S. 1466 — Introduced in Senate

II 113th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1466 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES August 1, 2013 Mr. Kirk (for himself and Mr. Manchin) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 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. Regulatory review by the Secretary of Agriculture (a) Definitions In this section: (1) Administrator The term Administrator means the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. (2) Agricultural entity The term agricultural entity means an entity that is involved in or relates to agricultural enterprise, including an enterprise that is engaged in the business of— (A) producing food and fiber; (B) ranching and raising of livestock; (C) aquaculture; and (D) any other farming- and agriculture-related activities. (3) Secretary The term Secretary means the Secretary of Agriculture. (b) Review of regulatory agenda The Secretary shall review each notice issued by the Administrator and published in the Federal Register relating to the preparation of 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 published by the Administrator under section 602 of title 5, United States Code; (2) any regulation plan or agenda published by the Administrator or the Director of the Office of Management and Budget pursuant to an Executive order, including Executive Order 12866 (5 U.S.C. 601 note; relating to regulatory planning and review); and (3) any other publication issued by the Administrator or the Director of the Office of Management and Budget that may reasonably be foreseen to contain a notice of a plan by the Administrator 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. (c) Information gathering For a publication item reviewed under subsection (b) that the Secretary determines may have a significant impact on a substantial number of agricultural entities, the Secretary shall— (1) solicit from the Administrator any information the Administrator may provide to facilitate a review of the publication item; (2) acting through the Chief Economist of the Department of Agriculture, 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 those 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 of the Office of Management and Budget that accepts an invitation from the Secretary to participate in the panel. (d) Duties of the review panel A review panel convened for a publication item under subsection (c)(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 the 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. (e) Comments (1) In general Not later than 60 days after the date on which the Secretary convenes a review panel under subsection (c)(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 under paragraph (1) in the Federal Register and make the comments available to the public on the public Internet site of the Department of Agriculture. (f) Waivers The Secretary may waive initiation of the review panel under subsection (c)(4) as the Secretary determines appropriate.