Ky. Chamber urges Congress to pass Regulatory Accountability Act

UPDATE: The U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 185, the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015, by a vote of 250-175 with bi-partisan support Tuesday night.  This measure seeks to modernize the 69-year old Administrative Procedure Act and improve how federal agencies write the regulations that most significantly affect the U.S. economy.  Following the vote Dave Adkisson, Kentucky Chamber President and CEO, expressed his gratitude to those in the Kentucky Delegation who voted in favor of the bill and helped to pass this important measure.

“I would like to thank the Kentucky US House members that supported HR 185.  This bill would significantly benefit Kentucky’s business community and our members by making much needed reforms to the federal regulatory process.  The Kentucky Chamber will be following the measure closely as it hopefully makes it way to the US Senate and to the President’s desk,” Adkisson said in a statement about the passage.

The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce has joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other pro-business organizations in urging members of the U.S. House of Representatives to support H.R. 185, the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015.

The measure seeks to modernize the 69-year old Administrative Procedure Act and improve how federal agencies write the regulations that most significantly affect the U.S. economy.

Specifically, the bill would:

• Increase public participation in shaping the most costly regulations before they are proposed
• Require that agencies must choose the least costly option, unless they can demonstrate that public health, safety, or welfare requires a more costly requirement
• Give interested parties the opportunity to hold agencies accountable for their compliance with the Information Quality Act
• Establish a requirement of on-the-record administrative hearings for the most costly regulations to insure that agency data is well tested and reviewed
• Restrict agencies’ use of interim final regulations where no comments are taken before a regulation takes effect and providing for expedited judicial review of whether that approach is justified
• Provide for a more rigorous test in legal challenges for those regulations that would have the most impact.

“With an unprecedented number of federal mandates being issued from Washington, D.C. that are impacting the Commonwealth, it is imperative that the regulatory process be fair and federal agencies are held accountable,” said Bryan Sunderland, senior vice president for public affairs. “Furthermore, any new regulations being imposed on industry should be sensible and attainable. The Regulatory Accountability Act will help ensure that those standards are met.”

See a copy of the letter here.