II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 148
To prohibit the use of non-monetized or unqualified factors for regulatory
analyses, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY17, 2025
Ms. E
RNST(for herself and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Secu-
rity and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To prohibit the use of non-monetized or unqualified factors
for regulatory analyses, 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 ‘‘Regulations Evaluated 4
to Determine The Anticipated Price and Effect Act’’ or 5
the ‘‘RED TAPE Act’’. 6
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 7
Congress finds that agencies must prioritize tangible, 8
immediately quantifiable monetary benefits in their deci-9
sion making processes, ensuring regulatory actions yield 10
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clear and measurable financial benefits to the public and 1
private sectors while minimizing unnecessary regulatory 2
costs or burdens. 3
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON NET BENEFIT DISCOUNTS; CON-4
SIDERATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT ANAL-5
YSES. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 6 of title 5, United 7
States Code, is amended— 8
(1) in section 601— 9
(A) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 10
the end; 11
(B) in paragraph (7), by striking the pe-12
riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 13
(C) by adding at the end the following: 14
‘‘(8) the term ‘benefit-cost analysis’ has the 15
meaning given the term in Office of Management 16
and Budget Circular A–94, as revised on November 17
9, 2023, or any successor revision; and 18
‘‘(9) the term ‘regulatory impact analysis’ 19
means a regulatory analysis described in— 20
‘‘(A) Executive Order 12866 (5 U.S.C. 21
601 note; relating to regulatory planning and 22
review); 23
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‘‘(B) Executive Order 13563 (5 U.S.C. 1
601 note; relating to improving regulation and 2
regulatory review); 3
‘‘(C) Executive Order 14094 (88 Fed. Reg. 4
21879; relating to modernizing regulatory re-5
view); 6
‘‘(D) Office of Management and Budget 7
Circular No. A–4, as revised on November 9, 8
2023, or any successor revision; or 9
‘‘(E) Office of Management and Budget 10
Circular No. A–94, as revised on November 9, 11
2023, or any successor revision.’’; and 12
(2) by adding at the end the following: 13
‘‘§ 613. Prohibition on use of non-monetized or un-14
qualified factors for regulatory analyses 15
‘‘(a) A
GENCYPROHIBITION.—An agency may not 16
consider any non-monetized or unquantified factor when 17
conducting a regulatory impact analysis or benefit-cost 18
analysis on any proposed rule, final rule, or interim final 19
rule. 20
‘‘(b) OMB P
ROHIBITION.—The Office of Manage-21
ment and Budget may not— 22
‘‘(1) authorize in any manner, such as in 23
issuing guidance, a memorandum, a directive, or a 24
rule that permit or endorse the analysis or use of 25
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any non-monetized or unquantified factor when con-1
ducting a regulatory impact analysis or benefit-cost 2
analysis on any proposed rule, final rule, or interim 3
final rule; or 4
‘‘(2) consider any non-monetized or 5
unquantified factor presented in a regulatory impact 6
analysis or benefit-cost analysis of another agency. 7
‘‘(c) P
UBLICTRANSPARENCY.—Each agency shall 8
publish in the Federal Register, with respect to and along 9
with each proposed rule, final rule, or interim final rule— 10
‘‘(1) a summary of each regulatory impact anal-11
ysis and benefit-cost analysis conducted by the agen-12
cy; 13
‘‘(2) the text of each regulatory impact analysis 14
and benefit-cost analysis conducted by the agency, 15
including a disclosure of the methodology and spe-16
cific analyses used by the agency in estimating eco-17
nomic impacts, and the determination and rationale 18
of such economic impact analyses; and 19
‘‘(3) any additional information of the agency 20
relevant to the regulatory impact and benefit-cost 21
analyses conducted by the agency, such as the deci-22
sion-making processes of the agency. 23
‘‘(d) R
EGULATORYGUIDANCE.—Not later than 90 24
days after the date of enactment of this section, the Direc-25
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tor of the Office of Management and Budget shall issue 1
revised guidance to agencies to ensure compliance with the 2
provisions of this section. 3
‘‘(e) J
UDICIALREVIEW.— 4
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Any party affected by a 5
rule issued by an agency that considered a non-mon-6
etized or unquantified factor when conducting a reg-7
ulatory impact or benefit-cost analysis in violation of 8
this section may bring a civil action against the 9
agency to challenge the rule in a district court of the 10
United States. 11
‘‘(2) I
NVALIDATION OF REGULATION .—If the 12
court finds that an agency relied upon non-mone-13
tized or unquantified factors to evaluate a final rule 14
or interim final rule in contravention of this section, 15
the court shall declare the rule invalid. 16
‘‘(3) S
TATUTE OF LIMITATIONS .—This sub-17
section shall apply with respect to any rule issued by 18
an agency on or after November 9, 2023.’’. 19
(b) T
ECHNICAL AND CONFORMINGAMENDMENT.— 20
The table of sections for chapter 6 of title 5, United States 21
Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 22
‘‘613. Prohibition on use of non-monetized or unquantified factors for regulatory
analyses.’’.
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SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 1
The amendments made by section 3 shall take effect 2
on the date that is 30 days after the date of enactment 3
of this Act. 4
Æ
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