II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 712
To require agencies to repeal ten existing regulations before issuing a new
regulation, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY25, 2025
Mr. S
COTTof Florida (for himself, Mr. LANKFORD, and Mr. JOHNSON) intro-
duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com-
mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To require agencies to repeal ten existing regulations before
issuing a new regulation, 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 ‘‘Regulation Decimation 4
Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. REPEAL OF REGULATIONS REQUIRED BEFORE 6
ISSUANCE OF A NEW RULE. 7
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
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(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 1
meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, 2
United States Code. 3
(2) M
AJOR RULE.—The term ‘‘major rule’’ has 4
the meaning given that term in section 804 of title 5
5, United States Code. 6
(3) R
ULE.—The term ‘‘rule’’ has the meaning 7
given that term in section 551 of title 5, United 8
States Code. 9
(4) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 10
the several States, the District of Columbia, each 11
territory or possession of the United States, and 12
each federally recognized Indian Tribe. 13
(b) R
EQUIREMENT FOR RULE.—An agency may not 14
issue a rule unless such agency has repealed 10 or more 15
rules described in subsection (e) that, to the extent prac-16
ticable, are related to the rule. 17
(c) R
EQUIREMENT FOR MAJORRULE.— 18
(1) R
EPEAL REQUIRED.—An agency may not 19
issue a major rule unless— 20
(A) such agency has repealed 10 or more 21
rules described in subsection (e) that, to the ex-22
tent practicable, are related to the major rule; 23
and 24
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(B) the cost of the new major rule is less 1
than or equal to the cost of the rules repealed. 2
(2) C
ERTIFIED COST.—For any rule issued in 3
accordance with paragraph (1), the Administrator of 4
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of 5
the Office of Management and Budget must have 6
certified that the cost of the new major rule is equal 7
to or less than the cost of the rules repealed. 8
(d) P
UBLICATIONREQUIRED.—Any rule repealed 9
under subsection (b) or (c) shall be published in the Fed-10
eral Register. 11
(e) A
PPLICABILITY.—This section— 12
(1) applies to any rule or major rule that im-13
poses a cost or responsibility on a nongovernmental 14
person or a State or local government; and 15
(2) shall not apply to any rule or major rule— 16
(A) that relates to the internal policy or 17
practice of an agency or procurement by the 18
agency; or 19
(B) that is being revised to be less burden-20
some to decrease requirements imposed by the 21
rule or cost of compliance. 22
(f) R
EVIEW OFAGENCYRULES.—Not later than 90 23
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the head 24
of each agency shall submit to Congress and the Director 25
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of the Office of Management and Budget a report that 1
includes a review of each rule of the agency that identifies 2
whether that rule is costly, ineffective, duplicative, or out-3
dated, including a list of any other unnecessary regulatory 4
restriction of the agency that is costly, ineffective, duplica-5
tive, or outdated. 6
(g) R
EPORT ONRULES.—Not later than 5 years after 7
the date of enactment of this Act, the President shall sub-8
mit to Congress a report on the number of rules in effect 9
and the status of the reduction of rules over the previous 10
5 years. 11
Æ
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