I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1963
To require the heads of agencies identify whether major rules of the agency
are budget neutral, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH6, 2025
Ms. V
ANDUYNEintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To require the heads of agencies identify whether major
rules of the agency are budget neutral, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Agency Accountability 4
and Cost Transparency Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT TO IDENTIFY WHETHER MAJOR 6
RULES ARE BUDGET NEUTRAL. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The head of each agency shall— 8
(1) before promulgating a major rule— 9
(A) estimate the cost of the rule; 10
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•HR 1963 IH
(B) identify whether any rule of the agency 1
may be repealed to offset the cost of the major 2
rule; and 3
(C) repeal any rule identified under sub-4
paragraph (B); and 5
(2) include a statement along with each major 6
rule published in the Federal Register that identifies 7
whether the rule is budget neutral. 8
(b) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 9
(1) A
GENCY.—The terms ‘‘agency’’ has the 10
meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, 11
United States Code. 12
(2) B
UDGET NEUTRAL .—The term ‘‘budget 13
neutral’’ means that the cost of the rule is equal to 14
the total amount of costs to the public eliminated as 15
a result of the repeal of any rule identified under 16
paragraph (1)(B). 17
(3) C
OST OF THE RULE .—The term ‘‘cost of 18
the rule’’ means the cost to the public of the rule, 19
including any cost incurred to understand or imple-20
ment the rule. 21
(4) M
AJOR RULE.—The term ‘‘major rule’’ 22
means any rule, including an interim final rule, that 23
the Administrator of the Office of Information and 24
Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and 25
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Budget or the Federal agency promulgating such 1
rule finds has resulted in or is likely to result in— 2
(A) an annual effect on the economy of 3
$100 million or more; 4
(B) a major increase in costs or prices for 5
consumers, individual industries, Federal, 6
State, or local government agencies, or geo-7
graphic regions; or 8
(C) significant adverse effects on competi-9
tion, employment, investment, productivity, in-10
novation, or the ability of United States-based 11
enterprises to compete with foreign-based enter-12
prises in domestic and export markets. 13
(5) R
ULE.—The term ‘‘rule’’ has the meaning 14
given such term in section 551, except that such 15
term— 16
(A) includes interpretative rules, general 17
statements of policy, and all other agency guid-18
ance documents; and 19
(B) does not include— 20
(i) any rule of particular applicability, 21
including a rule that approves or pre-22
scribes for the future rates, wages, prices, 23
services, or allowances therefore, corporate 24
or financial structures, reorganizations, 25
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mergers, or acquisitions thereof, or ac-1
counting practices or disclosures bearing 2
on any of the foregoing; 3
(ii) any rule relating to agency man-4
agement or personnel; or 5
(iii) any rule of agency organization, 6
procedure, or practice that does not sub-7
stantially affect the rights or obligations of 8
non-agency parties. 9
Æ
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