# Plain Language Summary: Article I Regulatory Budget Act

This bill creates a new system to track and limit the costs that federal regulations impose on businesses, individuals, and state and local governments. Right now, Congress doesn't have a formal way to measure or control how much money people and companies have to spend to follow federal rules. This bill would change that by treating regulatory costs like a budget that Congress needs to approve and monitor each year, similar to how it handles government spending.

Here's what would happen in practice: Starting in a few years, the President would have to include in the annual budget proposal a detailed estimate of how much it will cost the private sector and states to comply with all current and proposed federal regulations. Congress would then set a total "regulatory budget" for each year, deciding how much regulatory burden the country can handle. Individual agencies like the EPA or OSHA would get allocations within that total budget, meaning they'd have to consider the cost impact of their rules before issuing them. If an agency wants to create a new regulation that costs businesses more than $100 million to comply with, it would have to submit detailed cost estimates to Congress and the Congressional Budget Office. The bill also requires agencies to provide much more detailed information about how regulatory costs vary by business size and industry, so Congress and the public can see who bears the burden.

The bill also tightens rules around "guidance documents"—informal instructions agencies issue that don't go through the normal rule-making process. If an agency guidance document is expected to cost $100 million or more annually, it would now have to go through the same public notice-and-comment process as formal regulations. This means companies and the public would get a chance to weigh in before these guidance documents take effect. The bill also allows people harmed by guidance documents that should have followed these procedures to sue in federal court.

In essence, this bill aims to make regulatory costs more transparent and controllable, giving Congress and the public more visibility into the true price of federal regulations while potentially slowing down how quickly new rules can be implemented.

Article I Regulatory Budget Act

Good, Bob

Article I Regulatory Budget Act This bill requires the establishment of a federal regulatory budget to limit the costs of federal regulations. It also establishes requirements for disclosing the projected costs of federal regulations and procedures for enforcing the regulatory budget.