H.R. 2776 — Introduced in House

I 113th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 2776 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 22, 2013 Mr. Rodney Davis of Illinois (for himself, Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Peterson, Mr. Hudson, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. Crawford, Mr. Ribble, Mr. Austin Scott of Georgia, Mrs. Roby, Mr. Neugebauer, Mr. Valadao, Mr. Collins of New York, Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Rogers of Alabama, Mr. Yoho, Mr. Schrader, Mr. King of Iowa, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Enyart, Mrs. Hartzler, Mr. McIntyre, Mr. DesJarlais, Mr. Fincher, Mr. Conaway, and Mr. Thompson of Mississippi) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture A BILL To establish a regulatory review process for rules that the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency plans to propose, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Review EPA’s Language on Agriculture and Thoroughly Engage with the Farm Act of 2013 or the RELATE with the Farm Act of 2013. 2. Regulatory review by the Secretary of Agriculture (a) Review of regulatory agenda The Secretary of Agriculture shall review publications that may give notice that the Environmental Protection Agency is preparing or plans to prepare any guidance, policy, memorandum, regulation, or statement of general applicability and future effect that may have a significant impact on a substantial number of agricultural entities, including— (1) any regulatory agenda of the Environmental Protection Agency published pursuant to section 602 of title 5, United States Code; (2) any regulatory plan or agenda published by the Environmental Protection Agency or the Office of Management and Budget pursuant to an Executive order, including Executive Order 12866; and (3) any other publication issued by the Environmental Protection Agency or the Office of Management and Budget that may reasonably be foreseen to contain notice of plans by the Environmental Protection Agency to prepare any guidance, policy, memorandum, regulation, or statement of general applicability and future effect that may have a significant impact on a substantial number of agricultural entities. (b) Information gathering For a publication item reviewed under subsection (a) that the Secretary determines may have a significant impact on a substantial number of agricultural entities, the Secretary shall— (1) solicit from the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency any information the Administrator may provide to facilitate a review of the publication item; (2) utilize the Chief Economist of the Department of Agriculture to produce an economic impact statement for the publication item that contains a detailed estimate of potential costs to agricultural entities; (3) identify individuals representative of potentially affected agricultural entities for the purpose of obtaining advice and recommendations from such individuals about the potential impacts of the publication item; and (4) convene a review panel for analysis of the publication item that includes the Secretary, any full-time Federal employee of the Department of Agriculture appointed to the panel by the Secretary, and any employee of the Environmental Protection Agency or the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within the Office of Management and Budget that accepts an invitation from the Secretary to participate in the panel. (c) Duties of the review panel A review panel convened for a publication item under subsection (b)(4) shall— (1) review any information or material obtained by the Secretary and prepared in connection with the publication item, including any draft proposed guidance, policy, memorandum, regulation, or statement of general applicability and future effect; (2) collect advice and recommendations from agricultural entity representatives identified by the Administrator after consultation with the Secretary; (3) compile and analyze such advice and recommendations; and (4) make recommendations to the Secretary based on the information gathered by the review panel or provided by agricultural entity representatives. (d) Comments (1) In general Not later than 60 days after the date the Secretary convenes a review panel pursuant to subsection (b)(4), the Secretary shall submit to the Administrator comments on the planned or proposed guidance, policy, memorandum, regulation, or statement of general applicability and future effect for consideration and inclusion in any related administrative record, including— (A) a report by the Secretary on the concerns of agricultural entities; (B) the findings of the review panel; (C) the findings of the Secretary, including any adopted findings of the review panel; and (D) recommendations of the Secretary. (2) Publication The Secretary shall publish the comments in the Federal Register and make the comments available to the public on the public Internet website of the Department of Agriculture. (e) Waivers The Secretary may waive initiation of the review panel under subsection (b)(4) as the Secretary determines appropriate. (f) Definition of agricultural entity In this section, the term agricultural entity means any entity involved in or related to agricultural enterprise, including enterprises that are engaged in the business of production of food and fiber, ranching and raising of livestock, aquaculture, and all other farming and agricultural related industries.