Sponsors (12)
The bill increases senior-level and OIRA oversight to boost accountability and consistency in rulemaking, but it concentrates authority and adds procedures that are likely to slow agency action, risk politicizing technical decisions, and raise administrative costs.
Taxpayers and federal employees will have major regulations signed or initiated by Senate-confirmed or other senior appointees, increasing direct political accountability for important rulemaking decisions.
Federal employees and state governments will receive OIRA guidance and monitoring of agency rulemaking, which should improve consistency, oversight, and inter-agency coordination.
Federal employees and taxpayers gain an extra safeguard because agency heads must personally review safety/security exemptions, ensuring senior-level scrutiny before bypassing standard rulemaking steps.
State governments and taxpayers may face fewer or delayed rules because only Senate-confirmed or senior appointees can initiate or sign regulations, slowing agencies' ability to act across many programs.
Federal employees and government contractors could see technical regulatory decisions become more politicized as authority concentrates at the political appointee level, reducing career staff discretion.
Taxpayers and state governments risk slower or compromised responses to public health or safety emergencies if operational/emergency rulemaking is impeded by unavailable senior appointees, even with an exemption process.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires most APA notice-and-comment rules to be initiated by a senior appointee and signed by a Senate-confirmed official, with a narrow public safety/security exemption and OIRA oversight.
Requires most agency rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act to be started by a senior political appointee and issued/signed by a Presidential appointee confirmed by the Senate, except where the agency head makes a nondelegable determination that compliance would impede public safety or security. Agencies must document and submit reasons for any exemption to the OIRA Administrator and publish a notification in the Federal Register consistent with safety, security, and privacy. Directs the OIRA Administrator to issue guidance and monitor agency compliance, while preserving the OMB Director’s existing functions related to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. The bill also defines key terms such as “agency,” “rule,” “Administrator,” and “senior appointee.”
Introduced January 15, 2025 by Benjamin Cline · Last progress January 15, 2025