or that the agency in-14
tends to consult for the rule; 15
‘‘(ii) refer to the legal authority under 16
which the rule would be proposed, includ-17
ing the specific statutory provision that au-18
thorizes the rulemaking; 19
‘‘(iii) invite interested persons to pro-20
pose alternatives and other ideas regarding 21
how best to accomplish the objectives of 22
the agency in the most effective manner; 23
‘‘(iv) solicit written data, views, and 24
arguments from interested persons con-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 16 
•S 1615 IS
cerning the information and issues identi-1
fied in the advanced notice; 2
‘‘(v) provide for a period of not less 3
than 30 days for interested persons to sub-4
mit written data, views, and arguments de-5
scribed in clause (iv) to the agency; and 6
‘‘(vi) appear in the Federal Register 7
not later than 90 days before the date on 8
which the agency publishes a notice of pro-9
posed rulemaking for the rule. 10
‘‘(2) A
CCESSIBILITY.—All information provided 11
to the agency under paragraph (1) shall be promptly 12
placed in the docket and made accessible to the pub-13
lic, unless the information— 14
‘‘(A) is information to which the submitter 15
does not hold a legal right to authorize disclo-16
sure; or 17
‘‘(B) is exempt from disclosure under sec-18
tion 552(b). 19
‘‘(3) A
PPLICABILITY.—With respect to the al-20
ternatives and other ideas proposed under paragraph 21
(1)(B)(iii)— 22
‘‘(A) the alternatives and other ideas are 23
for the benefit of— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 17 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(i) the agency receiving the alter-1
natives and other ideas; and 2
‘‘(ii) the public; and 3
‘‘(B) the agency receiving the alternatives 4
and other ideas may respond to the alternatives 5
and other ideas. 6
‘‘(4) T
IMETABLE.— 7
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—After considering any 8
written material submitted by interested per-9
sons under paragraph (1), if an agency deter-10
mines to proceed with a rulemaking for a major 11
rule, the agency proposing the rule shall estab-12
lish a timetable for the rulemaking that— 13
‘‘(i) contains intermediate completion 14
dates for actions of the agency, includ-15
ing— 16
‘‘(I) the anticipated date on 17
which the agency shall publish the no-18
tice required under subsection (c)(1) 19
with respect to the rule; and 20
‘‘(II) the duration of the com-21
ment period required under subsection 22
(c)(4), including the date on which the 23
comment period shall end; and 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00017 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 18 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(ii) includes a final completion date 1
for actions by the agency. 2
‘‘(B) P
UBLICATION.—The timetable re-3
quired under subparagraph (A) shall be pub-4
lished in the electronic docket established under 5
paragraph (1)(A) with respect to the rule-6
making. 7
‘‘(C) C
ONSIDERATION OF FACTORS .—In 8
establishing the timetable required under sub-9
paragraph (A), an agency shall consider rel-10
evant factors, including— 11
‘‘(i) the size and complexity of the 12
rulemaking; 13
‘‘(ii) the resources available to the 14
agency; 15
‘‘(iii) the national significance of the 16
rulemaking; and 17
‘‘(iv) all statutory requirements that 18
govern the timing of the rulemaking. 19
‘‘(D) R
EPORT REQUIRED.— 20
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—An agency that 21
fails to meet an intermediate or final com-22
pletion date for an action established under 23
subparagraph (A) shall submit to Congress 24
and the Director of the Office of Manage-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 19 
•S 1615 IS
ment and Budget a report regarding why 1
the agency failed to meet the completion 2
date. 3
‘‘(ii) C
ONTENTS; PUBLICATION IN 4
FEDERAL REGISTER .—A report submitted 5
under clause (i) shall— 6
‘‘(I) include an amended time-7
table for the rulemaking; and 8
‘‘(II) be published— 9
‘‘(aa) in the Federal Reg-10
ister; and 11
‘‘(bb) in the electronic dock-12
et established under paragraph 13
(1)(A) with respect to the rule-14
making. 15
‘‘(E) C
HANGES TO INTERMEDIATE DATES 16
PUBLISHED IN ELECTRONIC DOCKET .—If an 17
agency changes an intermediate completion date 18
for an action of the agency established under 19
subparagraph (A)(i), the agency shall publish in 20
the electronic docket established under para-21
graph (1)(A)— 22
‘‘(i) the updated completion date for 23
the action; and 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 20 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(ii) a brief explanation regarding the 1
reason for the change to the completion 2
date. 3
‘‘(5) N
OTICE OF DETERMINATION OF OTHER 4
AGENCY COURSE.— 5
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—If, after publishing 6
the notice required under paragraph (1), an 7
agency determines not to issue a major rule, 8
the agency shall— 9
‘‘(i) publish a notice of determination 10
of other agency course; and 11
‘‘(ii) if the agency intends to issue a 12
rule, comply with the procedures required 13
under subsection (c). 14
‘‘(B) C
ONTENTS.—A notice of determina-15
tion of other agency course published under 16
subparagraph (A)(i) shall include— 17
‘‘(i) a description of the alternative re-18
sponse the agency has determined to 19
adopt; and 20
‘‘(ii) if the agency intends to issue a 21
rule, any information required under sub-22
section (c). 23
‘‘(e) F
INALRULES.— 24
‘‘(1) N
ET BENEFITS OF MAJOR RULE .— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 21 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 1
subparagraph (B), in a rulemaking for a major 2
rule, an agency shall adopt the alternative con-3
sidered under subsection (b)(5) that best mini-4
mizes costs while maximizing net benefits, tak-5
ing into consideration only the costs and bene-6
fits that arise within the scope of the statutory 7
provision that authorizes the rulemaking. 8
‘‘(B) E
XCEPTIONS.—In a rulemaking for a 9
major rule, an agency may adopt an alternative 10
other than as required under subparagraph (A) 11
only if— 12
‘‘(i) the Administrator approves the 13
adoption by the agency of the alternative; 14
and 15
‘‘(ii) the alternative is adopted to— 16
‘‘(I) account for costs or benefits 17
that cannot be quantified, including 18
costs or benefits related to constitu-19
tional or civil rights, provided that the 20
agency identifies all such costs and 21
benefits and explains why those costs 22
and benefits justify the adoption of 23
the alternative; or 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 22 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(II) achieve additional benefits 1
or cost reductions, provided that the 2
agency— 3
‘‘(aa) identifies— 4
‘‘(AA) all such addi-5
tional benefits and the asso-6
ciated costs of those bene-7
fits; and 8
‘‘(BB) all such cost re-9
ductions and the associated 10
benefits of those cost reduc-11
tions; and 12
‘‘(bb) explains why— 13
‘‘(AA) the additional 14
benefits justify the addi-15
tional costs; or 16
‘‘(BB) the additional 17
cost reductions justify any 18
benefits foregone. 19
‘‘(C) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing 20
in subparagraph (A) may be construed to pre-21
clude an agency from including in an alter-22
native adopted pursuant to such subparagraph 23
changes made as a result of agency analysis or 24
review performed under chapter 6 of this title. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 23 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(2) PUBLICATION OF NOTICE OF FINAL RULE -1
MAKING.—After submitting a final rule to the Ad-2
ministrator for review and obtaining a certification 3
from the Administrator that the review has con-4
cluded, the agency shall publish a notice of final 5
rulemaking in the Federal Register, which shall in-6
clude— 7
‘‘(A) a concise, general statement of the 8
basis and purpose of the rule and a reference 9
to the legal authority under which the rule is 10
made, including the specific statutory provision 11
on which the rulemaking relies; 12
‘‘(B) a reasoned determination by the 13
agency regarding the considerations described 14
in subsection (b); 15
‘‘(C) a response to each significant issue 16
raised in the comments on the proposed rule; 17
‘‘(D) the internet address of a summary of 18
not more than 100 words in length of the pro-19
posed rule, in plain language, that shall be 20
posted on the internet website under section 21
206(d) of the E-Government Act of 2002 (44 22
U.S.C. 3501 note) (commonly known as regula-23
tions.gov); and 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 24 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(E) with respect to a major rule, a rea-1
soned determination by the agency that— 2
‘‘(i) the benefits of the rule advance 3
the relevant objectives of the statutory pro-4
vision on which the rulemaking relies and 5
justify the costs of the rule; and 6
‘‘(ii)(I) no other alternative considered 7
would achieve the relevant objectives of the 8
statutory provision on which the rule-9
making relies in a manner that more 10
greatly maximizes net benefits as required 11
under paragraph (1)(A); or 12
‘‘(II) the adoption by the agency of a 13
more costly or less costly rule complies 14
with paragraph (1)(B). 15
‘‘(3) I
NFORMATION QUALITY .—If an agency 16
rulemaking rests upon scientific, technical, or eco-17
nomic information, the agency shall— 18
‘‘(A) adopt a final rule on the basis of the 19
best reasonably available scientific, technical, or 20
economic information; and 21
‘‘(B) to the maximum extent practicable, 22
use that information in compliance with the 23
guidelines issued under section 515 of the 24
Treasury and General Government Appropria-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 25 
•S 1615 IS
tions Act, 2001 (Public Law 106–554; 114 1
Stat. 2763A–154). 2
‘‘(4) A
CCESSIBILITY.— 3
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than the 4
date on which an agency publishes a notice of 5
final rulemaking under paragraph (2), all stud-6
ies, models, scientific literature, and other in-7
formation developed or relied upon by the agen-8
cy, and actions taken by the agency to obtain 9
that information, in connection with the deter-10
mination of the agency to finalize the rule that 11
is the subject of the rulemaking shall be placed 12
in the docket for the rule and made accessible 13
to the public. 14
‘‘(B) I
NFORMATION CONTROLLED BY NON -15
GOVERNMENTAL PERSON .—With respect to any 16
information to which a nongovernmental person 17
holds a legal right to prohibit or limit reproduc-18
tion, distribution, or public display, the infor-19
mation shall be— 20
‘‘(i) placed in the docket through cita-21
tion or incorporation by reference, includ-22
ing a specification of the identity of the 23
nongovernmental person who holds a legal 24
right to prohibit or limit reproduction, dis-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 26 
•S 1615 IS
tribution, or public display of the informa-1
tion and the means by which a member of 2
the public may request a full copy of the 3
information from that holder; and 4
‘‘(ii) considered made accessible to the 5
public after a placement described in 6
clause (i), provided that the nongovern-7
mental person who holds a legal right to 8
prohibit or limit reproduction, distribution, 9
or public display of the information makes 10
the information reasonably available upon 11
request in a timely manner. 12
‘‘(C) E
XCEPTION.—Subparagraphs (A) 13
and (B) shall not apply with respect to informa-14
tion that is exempt from disclosure under sec-15
tion 552(b). 16
‘‘(5) R
ULES ADOPTED AT THE END OF A PRESI -17
DENTIAL ADMINISTRATION .— 18
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—During the 60-day pe-19
riod beginning on a transitional inauguration 20
day (as defined in section 3349a), with respect 21
to any final rule that had been placed on file 22
for public inspection by the Office of the Fed-23
eral Register or published in the Federal Reg-24
ister as of the date of the inauguration, but 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 27 
•S 1615 IS
which had not become effective by the date of 1
the transitional inauguration day, the agency 2
issuing the rule may, by order, delay the effec-3
tive date of the rule for not more than 90 days 4
for the purpose of obtaining public comment on 5
whether— 6
‘‘(i) the rule should be amended or re-7
scinded; or 8
‘‘(ii) the effective date of the rule 9
should be further delayed. 10
‘‘(B) O
PPORTUNITY FOR COMMENT .—If an 11
agency delays the effective date of a rule under 12
subparagraph (A), the agency shall give the 13
public not less than 30 days to submit com-14
ments. 15
‘‘(f) A
PPLICABILITY.— 16
‘‘(1) P
RIMACY OF CERTAIN RULEMAKING CON -17
SIDERATIONS AND PROCEDURES IN OTHER FEDERAL 18
LAWS.— 19
‘‘(A) C
ONSIDERATIONS.—If a rulemaking 20
is authorized under a Federal law that requires 21
an agency to consider, or prohibits an agency 22
from considering, a factor in a manner that is 23
inconsistent with, or that conflicts with, the re-24
quirements under this section, for the purposes 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00027 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 28 
•S 1615 IS
of this section, the requirement or prohibition, 1
as applicable, in that other Federal law shall 2
apply to the agency in the rulemaking. 3
‘‘(B) P
ROCEDURAL REQUIREMENTS .—If a 4
rulemaking is authorized under a Federal law 5
that requires an agency to follow or use, or pro-6
hibits an agency from following or using, a pro-7
cedure in a manner that is duplicative of, or 8
that conflicts with, a procedural requirement 9
under this section, for the purposes of this sec-10
tion, the requirement or prohibition, as applica-11
ble, in that other Federal law shall apply to the 12
agency in the rulemaking. 13
‘‘(2) G
UIDANCE AND RULES OF ORGANIZA -14
TION.—Except as otherwise provided by law, this 15
section shall not apply to guidance or rules of agen-16
cy organization, procedure, or practice. 17
‘‘(3) E
XCEPTIONS FOR GOOD CAUSE .— 18
‘‘(A) F
INDING OF GOOD CAUSE.— 19
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—If an agency for 20
good cause finds that compliance with sub-21
section (c), (d), or (e)(2)(B) before issuing 22
a final rule is unnecessary, impracticable, 23
or contrary to the public interest, that sub-24
section shall not apply and the agency may 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00028 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 29 
•S 1615 IS
issue the final rule or an interim final rule, 1
as applicable, under subparagraph (B) or 2
(C). 3
‘‘(ii) I
NCORPORATION OF GOOD CAUSE 4
FINDING.—If an agency makes a finding 5
under clause (i), the agency shall include 6
that finding and a detailed statement with 7
respect to the reasons for that finding in 8
the final rule or interim final rule, as ap-9
plicable, issued by the agency. 10
‘‘(B) D
IRECT FINAL RULES.— 11
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Except as pro-12
vided in clause (ii), if an agency makes a 13
finding under subparagraph (A)(i) that 14
compliance with subsection (c), (d), or 15
(e)(2)(B) before issuing a final rule is un-16
necessary, the agency shall, before issuing 17
the final rule— 18
‘‘(I) publish in the Federal Reg-19
ister the text of the final rule, the 20
brief statement required under sub-21
paragraph (A)(ii), and a notice of op-22
portunity for public comment; 23
‘‘(II) establish a comment period 24
of not less than 30 days for any inter-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00029 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 30 
•S 1615 IS
ested person to submit written mate-1
rial, data, views, or arguments with 2
respect to the final rule; and 3
‘‘(III) provide notice of the date 4
on which the rule will take effect. 5
‘‘(ii) E
XCEPTION.—An agency that 6
made a finding described in clause (i) may 7
choose not to follow the requirements 8
under that clause if the agency determines 9
that following the requirements would not 10
expedite the issuance of the final rule. 11
‘‘(iii) A
DVERSE COMMENTS .—If an 12
agency receives significant adverse com-13
ments with respect to a rule during the 14
comment period established under clause 15
(i)(II), the agency shall— 16
‘‘(I) withdraw the notice of final 17
rulemaking published by the agency 18
with respect to the rule; and 19
‘‘(II) complete rulemaking in ac-20
cordance with subsections (c) through 21
(e), as applicable. 22
‘‘(C) I
NTERIM FINAL RULES.— 23
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—If an agency for 24
good cause finds that compliance with sub-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 31 
•S 1615 IS
section (c), (d), or (e)(2)(B) before issuing 1
a final rule is impracticable or contrary to 2
the public interest, the agency shall issue 3
an interim final rule by— 4
‘‘(I) publishing the interim final 5
rule and a request for public comment 6
in the portion of the Federal Register 7
relating to final rules; and 8
‘‘(II) providing a cross-reference 9
in the portion of the Federal Register 10
relating to proposed rules that re-11
quests public comment with respect to 12
the rule not later than 60 days after 13
the rule is published under subclause 14
(I). 15
‘‘(ii) I
NTERIM PERIOD.— 16
‘‘(I) I
N GENERAL.—Not later 17
than 180 days after the date on which 18
an agency issues an interim final rule 19
under clause (i), the agency shall— 20
‘‘(aa) rescind the interim 21
rule; 22
‘‘(bb) initiate rulemaking in 23
accordance with subsections (c) 24
through (e); or 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00031 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 32 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(cc) take final action to 1
adopt a final rule. 2
‘‘(II) N
O FORCE OR EFFECT.—If, 3
as of the end of the 180-day period 4
described in subclause (I), an agency 5
fails to take an action described in 6
item (aa), (bb), or (cc) of that sub-7
clause, the interim final rule issued by 8
the agency shall have no force or ef-9
fect. 10
‘‘(4) E
XEMPTION FOR MONETARY POLICY .— 11
This section shall not apply to a rulemaking or to 12
guidance that concerns monetary policy proposed or 13
implemented by the Board of Governors of the Fed-14
eral Reserve System or the Federal Open Market 15
Committee. 16
‘‘(5) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in 17
this subsection shall be construed to modify, alter, or 18
abridge exclusive rights held pursuant to title 17. 19
‘‘(g) D
ATE OFPUBLICATION.—A final rule, a direct 20
final rule described in subsection (f)(3)(B), or an interim 21
final rule described in subsection (f)(3)(C) shall be pub-22
lished not later than 30 days (or, in the case of a major 23
rule, not later than 60 days) before the effective date of 24
the rule, except— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00032 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 33 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(1) for guidance; or 1
‘‘(2) as otherwise provided by an agency for 2
good cause and as published with the rule. 3
‘‘(h) R
IGHT TOPETITION ANDREVIEW OFRULES.— 4
Each agency shall— 5
‘‘(1) give interested persons the right to petition 6
for the issuance, amendment, or repeal of a rule; 7
and 8
‘‘(2) on a continuing basis, invite interested 9
persons to submit, by electronic means, suggestions 10
for rules that warrant retrospective review and pos-11
sible modification or repeal. 12
‘‘(i) R
ULEMAKINGGUIDELINES.— 13
‘‘(1) A
SSESSMENT OF RULES .— 14
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator 15
shall establish guidelines regarding rulemaking 16
as follows: 17
‘‘(i) I
DENTIFICATION OF NEED FOR 18
RULES.—Guidelines setting forth how 19
needs for rulemaking should be identified, 20
including— 21
‘‘(I) whether rulemaking is made 22
necessary by compelling public need, 23
such as material failures of private 24
markets or public institutions to pro-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00033 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 34 
•S 1615 IS
tect or improve the health and safety 1
of the public, the environment, or the 2
well-being of the public; and 3
‘‘(II) whether rulemaking needs 4
could be lessened by reliance on po-5
tential State, local, Tribal, or regional 6
regulatory action or other responses 7
that could be taken in lieu of agency 8
action. 9
‘‘(ii) A
SSESSMENT OF RULES .—Guide-10
lines setting forth how the assessment, in-11
cluding the quantitative and qualitative as-12
sessment, of proposed and final rules 13
should occur, including how to determine— 14
‘‘(I) the costs and benefits of 15
proposed and final rules and alter-16
natives to them, including quantifiable 17
and non-quantifiable costs and bene-18
fits; 19
‘‘(II) whether proposed and final 20
rules maximize net benefits; 21
‘‘(III) estimated impacts on jobs, 22
wages, competition, innovation, and 23
low-income populations; 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00034 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 35 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(IV) other economic issues that 1
are relevant to rulemaking under this 2
section or other sections of this part; 3
and 4
‘‘(V) risk assessments that are 5
relevant to rulemaking under this sec-6
tion and other sections of this part. 7
‘‘(iii) N
UMBERS OF ALTERNATIVES .— 8
Guidelines regarding when it may be rea-9
sonable to consider in a rulemaking more 10
alternatives than the number presumed to 11
be reasonable under subsection (b)(4). 12
‘‘(iv) A
DOPTION OF ALTERNATIVES 13
FOR MAJOR RULES .—Guidelines regarding 14
when it may be appropriate, in a rule-15
making for a major rule, to adopt an alter-16
native final rule under subsection 17
(e)(1)(B). 18
‘‘(v) A
DMINISTRATOR REVIEW .— 19
Guidelines regarding the efficient submis-20
sion and review of proposed and final rules 21
under subsections (c)(1) and (e)(2). 22
‘‘(B) A
GENCY ANALYSIS OF RULES .— 23
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—The rigor of the 24
cost-benefit analysis required or rec-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 36 
•S 1615 IS
ommended by the guidelines established 1
under subparagraph (A) shall be commen-2
surate, as determined by the Adminis-3
trator, with the economic impact of a rule. 4
‘‘(ii) R
ISK ASSESSMENT GUIDE -5
LINES.—Guidelines for a risk assessment 6
described in subparagraph (A)(iv) shall in-7
clude criteria for— 8
‘‘(I) selecting studies and models; 9
‘‘(II) evaluating and weighing 10
evidence; and 11
‘‘(III) conducting peer reviews. 12
‘‘(C) U
PDATING GUIDELINES .—Not less 13
frequently than once every 10 years, the Ad-14
ministrator shall update the guidelines estab-15
lished under subparagraph (A) to enable each 16
agency to use the best available techniques to 17
identify, quantify, and evaluate the need for 18
rulemaking and present and future benefits, 19
costs, other economic issues, and risks as objec-20
tively and accurately as practicable. 21
‘‘(2) S
IMPLIFICATION OF RULES.— 22
‘‘(A) I
SSUANCE OF GUIDELINES .—The Ad-23
ministrator shall issue guidelines to promote co-24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00036 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 37 
•S 1615 IS
ordination, simplification, and harmonization of 1
agency rules during the rulemaking process. 2
‘‘(B) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The guidelines 3
issued by the Administrator under subpara-4
graph (A) shall advise each agency to— 5
‘‘(i) avoid rules that are inconsistent 6
or incompatible with, or duplicative of, 7
other regulations of the agency and those 8
of other agencies; and 9
‘‘(ii) draft the rules of the agency to 10
be simple and easy to understand, with the 11
goal of minimizing the potential for uncer-12
tainty and litigation arising from the un-13
certainty. 14
‘‘(3) C
ONSISTENCY IN RULEMAKING .— 15
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—To promote consist-16
ency in rulemaking, the Administrator shall 17
issue guidelines to ensure that rulemaking con-18
ducted in whole or in part under procedures 19
specified in provisions of law other than those 20
under this section conform with the procedures 21
set forth in this section to the fullest extent al-22
lowed by law. 23
‘‘(B) A
GENCY ADOPTION OF REGULA -24
TIONS.—Each agency shall adopt regulations 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00037 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 38 
•S 1615 IS
for the conduct of hearings consistent with the 1
guidelines issued under this paragraph. 2
‘‘(j) A
GENCYGUIDANCE; PROCEDURESTOISSUE 3
M
AJORGUIDANCE; AUTHORITYTOISSUEGUIDELINES 4
FORISSUANCE OFGUIDANCE.— 5
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Agency guidance shall— 6
‘‘(A) not be used by an agency to foreclose 7
consideration of issues as to which the guidance 8
expresses a conclusion; 9
‘‘(B) state that the guidance is not legally 10
binding by including the phrase ‘The contents 11
of this document to not have the force and ef-12
fect of law and do not, of themselves, bind the 13
public or the agency. This document is intended 14
only to provide clarity to the public regarding 15
existing requirements under the law or agency 16
policies.’ on the first page of the document; and 17
‘‘(C) be published in a single location on 18
an internet website designated by the Director 19
at the time the guidance is issued. 20
‘‘(2) P
ROCEDURES TO ISSUE MAJOR GUID -21
ANCE.—Before issuing any major guidance, an agen-22
cy shall make and document a reasoned determina-23
tion that— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00038 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 39 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(A) such guidance is understandable and 1
complies with relevant statutory objectives and 2
regulatory provisions; and 3
‘‘(B) identifies the costs and benefits, in-4
cluding all costs and benefits to be considered 5
during a rulemaking as required under sub-6
section (b), of requiring conduct conforming to 7
such guidance and assures that such benefits 8
justify such costs. 9
‘‘(3) I
SSUANCE OF UPDATED GUIDANCE .— 10
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator 11
shall issue updated guidelines for use by agen-12
cies in the issuance of guidance documents. 13
‘‘(B) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The guidelines 14
issued by the Administrator under subpara-15
graph (A) shall advise each agency— 16
‘‘(i) not to issue guidance documents 17
that are inconsistent or incompatible with, 18
or duplicative of, other rules of the agency 19
and those of other agencies; 20
‘‘(ii) to draft the guidance documents 21
of the agency to be simple and easy to un-22
derstand, with the goal of minimizing the 23
potential for uncertainty and litigation 24
arising from the uncertainty; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00039 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 40 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(iii) how to develop and implement a 1
strategy to ensure the proper use of guid-2
ance by the agency. 3
‘‘(k) M
AJORRULEFRAMEWORKS.— 4
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Beginning on the date that 5
is 180 days after the date of enactment of this sub-6
section, when an agency publishes in the Federal 7
Register— 8
‘‘(A) a proposed major rule, the agency 9
shall include a potential framework for assess-10
ing the rule, which shall include a general state-11
ment of how the agency intends to measure the 12
effectiveness of the rule; or 13
‘‘(B) a final major rule, the agency shall 14
include a framework for assessing the rule 15
under paragraph (2), which shall include— 16
‘‘(i) a clear statement of the regu-17
latory objectives of the rule, including a 18
summary of the benefit and cost of the 19
rule; 20
‘‘(ii) the methodology by which the 21
agency plans to analyze the rule, including 22
metrics by which the agency can meas-23
ure— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 41 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(I) the effectiveness and bene-1
fits of the rule in producing the regu-2
latory objectives of the rule; and 3
‘‘(II) the impacts, including any 4
costs, of the rule on regulated and 5
other impacted entities; 6
‘‘(iii) a plan for gathering data re-7
garding the metrics described in clause (ii) 8
on an ongoing basis, or at periodic times, 9
including a method by which the agency 10
will invite the public to participate in the 11
review process and seek input from other 12
agencies; and 13
‘‘(iv) a specific timeframe, as appro-14
priate to measure the full impact of the 15
rule but not more than 10 years after the 16
effective date of the rule, under which the 17
agency shall conduct the assessment of the 18
rule in accordance with paragraph (2)(A). 19
‘‘(2) A
SSESSMENT.— 20
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Each agency shall as-21
sess the data collected under paragraph 22
(1)(B)(iii), using the methodology set forth in 23
paragraph (1)(B)(ii) or any other appropriate 24
methodology developed after the issuance of a 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00041 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 42 
•S 1615 IS
final major rule to better determine whether the 1
regulatory objective was achieved, with respect 2
to the rule— 3
‘‘(i) to analyze how the actual benefits 4
and costs of the rule may have varied from 5
those anticipated at the time the rule was 6
issued; and 7
‘‘(ii) to determine whether— 8
‘‘(I) the rule is accomplishing the 9
regulatory objective of the rule; 10
‘‘(II) the rule has been rendered 11
unnecessary, taking into consider-12
ation— 13
‘‘(aa) changes in the subject 14
area affected by the rule; and 15
‘‘(bb) whether the rule over-16
laps, duplicates, or conflicts 17
with— 18
‘‘(AA) other rules; or 19
‘‘(BB) to the extent 20
feasible, State and local gov-21
ernment regulations; 22
‘‘(III) the rule needs to be modi-23
fied in order to accomplish the regu-24
latory objective; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 43 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(IV) other alternatives to the 1
rule or modification of the rule could 2
better achieve the regulatory objective 3
while imposing a smaller burden on 4
society or increase cost-effectiveness, 5
taking into consideration any cost al-6
ready incurred. 7
‘‘(B) D
IFFERENT METHODOLOGY .—If an 8
agency uses a methodology other than the 9
methodology under paragraph (1)(B)(ii) to as-10
sess data under subparagraph (A), the agency 11
shall include as part of the notice required to 12
be published under subparagraph (D) an expla-13
nation of the changes in circumstances that ne-14
cessitated the use of that other methodology. 15
‘‘(C) S
UBSEQUENT ASSESSMENTS .— 16
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Except as pro-17
vided in clause (ii), if, after an assessment 18
of a major rule under subparagraph (A), 19
an agency determines that the rule will re-20
main in effect with or without modifica-21
tion, the agency shall— 22
‘‘(I) determine a specific time, as 23
appropriate to the rule and not more 24
than 10 years after the date on which 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 44 
•S 1615 IS
the agency completes the assessment, 1
under which the agency shall conduct 2
another assessment of the rule in ac-3
cordance with subparagraph (A); and 4
‘‘(II) if the assessment conducted 5
under subclause (I) does not result in 6
a repeal of the rule, periodically assess 7
the rule in accordance with subpara-8
graph (A) to ensure that the rule con-9
tinues to meet the regulatory objec-10
tive. 11
‘‘(ii) E
XEMPTION.—The Adminis-12
trator may exempt an agency from con-13
ducting a subsequent assessment of a rule 14
under clause (i) if the Administrator deter-15
mines that there is a foreseeable and ap-16
parent need for the rule beyond the time-17
frame required under clause (i)(I). 18
‘‘(D) P
UBLICATION.—Not later than 180 19
days after the date on which an agency com-20
pletes an assessment of a major rule under sub-21
paragraph (A), the agency shall publish a notice 22
of availability of the results of the assessment 23
in the Federal Register, including the specific 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00044 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 45 
•S 1615 IS
time for any subsequent assessment of the rule 1
under subparagraph (C)(i), if applicable. 2
‘‘(3) OIRA 
OVERSIGHT.—The Administrator 3
shall— 4
‘‘(A) issue guidance for agencies regarding 5
the development of the framework under para-6
graph (1) and the conduct of the assessments 7
under paragraph (2)(A); 8
‘‘(B) oversee the timely compliance of 9
agencies with this subsection; 10
‘‘(C) ensure that the results of each assess-11
ment conducted under paragraph (2)(A) are— 12
‘‘(i) published promptly on a central-13
ized Federal website; and 14
‘‘(ii) noticed in the Federal Register 15
in accordance with paragraph (2)(D); 16
‘‘(D) ensure that agencies streamline and 17
coordinate the assessment of major rules with 18
similar or related regulatory objectives; 19
‘‘(E) exempt an agency from including the 20
framework required under paragraph (1)(B) 21
when publishing a final major rule if the Ad-22
ministrator determines that compliance with 23
paragraph (1)(B) is unnecessary, impracticable, 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00045 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 46 
•S 1615 IS
or contrary to the public interest, as described 1
in subsection (f)(3)(A)(i); and 2
‘‘(F) extend the deadline specified by an 3
agency for an assessment of a major rule under 4
paragraph (1)(B)(iv) or paragraph (2)(C)(i)(I) 5
for a period of not more than 90 days if the 6
agency justifies why the agency is unable to 7
complete the assessment by that deadline. 8
‘‘(4) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing in 9
this subsection shall be construed to affect— 10
‘‘(A) the authority of an agency to assess 11
or modify a major rule of the agency earlier 12
than the end of the timeframe specified for the 13
rule under paragraph (1)(B)(iv); or 14
‘‘(B) any other provision of law that re-15
quires an agency to conduct retrospective re-16
views of rules issued by the agency. 17
‘‘(5) A
PPLICABILITY.— 18
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—This subsection shall 19
not apply to— 20
‘‘(i) a major rule of an agency— 21
‘‘(I) that the Administrator re-22
viewed before the date of enactment of 23
this subsection; 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00046 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 47 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(II) for which the agency is re-1
quired to conduct a retrospective re-2
view under any other provision of law 3
that meets or exceeds the require-4
ments of this subsection, as deter-5
mined by the Administrator; or 6
‘‘(III) for which the authorizing 7
statute is subject to periodic reauthor-8
ization by Congress not less fre-9
quently than once every 10 years; 10
‘‘(ii) guidance; 11
‘‘(iii) routine and administrative rules; 12
or 13
‘‘(iv) a rule that is reviewed under 14
section 2222 of the Economic Growth and 15
Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 16
1996 (12 U.S.C. 3311). 17
‘‘(B) D
IRECT AND INTERIM FINAL MAJOR 18
RULE.—In the case of a major rule of an agen-19
cy for which the agency is not required to issue 20
a notice of proposed rulemaking in response to 21
an emergency or a statutorily imposed deadline, 22
the agency shall publish the framework required 23
under paragraph (1)(B) in the Federal Register 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00047 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 48 
•S 1615 IS
not later than 180 days after the date on which 1
the agency publishes the rule. 2
‘‘(6) R
ECOMMENDATIONS TO CONGRESS .—If, 3
under an assessment conducted under paragraph 4
(2), an agency determines that a major rule should 5
be modified or repealed, the agency may submit to 6
Congress recommendations for legislation to amend 7
applicable provisions of law if the agency is prohib-8
ited from modifying or repealing the rule under an-9
other provision of law. 10
‘‘(7) J
UDICIAL REVIEW.— 11
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Judicial review of 12
agency compliance with this subsection is lim-13
ited to whether an agency— 14
‘‘(i) published the framework for as-15
sessment of a major rule in accordance 16
with paragraph (1); or 17
‘‘(ii) completed and published the re-18
quired assessment of a major rule in ac-19
cordance with subparagraphs (A) and (D) 20
of paragraph (2). 21
‘‘(B) R
EMEDY AVAILABLE .—In granting 22
relief in an action brought under subparagraph 23
(A), a court may only issue an order remanding 24
the major rule to the agency to comply with 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00048 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 49 
•S 1615 IS
paragraph (1) or subparagraph (A) or (D) of 1
paragraph (2), as applicable. 2
‘‘(C) E
FFECTIVE DATE OF MAJOR RULE .— 3
If, in an action brought under subparagraph 4
(A)(i), a court determines that the agency did 5
not comply, the major rule shall take effect not-6
withstanding any order issued by the court. 7
‘‘(l) A
UTHORITIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE 8
O
FFICE OFINFORMATION AND REGULATORYAFFAIRS.— 9
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator shall 10
provide meaningful guidance and oversight, which 11
may include review by the Office of Information and 12
Regulatory Affairs, to ensure that each agency 13
issues rules in accordance with the requirements 14
under this section and other applicable law and do 15
not conflict with the policies or actions of another 16
agency. 17
‘‘(2) N
OTIFICATION.—If the Administrator de-18
termines that a major rule of an agency does not 19
comply with the principles and requirements of this 20
section, is not consistent with other applicable laws, 21
or conflicts with the policies or actions of another 22
agency, the Administrator shall— 23
‘‘(A) identify areas of noncompliance; 24
‘‘(B) notify the agency; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 50 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(C) request that the agency comply before 1
the agency finalizes the major rule concerned. 2
‘‘(3) A
NNUAL STATEMENT TO CONGRESS ON 3
AGENCY COMPLIANCE .—The Administrator shall 4
submit to Congress, including the Committee on 5
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 6
Senate and the Committee on Oversight and Ac-7
countability of the House of Representatives, an an-8
nual written report that, for the 1-year period pre-9
ceding the report— 10
‘‘(A) details compliance by each agency 11
with the requirements of this section that relate 12
to major rules, including activities undertaken 13
at the request of the Administrator to improve 14
compliance; and 15
‘‘(B) contains an appendix detailing com-16
pliance by each agency. 17
‘‘(m) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-18
tion shall be construed to limit the scope of the authority 19
of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under 20
subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, section 515 of the 21
Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 22
2001 (Public Law 106–554; 114 Stat. 2763A–154), chap-23
ter 8 of this title, or any other law or Executive Order.’’. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00050 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 51 
•S 1615 IS
SEC. 4. SCOPE OF REVIEW. 1
Section 706 of title 5, United States Code, is amend-2
ed— 3
(1) in the first sentence of the matter preceding 4
paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘To the extent nec-5
essary’’ and inserting the following: 6
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—To the extent necessary’’; and 7
(2) in subsection (a), as so designated— 8
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 9
the end; 10
(B) in paragraph (2), in the matter pre-11
ceding subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, or, 12
when appropriate, remand a matter to an agen-13
cy without setting aside,’’ after ‘‘set aside’’; and 14
(C) by striking the flush text following 15
paragraph (2)(F) and inserting the following: 16
‘‘(b) R
EVIEW OFENTIRERECORD; PREJUDICIAL 17
E
RROR.—In making a determination under subsection (a), 18
the court shall review the whole record or those parts of 19
the record cited by a party, and due account shall be taken 20
of the rule of prejudicial error. 21
‘‘(c) P
RECLUSION OFREVIEW.— 22
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Any action or inaction of 23
the Administrator under subchapter II of chapter 5, 24
except sections 552 and 552a, shall not be subject 25
to judicial review. 26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00051 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 52 
•S 1615 IS
‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—The preclusion 1
of judicial review under this subsection shall not be 2
construed or used to construe any other provision of 3
law to provide any cause of action against the Ad-4
ministrator, except as explicitly provided by law. 5
‘‘(d) R
EVIEW OFCERTAINGUIDANCE.—Agency guid-6
ance that does not interpret a statute or rule may be re-7
viewed only under subsection (a)(2)(D). 8
‘‘(e) A
GENCYINTERPRETATION OF RULES.— 9
‘‘(1) S
TANDARD OF REVIEW .—Unless expressly 10
required otherwise by statute, the reviewing court 11
shall decide all questions of law de novo, with due 12
regard for the views of the agency administering the 13
statute and any other agency involved in the decision 14
making process. 15
‘‘(2) W
EIGHT.—The weight that a reviewing 16
court gives an interpretation by an agency of a rule 17
of that agency shall depend on the thoroughness evi-18
dent in the consideration of the rule by the agency, 19
the validity of the reasoning of the agency, and the 20
consistency of the interpretation with earlier and 21
later pronouncements.’’. 22
SEC. 5. ADDED DEFINITIONS. 23
Section 701(b) of title 5, United States Code, is 24
amended— 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00052 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 53 
•S 1615 IS
(1) in paragraph (1)(H), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 1
the end; 2
(2) in paragraph (2)— 3
(A) by inserting ‘‘‘guidance’,’’ after ‘‘‘re-4
lief’,’’; and 5
(B) by striking the period at the end and 6
inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 7
(3) by adding at the end the following: 8
‘‘(3) ‘substantial evidence’ means such relevant 9
evidence, including the quality and quality, as a rea-10
sonable mind might accept as adequate to support a 11
conclusion in light of the record considered as a 12
whole.’’. 13
SEC. 6. APPLICATION. 14
The amendments made by this Act to sections 553, 15
701(b), and 706 of title 5, United States Code, shall not 16
apply to any rulemaking, as defined in section 551 of title 17
5, United States Code, as amended by section 2 of this 18
Act, that is pending or completed as of the date of enact-19
ment of this Act. 20
SEC. 7. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION WITH RESPECT TO COPY-21
RIGHTS. 22
Nothing in this Act, or in the amendments made by 23
this Act, may be construed as altering, modifying, or 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00053 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 54 
•S 1615 IS
abridging an exclusive right granted under title 17, United 1
States Code. 2
SEC. 8. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 3
(a) A
LASKANATIONALINTERESTLANDSCONSERVA-4
TIONACT.—Section 1002(g)(2) of the Alaska National In-5
terest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3142(g)(2)) is 6
amended, in the third sentence, by striking ‘‘section 7
706(2)(E)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 706(a)(2)(E)’’. 8
(b) A
NTARCTICMARINELIVINGRESOURCESCON-9
VENTIONACT OF1984.—Section 308(c) of the Antarctic 10
Marine Living Resources Convention Act of 1984 (16 11
U.S.C. 2437(c)) is amended, in the third sentence, by 12
striking ‘‘section 706(2)(E)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 13
706(a)(2)(E)’’. 14
(c) C
ONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 15
1995.—Section 409 of the Congressional Accountability 16
Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1409) is amended, in the first sen-17
tence— 18
(1) by striking ‘‘section 706(2)’’ and inserting 19
‘‘section 706(a)(2)’’; and 20
(2) by striking ‘‘section 706(2)(B)’’ and insert-21
ing ‘‘section 706(a)(2)(B)’’. 22
(d) C
ONSUMERPRODUCTSAFETYACT.—Section 9(i) 23
of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2058(i)) 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 55 
•S 1615 IS
is amended, in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘section 1
553(e)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 553(h)’’. 2
(e) D
EEPSEABEDHARDMINERALRESOURCES 3
A
CT.—Section 302(b) of the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral 4
Resources Act (30 U.S.C. 1462(b)) is amended, in the 5
third sentence, by striking ‘‘section 706(2)(E)’’ and in-6
serting ‘‘section 706(a)(2)(E)’’. 7
(f) D
EFENSEPRODUCTIONACT OF1950.—Section 8
709(b)(1) of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 9
U.S.C. 4559(b)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘for not less 10
than 30 days, consistent with the requirements of section 11
553(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘in a manner consistent with the 12
requirements of section 553(c)’’. 13
(g) E
NDANGERED SPECIESACT OF1973.—Section 14
4(b)(3) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 15
1533(b)(3)) is amended— 16
(1) in subparagraph (A), in the first sentence, 17
by striking ‘‘section 553(e)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 18
553(h)’’; and 19
(2) in subparagraph (D)(i), in the first sen-20
tence, by striking ‘‘section 553(e)’’ and inserting 21
‘‘section 553(h)’’. 22
(h) E
XPEDITEDFUNDSAVAILABILITYACT.—Section 23
609(a) of the Expedited Funds Availability Act (12 U.S.C. 24
4008(a)) is amended, in the matter preceding paragraph 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00055 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 56 
•S 1615 IS
(1), by striking ‘‘section 553(c)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 1
553’’. 2
(i) F
ASTENERQUALITYACT.—Section 6(b)(3) of the 3
Fastener Quality Act (15 U.S.C. 5408(b)(3)) is amended, 4
in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘section 706(2)’’ and 5
inserting ‘‘section 706(a)(2)’’. 6
(j) F
EDERALFOOD, DRUG, ANDCOSMETICACT.— 7
Section 912(b) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic 8
Act (21 U.S.C. 387l(b)) is amended, in the second sen-9
tence, by striking ‘‘section 706(2)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘sec-10
tion 706(a)(2)(A)’’. 11
(k) F
EDERALHAZARDOUSSUBSTANCESACT.—Sec-12
tion 3 of the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (15 13
U.S.C. 1262) is amended— 14
(1) in subsection (e)(1), in the first sentence, by 15
striking ‘‘(other than clause (B) of the last sentence 16
of subsection (b) of such section) of title 5 of the 17
United States Code’’ and inserting ‘‘of title 5, 18
United States Code, other than subsection (f)(3) of 19
such section,’’; and 20
(2) in subsection (j), in the first sentence, by 21
striking ‘‘section 553(e)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 22
553(h)’’. 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00056 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 57 
•S 1615 IS
(l) FEDERALTRADECOMMISSIONACT.—Section 1
18(e) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 2
57a(e)) is amended— 3
(1) in paragraph (3), in the second sentence of 4
the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking 5
‘‘section 706(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 706(a)(2)’’; 6
and 7
(2) in paragraph (5)(C), in the second sentence, 8
by striking ‘‘Section 706(2)(E)’’ and inserting ‘‘Sec-9
tion 706(a)(2)(E)’’. 10
(m) F
LAMMABLEFABRICSACT.—The Flammable 11
Fabrics Act (15 U.S.C. 1191 et seq.) is amended— 12
(1) in section 4(k) (15 U.S.C. 1193(k)), in the 13
first sentence, by striking ‘‘section 553(e)’’ and in-14
serting ‘‘section 553(h)’’; and 15
(2) in section 16(c)(2) (15 U.S.C. 1203(c)(2)), 16
by striking ‘‘section 553(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 17
553(c)’’. 18
(n) G
ENERALEDUCATIONPROVISIONSACT.—Sec-19
tion 411 of the General Education Provisions Act (20 20
U.S.C. 1221e–4) is amended, in the second sentence, by 21
striking ‘‘Notwithstanding the exception provided under 22
section 553(b) of title 5, such’’ and inserting ‘‘Such’’. 23
(o) H
IGHSEASFISHINGCOMPLIANCEACT OF 24
1995.—Section 108(d) of the High Seas Fishing Compli-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00057 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 58 
•S 1615 IS
ance Act of 1995 (16 U.S.C. 5507(d)) is amended, in the 1
third sentence, by striking ‘‘section 706(2)’’ and inserting 2
‘‘section 706(a)(2)’’. 3
(p) H
OUSING ANDCOMMUNITYDEVELOPMENTACT 4
OF1992.—The Housing and Community Development 5
Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.) is amended— 6
(1) in section 643(b)(3) (42 U.S.C. 7
13603(b)(3)), in the first sentence, by striking 8
‘‘(notwithstanding subsections (a)(2), (b)(B), and 9
(d)(3) of such section)’’ and inserting ‘‘(notwith-10
standing subsections (a)(2), (f)(3), and (g)(2) of 11
such section)’’; and 12
(2) in section 685 (42 U.S.C. 13643), in the 13
second sentence, by striking ‘‘(notwithstanding sub-14
sections (a)(2), (b)(B), and (d)(3) of such section)’’ 15
and inserting ‘‘(notwithstanding subsections (a)(2), 16
(f)(3), and (g)(2) of such section)’’. 17
(q) I
NTERNATIONAL BANKINGACT OF1978.—Sec-18
tion 7(f)(2) of the International Banking Act of 1978 (12 19
U.S.C. 3105(f)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘paragraph 20
(2)(F)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)(2)(F)’’. 21
(r) M
AGNUSON-STEVENSFISHERYCONSERVATION 22
ANDMANAGEMENTACT.—Section 308(b) of the Magnu-23
son-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 24
(16 U.S.C. 1858(b)) is amended, in the third sentence, 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00058 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 59 
•S 1615 IS
by striking ‘‘section 706(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 1
706(a)(2)’’. 2
(s) M
ARINEMAMMALPROTECTIONACT OF1972.— 3
Section 109 of the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 4
1972 (16 U.S.C. 1379) is amended— 5
(1) in subsection (c)(4), in the first sentence, by 6
striking ‘‘section 706(2) (A) through (E) of Title’’ 7
and inserting ‘‘subparagraphs (A) through (E) of 8
section 706(a)(2) of title’’; and 9
(2) in subsection (d)(2), in the second sen-10
tence— 11
(A) by striking ‘‘Title’’ and inserting 12
‘‘title’’; and 13
(B) by striking ‘‘subsection (d) of such sec-14
tion 553’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (g) of such 15
section 553’’. 16
(t) M
CKINNEY-VENTOHOMELESS ASSISTANCE 17
A
CT.—Section 433 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless As-18
sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11387) is amended, in the second 19
sentence, by striking ‘‘(notwithstanding subsections 20
(a)(2), (b)(B), and (d)(3) of such section)’’ and inserting 21
‘‘(notwithstanding subsections (a)(2), (f)(3), and (g)(2) of 22
such section)’’. 23
(u) M
IGRANT ANDSEASONALAGRICULTURALWORK-24
ERPROTECTIONACT.—The Migrant and Seasonal Agri-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00059 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 60 
•S 1615 IS
cultural Worker Protection Act (29 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) 1
is amended— 2
(1) in section 103(c) (29 U.S.C. 1813(c)), in 3
the third sentence, by striking ‘‘section 706(2)(E)’’ 4
and inserting ‘‘section 706(a)(2)(E)’’; and 5
(2) in section 503(c) (29 U.S.C. 1853(c)), in 6
the third sentence, by striking ‘‘section 706(2)(E)’’ 7
and inserting ‘‘section 706(a)(2)(E)’’. 8
(v) M
ILWAUKEERAILROADRESTRUCTURINGACT.— 9
The Milwaukee Railroad Restructuring Act (45 U.S.C. 10
901 et seq.) is amended— 11
(1) in section 5(b)(2) (45 U.S.C. 904(b)(2)), in 12
the second sentence, by striking ‘‘sections 706(2)(A), 13
706(2)(B), 706(2)(C), and 706(2)(D) of title 5 of 14
the United States Code’’ and inserting ‘‘subpara-15
graphs (A), (B), (C), and (D) of section 706(a)(2) 16
of title 5, United States Code’’; and 17
(2) in section 17(b)(2) (45 U.S.C. 915(b)(2)), 18
in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘sections 19
706(2)(A), 706(2)(B), 706(2)(C), and 706(2)(D) of 20
title 5 of the United States Code’’ and inserting 21
‘‘subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), and (D) of section 22
706(a)(2) of title 5, United States Code’’. 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00060 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 61 
•S 1615 IS
(w) NATIVEAMERICANPROGRAMSACT OF1974.— 1
Section 814 of the Native American Programs Act of 1974 2
(42 U.S.C. 2992b–1) is amended— 3
(1) in subsection (b)— 4
(A) in paragraph (1), in the matter pre-5
ceding subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘Subpara-6
graph (A) of the last sentence of section 553(b) 7
of title 5, United States Code, shall not apply 8
with respect to any interpretative rule or gen-9
eral statement of policy’’ and inserting ‘‘Section 10
553(c) of title 5, United States Code, shall 11
apply with respect to guidance’’; 12
(B) in paragraph (2)— 13
(i) in the matter preceding subpara-14
graph (A), by striking ‘‘Subparagraph (B) 15
of the last sentence of section 553(b)’’ and 16
inserting ‘‘Section 553(f)(3)’’; and 17
(ii) by striking ‘‘an interpretative rule 18
or a general statement of policy’’ and in-19
serting ‘‘guidance’’; and 20
(C) in paragraph (3), in the matter pre-21
ceding subparagraph (A)— 22
(i) by striking ‘‘The first 2 sentences 23
of section 553(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘Section 24
553(c)’’; and 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00061 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 62 
•S 1615 IS
(ii) by striking ‘‘an interpretative rule, 1
a general statement of policy,’’ and insert-2
ing ‘‘guidance’’; 3
(2) in subsection (c)— 4
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph 5
(1)— 6
(i) by striking ‘‘section 553(d)’’ and 7
inserting ‘‘section 553(g)’’; and 8
(ii) by striking ‘‘an interpretative 9
rule) or general statement of policy’’ and 10
inserting ‘‘guidance)’’; and 11
(B) in the flush text following paragraph 12
(2), by striking ‘‘the first 2 sentences of section 13
553(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 553(c)’’; 14
(3) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘an interpre-15
tative rule) and each general statement of policy’’ 16
and inserting ‘‘guidance)’’; 17
(4) in subsection (e)— 18
(A) by striking ‘‘any interpretative rule) or 19
a general statement of policy’’ and inserting 20
‘‘guidance)’’; and 21
(B) by striking ‘‘or such general statement 22
of policy’’; 23
(5) in subsection (f)— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00062 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 63 
•S 1615 IS
(A) by striking ‘‘an interpretative rule) or 1
a general statement of policy’’ and inserting 2
‘‘guidance)’’; and 3
(B) by striking ‘‘or such general statement 4
of policy’’; and 5
(6) by adding at the end the following: 6
‘‘(g) In this section, the term ‘guidance’ has the 7
meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, United 8
States Code.’’. 9
(x) N
ATURALGASPOLICYACT OF1978.—Section 10
502(b) of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (15 U.S.C. 11
3412(b)) is amended, in the third sentence, by striking 12
‘‘section 553(d)(3)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 553(g)(2)’’. 13
(y) N
OISECONTROLACT OF1972.—Section 6(c)(2) 14
of the Noise Control Act of 1972 (42 U.S.C. 4905(c)(2)) 15
is amended by striking ‘‘the first sentence of section 16
553(c)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 553(c)(4)’’. 17
(z) N
ORTHEASTRAILSERVICEACT OF1981.—Sec-18
tion 1152(c) of the Northeast Rail Service Act of 1981 19
(45 U.S.C. 1105(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘paragraphs 20
(2) (A), (B), (C), and (D) of section 706, title 5’’ and 21
inserting ‘‘subparagraphs (A) through (D) of section 22
706(a)(2) of title 5’’. 23
(aa) N
ORTHERNPACIFICHALIBUTACT OF1982.— 24
Section 8(b) of the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00063 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 64 
•S 1615 IS
(16 U.S.C. 773f(b)) is amended, in the third sentence, by 1
striking ‘‘section 706(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 2
706(a)(2)’’. 3
(bb) P
OISONPREVENTION PACKAGINGACT OF 4
1970.—The Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970 (15 5
U.S.C. 1471 et seq.) is amended— 6
(1) in section 5 (15 U.S.C. 1474)— 7
(A) in subsection (a), in the first sentence, 8
by striking ‘‘(other than paragraph (3)(B) of 9
the last sentence of subsection (b) of such sec-10
tion) of title 5 of the United States Code’’ and 11
inserting ‘‘of title 5, United States Code, other 12
than subsection (f)(3) of such section,’’; and 13
(B) in subsection (b)— 14
(i) by striking ‘‘of the United States 15
Code’’ each place that term appears and 16
inserting ‘‘, United States Code’’; and 17
(ii) in paragraph (3), in the first sen-18
tence, by striking ‘‘paragraph (2) of sec-19
tion 706’’ and inserting ‘‘section 20
706(a)(2)’’; and 21
(2) in section 7(c)(2) (15 U.S.C. 1476(c)(2)), 22
by striking ‘‘section 553(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 23
553(c)’’. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00064 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 65 
•S 1615 IS
(cc) POULTRYPRODUCTSINSPECTIONACT.—Section 1
14(c) of the Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 2
463(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 553(c) of title 5, 3
United States Code’’ and inserting ‘‘section 553(c)(4) of 4
title 5, United States Code,’’. 5
(dd) P
UBLICHEALTHSERVICEACT.—Section 6
2723(b)(2)(E)(iii) of the Public Health Service Act (42 7
U.S.C. 300gg–22(b)(2)(E)(iii)) is amended by striking 8
‘‘section 706(2)(E)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 9
706(a)(2)(E)’’. 10
(ee) R
EGIONALRAILREORGANIZATION ACT OF 11
1973.—Section 216(c)(3) of the Regional Rail Reorga-12
nization Act of 1973 (45 U.S.C. 726(c)(3)) is amended, 13
in the fourth sentence, by striking ‘‘section 706(2)’’ and 14
inserting ‘‘section 706(a)(2)’’. 15
(ff) S
OCIALSECURITYACT.—The Social Security Act 16
(42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) is amended— 17
(1) in section 221(j) (42 U.S.C. 421(j)), in the 18
flush text following paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘in 19
accordance with section 553(b)(A) of title 5, United 20
States Code’’ and all that follows through ‘‘and 21
statements’’ and inserting ‘‘in accordance with sec-22
tion 553(f)(2) of title 5, United States Code, of 23
guidance or rules of agency organization, procedure, 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00065 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 66 
•S 1615 IS
or practice relating to consultative examinations if 1
such guidance and rules’’; and 2
(2) in section 1871(b)(2) (42 U.S.C. 3
1395hh(b)(2)), by striking subparagraph (C) and in-4
serting the following: 5
‘‘(C) subsection (c) of section 553 of title 6
5, United States Code, does not apply pursuant 7
to subsection (f)(3) of such section.’’. 8
(gg) S
OUTHPACIFICTUNAACT OF1988.—Section 9
8(b) of the South Pacific Tuna Act of 1988 (16 U.S.C. 10
973f(b)) is amended, in the third sentence, by striking 11
‘‘section 706(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 706(a)(2)’’. 12
(hh) T
ARIFFACT OF1930.—Section 777(f)(5) of the 13
Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1677f(f)(5)) is amended, 14
in the third sentence, by striking ‘‘section 706(2)’’ and 15
inserting ‘‘section 706(a)(2)’’. 16
(ii) T
ITLE5, UNITEDSTATESCODE.—Title 5, 17
United States Code, is amended— 18
(1) in section 556(d), in the sixth sentence, by 19
striking ‘‘rule making’’ and inserting ‘‘rulemaking’’; 20
(2) in section 557(b), in the fourth sentence of 21
the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking 22
‘‘rule making’’ and inserting ‘‘rulemaking’’; 23
(3) in section 562(11), by striking ‘‘means ‘rule 24
making’ as that term is defined in section 551(5)’’ 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00066 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 67 
•S 1615 IS
and inserting ‘‘has the meaning given the term in 1
section 551’’; 2
(4) in section 601(2), by striking ‘‘section 3
553(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 553(c)’’; 4
(5) in section 1103(b)(1), by striking ‘‘section 5
553(b)(1), (2), and (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 6
553(c)’’; and 7
(6) in section 1105, by striking ‘‘subsections 8
(b), (c), and (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (b) 9
through (g) and (i)’’. 10
(jj) T
ITLE11, UNITEDSTATESCODE.—Section 11
1172(b) of title 11, United States Code, is amended, in 12
the second sentence, by striking ‘‘sections 706(2)(A), 13
706(2)(B), 706(2)(C), and 706(2)(D) of title 5’’ and in-14
serting ‘‘subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), and (D) of section 15
706(a)(2) of title 5’’. 16
(kk) T
ITLE14, UNITEDSTATESCODE.—Section 17
2507(b)(2)(A) of title 14, United States Code, is amended 18
by striking ‘‘section 706(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 19
706(a)(1)’’. 20
(ll) T
ITLE28, UNITEDSTATESCODE.—Section 3902 21
of title 28, United States Code, is amended, in the first 22
sentence, by striking ‘‘section 706(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘sec-23
tion 706(a)(2)’’. 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00067 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 68 
•S 1615 IS
(mm) TITLE41, UNITEDSTATESCODE.—Section 1
8503(a)(2) of title 41, United States Code, is amended 2
by striking ‘‘section 553(b) to (e)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 3
553’’. 4
(nn) T
ITLE46, UNITEDSTATESCODE.—Title 46, 5
United States Code, is amended— 6
(1) in section 14104(b), in the second sentence, 7
by striking ‘‘shall be considered to be an interpretive 8
regulation for purposes of section 553 of title 5’’ and 9
inserting ‘‘shall be subject to section 553 of title 5’’; 10
and 11
(2) in section 70105(c)(3)(B), in the second 12
sentence, by striking ‘‘section 706(2)(E)’’ and in-13
serting ‘‘section 706(a)(2)(E)’’. 14
(oo) T
OXICSUBSTANCESCONTROLACT.—Section 15
19(c)(1)(B) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 16
U.S.C. 2618(c)(1)(B)) is amended— 17
(1) in clause (i)— 18
(A) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘para-19
graph (2)(E)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 20
(a)(2)(E)’’; and 21
(B) in subclause (II), by striking ‘‘para-22
graph (2)(E)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 23
(a)(2)(E)’’; and 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00068 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 69 
•S 1615 IS
(2) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘section 553(c)’’ 1
and inserting ‘‘section 553(e)(2)’’. 2
(pp) U
NFUNDED MANDATESREFORMACT OF 3
1995.—Section 401(a)(2)(A) of the Unfunded Mandates 4
Reform Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1571(a)(2)(A)) is amended 5
by striking ‘‘section 706(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 6
706(a)(1)’’. 7
(qq) U
NITEDSTATESWAREHOUSEACT.—Section 8
13(d)(2) of the United States Warehouse Act (7 U.S.C. 9
252(d)(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘section 706(2)’’ and 10
inserting ‘‘section 706(a)(2)’’. 11
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:22 May 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00069 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1615.IS S1615
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB