Sponsors (9)
The bill aims to streamline and clarify which energy-related federal rules are reviewed and to force periodic justification of major regulations—potentially lowering burdens and litigation for agencies and some businesses—but it raises substantial risks of lapsed protections, regulatory uncertainty, reduced accountability, and increased administrative costs.
Utilities, energy companies, and other regulated parties get clearer, uniform definitions of which agency rules and specific rule parts are covered, reducing legal ambiguity and making compliance planning easier.
Taxpayers and businesses benefit from a requirement that agencies regularly review and justify major rules, which can eliminate outdated or costly regulations and reduce unnecessary burdens.
Small businesses and taxpayers gain increased transparency because agencies must solicit public comment on costs and benefits before extending rules, improving stakeholder input.
Taxpayers, workers, consumers, and the environment face the risk that many existing rules will lapse within a year unless affirmatively extended, potentially eliminating protections.
Businesses and agencies will face substantial regulatory uncertainty if rules are removed or allowed to lapse, complicating compliance, investment, and planning decisions.
Individuals and the public could lose remedies and oversight because the Act limits private lawsuits and could reduce judicial accountability of agencies, making it harder to enforce or challenge agency action.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Imposes automatic sunset dates on covered DOE, Interior energy-office, and FERC regulations, forcing periodic expiration unless extended after review and public comment.
Requires the Department of Energy, several Interior energy offices, and FERC to place automatic expiration dates (sunsets) on covered energy regulations. Existing covered regulations must be amended within 90 days so they will expire one year after that amendment; new covered regulations must expire within five years unless the agency head determines and notifies OMB that the rule is net deregulatory. Agency heads may extend expirations by up to five years at a time, but only after public comment on costs and benefits (unless the extension follows a deregulatory amendment). If an expiration is not timely extended, the regulation stops having effect and must be removed from the Code of Federal Regulations. The bill also defines which agencies and statutes are covered, preserves executive authority, includes a severability clause, and bars private lawsuits to enforce the Act.
Introduced February 17, 2026 by Craig A. Goldman · Last progress February 17, 2026