Sponsors (2)
Official title: Amend the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 to provide for regulatory impact analyses for certain rules, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 19, 2026 by Debra Fischer · Last progress March 19, 2026
The bill increases transparency, public and intergovernmental participation, and cost‑benefit rigor in major rulemaking, but does so at the cost of more centralized review, greater administrative and litigation burdens, and likely slower rule issuance that may undercut timely protections or non‑monetary public interests.
Taxpayers, small businesses, nonprofits, and everyday individuals gain earlier, clearer opportunities to see and participate in major-rule development through required benefit–cost disclosures, 90-day notices, public dockets, and expanded consultation.
Workers, consumers, and businesses benefit from rules that must be evaluated against quantified costs, job impacts, and alternatives, increasing the chance agencies choose more cost‑effective regulatory options.
State, local, and Tribal governments (and the communities they serve) get stronger, earlier consultation and clearer accounting of interstate or intergovernmental costs, improving coordination and reducing unexpected burdens.
Large portions of the public could see slower protections because the new procedural and analytical requirements (notices, consultation, analyses, OIRA review) are likely to delay issuance of major rules and can postpone urgent health, safety, or environmental actions.
Taxpayers, regulated entities, and agencies will face higher administrative and compliance costs as agencies produce detailed benefit–cost analyses, consultations, annual reports, and handle more paperwork—costs that can be passed on or divert agency resources.
Concentrating approval authority and oversight in OIRA increases the risk that regulatory outcomes become politicized or centralized, reducing agency independence and shifting key decisions to a single executive office.
Based on analysis of 10 sections of legislative text.
Overhauls UMRA: defines a quantified "major rule," requires detailed RIAs and broad consultations, mandates net‑benefit selection, increases OIRA oversight, creates pre‑rule notices and judicial review, and exempts Fed monetary policy.
Revises the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act to tighten how federal agencies identify, analyze, consult on, and choose regulatory options for "major rules." It defines a new, quantified "major rule" threshold, requires detailed initial and final regulatory impact analyses, mandates early and ongoing consultations with state, local, and Tribal officials and affected parties, directs agencies to select the alternative that maximizes net benefits (with limited, explained exceptions), increases OIRA guidance and oversight, creates a pre-proposal notice requirement and electronic dockets, adds a private right of judicial review for compliance, adjusts coverage of independent agencies, and exempts Federal Reserve monetary policy rules. Several analytic, consultation, and OIRA-oversight provisions take effect 120 days after enactment.