Association Urges Senate to Pass Regulatory Accountability Act

Last week our Association joined more than 600 other groups to urge the leadership of the U.S. Senate to pass the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017 (RAA).

The RAA would require federal agencies to adopt the “least costly” rule that addresses the problem they seek to fix.

With both the new presidential administration and the U.S. House of Representatives agreeing on the urgent need for regulatory reform, the Senate has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to pass much-needed modernization of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), whose rulemaking provisions have remained virtually unchanged since 1946.

The RAA stands for good governance and getting rules right by bringing transparency, accountability, and integrity to the rulemaking process at federal agencies.

With the passage of RAA, Congress would be restoring the checks granted to it by the Constitution over a federal regulatory bureaucracy that is opaque, unaccountable, and at times overreaching in its exercise of authority.

The letter to the U.S. Senate noted our belief that federal regulations should be narrowly tailored, supported by strong and credible data and evidence, and impose the least burden possible. We urged Senate leaders to reclaim their constitutional legislative authority and assure that regulations reflected congressional intent rather than the intent of the federal agencies. 

We suggest our members contact their U.S. senators and urge them to join their House colleagues, who have already passed this critical legislation.