The House Government Reform Committee reported out two bills relevant to regulatory policy: one to facilitate compliance by encouraging agencies to draft regulations in plain language, and another to bring the Government Accountability Office into the process of regulatory reviews.

The bills moved after a June 8 markup session.

Regulation in Plain Language Act of 2006

The committee reported without amendment H.R. 4809, the Regulation in Plain Language Act of 2006, which requires that federal agency rules be written in plain language. A bipartisan bill backed by both Reps. Candice Miller (R-MI) and Stephen Lynch (D-MA), the Regulation in Plain Language Act was designed to make regulation compliance and enforcement more effective and to encourage clarity in rulemaking. The use of plain language is expected to reduce the business practice of using statutory ambiguity in order to avoid regulation and save multiple parties money in their attempts to interpret federal regulations.

The bill would amend the Paperwork Reduction Act (title 44, chapter 35 of the U.S. Code) to create general standards for plain language and create a new staff position in the agencies to encourage regulatory drafting in plain language. The new standards define plain language as clear, straightforward language, understandable to the intended reader. The bill encourages the use of short phrases, grammatical clarity, and visual aides.

Backers of the bill depart from the usual anti-regulatory trend by seeking to make compliance less costly without reducing the protections that the public enjoys. Proponents argue that when federal regulations are clear enactment is sure to increase, along with higher expectations that allow for stricter enforcement. The shift encourages fairness, allowing a greater proportion of the population to understand regulations, without the need for expert interpretation. The goal is to create concise yet intelligent regulations that are easy enough for everyone to follow and clear enough to reduce manipulation or avoidance.

Truth in Regulating Act Amendment

The committee also reported out a bill to amend the Truth in Regulating Act. The Truth in Regulating Act of 2000 authorized a pilot project in which the Government Accountability Office would, upon request, review agencies’ regulatory impact analyses for economically significant rules. The project was never funded, and GAO never conducted any reviews.

H.R. 1167 would amend the Truth in Regulating Act to make the pilot project permanent. The amendment would simply strike the "pilot project" heading and institute the authority permanently.

In committee mark-up the bill was altered by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), to limit the authorization to only 3 years, dependent on funding of no less than $5 million per fiscal year. The bill was reported out with this amendment, and the title will now read, "A bill to amend the Truth in Regulating Act to authorize an additional period of 3 years for the pilot project for the report on rules."