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A bill to amend title 5, United States Code, to improve the effectiveness of major rules in accomplishing their regulatory objectives by promoting retrospective review, and for other purposes.
1/14/2025, 7:03 PM
Summary of Bill S 76
The key provisions of the bill include requiring agencies to conduct retrospective reviews of major rules every five years to assess their impact and effectiveness. Agencies would be required to consider factors such as the costs and benefits of the rule, its impact on small businesses, and whether it is achieving its intended goals. The bill also calls for agencies to solicit public input during the review process to ensure transparency and accountability.
Additionally, the bill includes provisions to streamline the regulatory process by requiring agencies to prioritize rules that are outdated, unnecessary, or overly burdensome. Agencies would be encouraged to repeal or modify rules that are no longer effective or impose unnecessary costs on businesses and individuals. Overall, Bill 119 s 76 aims to improve the regulatory process by promoting regular review of existing rules to ensure they are achieving their intended objectives in a cost-effective manner. The bill seeks to enhance transparency, accountability, and efficiency in the regulatory process to benefit both businesses and individuals.
Congressional Summary of S 76
Setting Manageable Analysis Requirements in Text Act of 2025 or the SMART Act of 2025
This bill requires agencies, when publishing a proposed or final major rule, to include a framework for assessing whether the rule achieves its regulatory objective. An agency must assess a rule in the time frame included in the framework. The assessment must compare the rule's anticipated and actual benefits and costs.
Additionally, the assessment must determine whether (1) the rule has been rendered unnecessary because of changes to the subject area affected by the rule or it overlaps with, duplicates, or conflicts with other rules, or state and local government regulations; (2) the rule should be expanded, streamlined, or otherwise modified to accomplish the rule's objective; and (3) other alternatives or modifications to the rule could better achieve the rule's objective.
The bill defines a major rule as a rule likely to cause (1) an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more; (2) a major increase in costs or prices; or (3) significant adverse effects on competition, employment, investment, productivity, innovation, health, safety, the environment, or the ability of U.S.-based enterprises to compete with foreign-based enterprises.
