Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1163 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 1163
55 To amend title 5, United States Code, to require greater transparency for
66 Federal regulatory decisions that impact small businesses, and for other
77 purposes.
88 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
99 FEBRUARY10, 2025
1010 Mr. F
1111 INSTAD(for himself, Ms. HAGEMAN, Mr. MORAN, Ms. SALAZAR, Mr.
1212 M
1313 EUSER, Mr. NUNNof Iowa, Mr. STEIL, and Mr. STAUBER) introduced
1414 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary,
1515 and in addition to the Committee on Small Business, for a period to be
1616 subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
1717 of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
1818 cerned
1919 A BILL
2020 To amend title 5, United States Code, to require greater
2121 transparency for Federal regulatory decisions that impact
2222 small businesses, and for other purposes.
2323 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2424 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2525 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2626 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prove It Act of 2025’’. 4
2727 SEC. 2. INITIAL REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY ANALYSIS. 5
2828 (a) I
2929 NGENERAL.—Chapter 6 of title 5, United 6
3030 States Code, is amended— 7
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3333 •HR 1163 IH
3434 (1) in section 603(b)— 1
3535 (A) in paragraph (5), by striking the pe-2
3636 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 3
3737 (B) by adding at the end the following: 4
3838 ‘‘(6) where feasible, any reasonably foreseeable 5
3939 potential indirect costs the proposed rule may im-6
4040 pose on small entities, including small entities 7
4141 that— 8
4242 ‘‘(A) purchase products or services from, 9
4343 sell products or services to, or otherwise con-10
4444 duct business with entities directly regulated by 11
4545 the rule; 12
4646 ‘‘(B) are directly regulated by other gov-13
4747 ernmental entities as a result of the rule; or 14
4848 ‘‘(C) are not directly regulated by the 15
4949 agency as a result of the rule but are otherwise 16
5050 subject to other agency rules as a result of the 17
5151 rule.’’; 18
5252 (2) in section 605(b), by striking ‘‘The agency’’ 19
5353 and inserting ‘‘Not later than 10 days after com-20
5454 pleting the certification described in this subsection, 21
5555 the agency’’; and 22
5656 (3) by inserting after section 605 the following: 23
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5959 •HR 1163 IH
6060 ‘‘§ 605A. Review procedures relating to initial regu-1
6161 latory flexibility analysis certifications 2
6262 ‘‘(a) F
6363 ILING APETITIONTOREVIEWAGENCYCER-3
6464 TIFICATION OF APROPOSEDRULE.— 4
6565 ‘‘(1) I
6666 N GENERAL.—Any small entity, group of 5
6767 small entities, or organization representing the inter-6
6868 ests of small entities may petition the Chief Counsel 7
6969 for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration 8
7070 (in this section referred to as the ‘Chief Counsel’) to 9
7171 review a certification published under section 605(b) 10
7272 that a proposed rule will not, if promulgated, have 11
7373 a significant economic impact on a substantial num-12
7474 ber of small entities. 13
7575 ‘‘(2) F
7676 ORM.—The Chief Counsel shall— 14
7777 ‘‘(A) determine the method, timing, and 15
7878 form of disseminating a petition described in 16
7979 paragraph (1); and 17
8080 ‘‘(B) display the information described in 18
8181 subparagraph (A) on the website of the Office 19
8282 of Advocacy of the Small Business Administra-20
8383 tion in a conspicuous manner. 21
8484 ‘‘(3) C
8585 ONTENTS.—Each petition described in 22
8686 paragraph (1) with respect to a certification pub-23
8787 lished under section 605(b) for a proposed rule shall 24
8888 clearly and concisely— 25
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9191 •HR 1163 IH
9292 ‘‘(A) specify the name of the petitioner and 1
9393 a telephone number, a mailing address, and an 2
9494 email address that the Chief Counsel may use 3
9595 to communicate with the petitioner; 4
9696 ‘‘(B) if the petitioner is an organization, 5
9797 provide additional identifying information, as 6
9898 applicable, including the organizational or cor-7
9999 porate status of the petitioner, the State of in-8
100100 corporation of the petitioner, the registered 9
101101 agent of the petitioner, the interest of the peti-10
102102 tioner in representing small entities affected by 11
103103 the proposed rule and the certification at issue, 12
104104 and the name and authority of the individual 13
105105 who signed the petition on behalf of the organi-14
106106 zational or corporate petitioner; 15
107107 ‘‘(C) present the specific problems or 16
108108 issues that the petitioner believes should be ad-17
109109 dressed or considered through a review of the 18
110110 certification, such as— 19
111111 ‘‘(i) any specific circumstances in 20
112112 which the determination of the certification 21
113113 that the proposed rule will not, if promul-22
114114 gated, have a significant economic impact 23
115115 on a substantial number of small entities is 24
116116 incorrect, incomplete, or inadequate; or 25
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119119 •HR 1163 IH
120120 ‘‘(ii) why the proposed rule would, if 1
121121 promulgated, have a significant economic 2
122122 impact on a substantial number of small 3
123123 entities; 4
124124 ‘‘(D) cite, enclose, or reference any rel-5
125125 evant and non-protected or confidential tech-6
126126 nical, scientific, or other data or information 7
127127 supporting any assertion of the problems or 8
128128 issues with the certification; 9
129129 ‘‘(E) present a proposed solution to the 10
130130 problems or issues raised in the petition, includ-11
131131 ing potential regulatory or compliance alter-12
132132 natives to the proposed rule; 13
133133 ‘‘(F) provide an analysis, discussion, or ar-14
134134 gument that explains how the proposed solution 15
135135 described in subparagraph (E) solves the prob-16
136136 lems or issues raised in the petition; and 17
137137 ‘‘(G) cite, enclose, or reference any other 18
138138 publicly available data or information sup-19
139139 porting the proposed solution described in sub-20
140140 paragraph (E). 21
141141 ‘‘(b) C
142142 ONSULTATION.— 22
143143 ‘‘(1) I
144144 N GENERAL.—Any entity or organization 23
145145 desiring to file a petition under subsection (a) may 24
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148148 •HR 1163 IH
149149 request a consultation with the Chief Counsel before 1
150150 or after filing the petition. 2
151151 ‘‘(2) F
152152 ORM.—The Chief Counsel shall— 3
153153 ‘‘(A) determine the method, timing, and 4
154154 form of requesting a consultation with the Chief 5
155155 Counsel under paragraph (1); and 6
156156 ‘‘(B) display the information described in 7
157157 subparagraph (A) on the website of the Office 8
158158 of Advocacy of the Small Business Administra-9
159159 tion in a conspicuous manner. 10
160160 ‘‘(3) L
161161 IMITATIONS ON ASSISTANCE .—In any 11
162162 consultation regarding a petition under paragraph 12
163163 (1), the Chief Counsel— 13
164164 ‘‘(A) may only— 14
165165 ‘‘(i) describe the process for filing, 15
166166 docketing, tracking, closing, amending, 16
167167 withdrawing, and resolving the petition; 17
168168 and 18
169169 ‘‘(ii) assist the petitioner to clarify the 19
170170 petition so that the Chief Counsel is able 20
171171 to understand the issues of concern to the 21
172172 petitioner; and 22
173173 ‘‘(B) may not advise a petitioner on wheth-23
174174 er the petition should be amended or with-24
175175 drawn. 25
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178178 •HR 1163 IH
179179 ‘‘(c) PRIMAFACIEREVIEW.— 1
180180 ‘‘(1) I
181181 N GENERAL.—Upon receipt of a petition 2
182182 filed under this section with respect to the certifi-3
183183 cation of a proposed rule, the Chief Counsel shall 4
184184 make an initial prima facie determination on the 5
185185 merit of the issues raised in the petition as to the 6
186186 properness of the certification and whether the pro-7
187187 posed rule in question would, if promulgated, have 8
188188 a significant economic impact on a substantial num-9
189189 ber of small entities. 10
190190 ‘‘(2) N
191191 O FURTHER REVIEW .—If, following the 11
192192 prima facie review of a petition under paragraph (1), 12
193193 the Chief Counsel determines that the issues raised 13
194194 in the petition do not merit further review by the 14
195195 Chief Counsel, the Chief Counsel shall, not later 15
196196 than 10 days after receipt of the petition, inform the 16
197197 petitioner of that determination and the matter shall 17
198198 be closed. 18
199199 ‘‘(3) F
200200 URTHER REVIEW .—If, following the 19
201201 prima facie review of a petition under paragraph (1), 20
202202 the Chief Counsel determines that the issues raised 21
203203 in the petition do merit further review by the Chief 22
204204 Counsel, the Chief Counsel shall, not later than 10 23
205205 days after receipt of the petition, inform the peti-24
206206 tioner and the agency that promulgated the pro-25
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209209 •HR 1163 IH
210210 posed rule that the Chief Counsel shall conduct a 1
211211 full review of the certification and proposed rule to 2
212212 which the petition relates under subsection (d). 3
213213 ‘‘(d) F
214214 ULLREVIEW.— 4
215215 ‘‘(1) C
216216 ONSIDERATIONS; MEETING.—In con-5
217217 ducting a full review under this subsection with re-6
218218 spect to the certification made under section 605(b), 7
219219 the Chief Counsel shall— 8
220220 ‘‘(A) consider— 9
221221 ‘‘(i) whether the agency that promul-10
222222 gated the proposed rule correctly deter-11
223223 mined which small entities will be affected 12
224224 by the proposed rule; 13
225225 ‘‘(ii) whether the agency considered 14
226226 adequate economic data to assess whether 15
227227 the proposed rule will have a significant 16
228228 impact on a substantial number of small 17
229229 entities; and 18
230230 ‘‘(iii) the economic implications of the 19
231231 proposed rule; and 20
232232 ‘‘(B) convene a virtual or in-person meet-21
233233 ing between the Chief Counsel, the petitioner, 22
234234 representatives of the agency that promulgated 23
235235 the proposed rule who are determined appro-24
236236 priate by the Chief Counsel, and the Adminis-25
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239239 •HR 1163 IH
240240 trator of the Office of Information and Regu-1
241241 latory Affairs to— 2
242242 ‘‘(i) provide positions and support for 3
243243 those positions regarding the certification 4
244244 of the proposed rule; and 5
245245 ‘‘(ii) allow the Chief Counsel to ask 6
246246 questions as the Chief Counsel determines 7
247247 necessary to make a final determination as 8
248248 to the validity of the certification. 9
249249 ‘‘(2) P
250250 UBLICATION.—Not later than 30 days 10
251251 after the date on which the Chief Counsel begins a 11
252252 full review of a certification made with respect to a 12
253253 proposed rule under paragraph (1), the Chief Coun-13
254254 sel shall submit to the petitioner and the agency that 14
255255 promulgated the proposed rule, and publish in the 15
256256 Federal Register and on the website of the Office of 16
257257 Advocacy of the Small Business Administration, the 17
258258 results of the review conducted under paragraph (1). 18
259259 ‘‘(3) R
260260 EQUIREMENT TO PERFORM ANALYSES .— 19
261261 If, after a full review of a certification made with re-20
262262 spect to a proposed rule under paragraph (1), the 21
263263 Chief Counsel determines that the proposed rule 22
264264 will, if promulgated, have a significant economic im-23
265265 pact on a substantial number of small entities, the 24
266266 agency that promulgated the proposed rule shall per-25
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269269 •HR 1163 IH
270270 form an initial regulatory flexibility analysis and a 1
271271 final regulatory flexibility analysis for the proposed 2
272272 rule under sections 603 and 604, respectively. 3
273273 ‘‘(4) P
274274 ENALTY.—If an agency fails to attend 4
275275 the required meeting under paragraph (1)(B) or in 5
276276 any other way fails to assist the Chief Counsel in a 6
277277 full review under paragraph (1) with respect to a 7
278278 proposed rule of the agency, as determined by the 8
279279 Chief Counsel, the final rule shall not apply to small 9
280280 entities. 10
281281 ‘‘(5) J
282282 UDICIAL REVIEW.—For purposes of judi-11
283283 cial review under chapter 7 of this title, a certifi-12
284284 cation made by an agency under section 605(b) for 13
285285 which a petition is filed under subsection (a) shall 14
286286 be considered final agency action as of the date on 15
287287 which the Chief Counsel— 16
288288 ‘‘(A) makes a determination under sub-17
289289 section (c)(2) that the issues raised in the peti-18
290290 tion do not merit further review; or 19
291291 ‘‘(B) publishes the results of a full review 20
292292 of the certification under paragraph (1).’’. 21
293293 (b) T
294294 ECHNICAL AND CONFORMINGAMENDMENT.— 22
295295 The table of sections for chapter 6 of title 5, United States 23
296296 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 24
297297 section 605 the following: 25
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301301 ‘‘605A. Review procedures relating to initial regulatory flexibility analysis certifi-
302302 cations.’’.
303303 SEC. 3. PUBLICATION OF GUIDANCE.
304304 1
305305 Section 609 of title 5, United States Code, is amend-2
306306 ed by adding at the end the following: 3
307307 ‘‘(f) With respect to any rule that an agency deter-4
308308 mines is likely to have a significant economic impact on 5
309309 a substantial number of small entities, the head of the 6
310310 agency shall, on regulations.gov or any similar internet 7
311311 website— 8
312312 ‘‘(1) publish all guidance documents and other 9
313313 relevant documents, as determined by the agency, 10
314314 including any updated guidance documents that set 11
315315 forth interpretations of the rule; and 12
316316 ‘‘(2) allow for comments on the documents de-13
317317 scribed in paragraph (1) to ensure that small enti-14
318318 ties may access and provide feedback on those docu-15
319319 ments.’’. 16
320320 SEC. 4. REVIEW PROCEDURES FOR SECTION 610 PERIODIC 17
321321 REVIEW OF RULES. 18
322322 (a) I
323323 NGENERAL.—Section 610 of title 5, United 19
324324 States Code, is amended— 20
325325 (1) in subsection (b)— 21
326326 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 22
327327 by striking ‘‘the following factors’’; 23
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330330 •HR 1163 IH
331331 (B) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 1
332332 the end; 2
333333 (C) in paragraph (5), by striking the pe-3
334334 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 4
335335 (D) by adding at the end the following: 5
336336 ‘‘(6) any indirect costs described in the initial 6
337337 regulatory flexibility analysis under section 7
338338 603(b)(6), and any other indirect costs that may 8
339339 have arisen during the 10-year period described in 9
340340 subsection (a).’’; and 10
341341 (2) by adding at the end the following: 11
342342 ‘‘(d) If an agency fails to conduct a review of a rule 12
343343 as required under this section within the 10-year period 13
344344 described in subsection (a)— 14
345345 ‘‘(1) the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the 15
346346 Small Business Administration shall notify the agen-16
347347 cy that the rule has ceased to be effective; 17
348348 ‘‘(2) the agency shall publish in the Federal 18
349349 Register a notification that the rule has ceased to be 19
350350 effective, and solicit comments for why the rule 20
351351 should be reinstated; and 21
352352 ‘‘(3) if, based on the comments received under 22
353353 paragraph (2), the agency determines that the rule 23
354354 should be reinstated— 24
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358358 ‘‘(A) the agency shall have 180 days begin-1
359359 ning on the date of that determination to com-2
360360 plete the review of the rule under this section; 3
361361 and 4
362362 ‘‘(B) upon completion of the review under 5
363363 subparagraph (A), the rule shall be reinstated, 6
364364 notwithstanding the notice and comment rule-7
365365 making procedures under section 553 of this 8
366366 title.’’. 9
367367 (b) A
368368 PPLICATION.—The amendment made by sub-10
369369 section (a)(2) shall apply with respect to any final rule 11
370370 issued by an agency— 12
371371 (1) during the 5-year period preceding the date 13
372372 of enactment of this Act; or 14
373373 (2) on or after the date of enactment of this 15
374374 Act. 16
375375 SEC. 5. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS. 17
376376 No additional funds are authorized to be appro-18
377377 priated for the purpose of carrying out this Act or the 19
378378 amendments made by this Act. 20
379379 Æ
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