Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Beth Van Duyne (R-TX-24) announced the introduction of The Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA) a House companion bill to legislation introduced in the Senate by Senator James Lankford (R-OK). The RAA seeks to overhaul the federal regulatory regime by improving the rulemaking process, increasing transparency, and binding judicial deference.

“For too long, Congress has ceded ground to federal executive agencies and allowed agency bureaucrats to function as de facto lawmakers through their issuance of rules, regulations, and guidelines – the Regulatory Accountability Act will stop the reckless escalation of bureaucratic tyranny,” said Rep. Van Duyne. “We are presently blessed with an Administration who is highly focused on dismantling the suffocating regulatory regime of the federal government, but we need to codify significant reforms to prevent future Administrations from enacting runaway rules and regulations like we saw during the Biden Administration.”

“For too long, unelected bureaucrats have been writing binding rules with little accountability to Congress or the American people,” said Senator Lankford. “Now that the Court has ended Chevron, it’s time for Congress to step up and make that accountability permanent. Small businesses in Oklahoma deserve certainty and clarity, not burdensome red tape from Washington.

The Regulatory Accountability Act ensures that agencies follow the law, not write it.”The bill seeks to reform the rulemaking process by:

• Requiring agencies to base new rules on clear congressional authority;
• Codifying cost-benefit analysis and applying a uniform, rigorous process across all agencies;
• Ending the use of guidance documents as a substitute for formal rulemaking and curbing misuse of emergency rule exemptions;
• Ensuring early and ongoing public input, with accessible rules, public studies, and meaningful comment periods; and
• Empowering courts to exercise independent judgment by mandating de novo review and codifying limits on judicial deference.

Click HERE for bill text.

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