S1708-119

In Committee

Regulatory Accountability Act

119th Congress Introduced May 12, 2025

Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.

Summary

What This Bill Does

The bill defines new definitions for guidance, major guidance, major rule, OIRA, and Administrator in APA Section 551, requires comprehensive overhaul of APA Section 553 rulemaking requiring cost-benefit analysis, OIRA pre-publication review, 90-day comment periods for major rules, advance notice, restrictions on agency advocacy, and requires overhaul of judicial review under APA Section 706 requiring de novo review of agency rule record, eliminating deference to agency factual determinations for major rules. It relies on compliance mandates, definition changes, and reporting requirements. The main policy areas are Technology.

Who Benefits and How

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs could gain revenue opportunities, Regulated businesses and industries could face lower compliance burdens, and Regulated industries and trade associations could face fewer barriers.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Federal regulatory agencies would take on compliance duties, Environmental and consumer protection groups could face higher barriers, and Federal judiciary would take on compliance duties.

Key Provisions

  • Defines new definitions for guidance, major guidance, major rule, OIRA, and Administrator in APA Section 551.
  • Requires comprehensive overhaul of APA Section 553 rulemaking requiring cost-benefit analysis, OIRA pre-publication review, 90-day comment periods for major rules, advance notice, restrictions on agency advocacy...
  • Requires overhaul of judicial review under APA Section 706 requiring de novo review of agency rule record, eliminating deference to agency factual determinations for major rules.
  • Creates prospective application clause ensuring amendments only apply to rulemakings initiated after enactment.
  • Creates rule of construction preserving copyright protections under title 17.

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

The bill defines new definitions for guidance, major guidance, major rule, OIRA, and Administrator in APA Section 551, requires comprehensive overhaul of APA Section 553 rulemaking requiring cost-benefit analysis, OIRA pre-publication review, 90-day comment periods for major rules, advance notice, restrictions on agency advocacy, and requires overhaul of judicial review under APA Section 706 requiring de novo review of agency rule record, eliminating deference to agency factual determinations for major rules.

Key Policy Areas

Technology

Primary Purpose

The bill defines new definitions for guidance, major guidance, major rule, OIRA, and Administrator in APA Section 551, requires comprehensive overhaul of APA Section 553 rulemaking requiring cost-benefit analysis, OIRA pre-publication review, 90-day comment periods for major rules, advance notice, restrictions on agency advocacy, and requires overhaul of judicial review under APA Section 706 requiring de novo review of agency rule record, eliminating deference to agency factual determinations for major rules.

Policy Domains

Technology

Sections 2-3 - Definitions and Rulemaking

Identified Gains
  • Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
  • Regulated businesses and industries
  • Regulated industries and trade associations
  • Regulated industries
Model: codex-gpt-5:bulk-repair | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is
Regulated industries:
Regulated businesses and industries:
Regulated industries and trade associations:
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs:
Identified Costs
  • Federal regulatory agencies
  • Environmental and consumer protection groups
  • Federal judiciary
Model: codex-gpt-5:bulk-repair | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is
Federal judiciary:
Federal regulatory agencies: , ,
Environmental and consumer protection groups:

Legislative Progress

In Committee
Introduced Committee Passed
May 12, 2025

Mr. Lankford (for himself and Mr. Johnson) introduced the following …

May 12, 2025

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security …

May 12, 2025

Introduced in Senate

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Government
6 mentions across 4 clauses
+1 positive -4 negative ?1 uncertain

Federal judiciary, Federal regulatory agencies, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

Positive-direction: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

Negative-direction: Federal judiciary, Federal regulatory agencies

Business Associations
3 mentions across 3 clauses
+3 positive

Regulated businesses and industries, Regulated industries, Regulated industries and trade associations

Nonprofits
1 mention across 1 clause
-1 negative

Environmental and consumer protection groups

6/8
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Technology
Actor Mappings
"the_administrator"
→ Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Domains
Administrative Law
Domains
Administrative Law Government Operations

Key Definitions

Terms defined in this bill

4 terms
"guidance" §2(15)

Agency statement of general applicability not intended to have force of law, setting forth policy or interpretation

"major guidance" §2(16)

Guidance likely to lead to annual economic effect, major increase in costs, or significant adverse competitive effects

"major rule" §2(17)

Rule likely to cause annual effect on economy of 100M+ or major increase in costs/prices or significant adverse competitive effects

"Administrator" §2(19)

Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology