Regulatory Accountability Act

Summary

Amends the Administrative Procedure Act to redefine key terms (like “guidance,” “major guidance,” and “major rule”), require more transparency and longer public comment and review steps for rulemaking, and increase the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Administrator’s role in reviewing and overseeing major rules. It also changes how courts review agency action and limits certain forms of judicial deference, exempts rulemakings already pending or completed at enactment, preserves copyright law, and updates many cross-references across federal law. The law forces agencies to publish more of the underlying information they rely on, follow minimum public-comment timelines, give early notice and timetables for major rules, and undergo post-promulgation assessment; it centralizes additional review authority at OIRA and alters standards and scope for judicial review of agency decisions.

Key Points

• Adds statutory definitions for “guidance,” “major guidance,” and “major rule” and names OIRA and its Administrator in the APA.
• Revises rulemaking procedures to require agencies to publish underlying data/analyses, observe minimum public comment periods, and provide more advance notice for major rules.
• Gives the OIRA Administrator expanded authority to review, guide, and oversee major rules and to issue guidance on compliance with the new procedures.
• Changes judicial review: courts must consider the whole record (or cited parts) and apply revised limits and standards for reviewing agency actions and interpretations.
• Creates required planning/timetable and post-promulgation assessment steps for major rules.
• Does not apply retroactively to rulemakings pending or completed at the time of enactment.
• Affirms that nothing in the Act alters federal copyright protections under Title 17.
• Makes many technical cross-reference edits across federal law to align with amended APA section language.

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