RED TAPE Act

The bill changes federal rulemaking law to define key terms like "benefit-cost analysis" and "regulatory impact analysis" by linking them to existing Office of Management and Budget (OMB) circulars and executive orders. It then adds a new section to the law that sets strict limits on what agencies can consider in these analyses. Under the bill, agencies would be banned from considering any factor that is not both monetized and quantified when they do a regulatory impact analysis or benefit-cost analysis for proposed, final, or interim final rules. OMB would also be barred from authorizing or using non-monetized or unquantified factors in its own review of agency analyses. This means only impacts that can be clearly measured in money terms and numbers could be used in these official studies. The bill requires agencies to publish more information for each significant rule in the Federal Register. They would have to post a summary of each regulatory impact and benefit-cost analysis, the full text of those analyses, and details about the methods, data, and reasoning used to estimate economic impacts. Agencies must also share any extra information related to their decision-making processes for those analyses. Within 90 days of enactment, the OMB Director would have to issue updated guidance to agencies to carry out these new requirements. The bill also creates a way for affected parties to go to federal court if an agency used non-monetized or unquantified factors in its analysis. If a court finds that an agency relied on such factors when evaluating a final or interim final rule, the court must declare that rule invalid. This judicial review provision applies to any rule issued on or after November 9, 2023. The new rules would take effect 30 days after the bill becomes law.

This bill could change how federal agencies design and justify many types of regulations, including those affecting business costs, public health, safety, and the environment. By allowing only monetized and quantified factors in certain analyses, it may shift attention toward impacts that can be easily measured in dollars and numbers, and away from effects that are harder to price or count. The added transparency rules would give the public, businesses, and courts more detail about how agencies estimate economic impacts and make regulatory choices. The new court review process, and the requirement that courts invalidate rules that used non-monetized or unquantified factors, could affect how often regulations are challenged and how agencies build their records to defend rules. The full impact on future regulations, including which types of rules might change or be struck down, is not clear from the bill alone.

• Adds a new section 613 to chapter 6 of title 5, United States Code, governing federal regulatory analysis.
• Prohibits agencies from considering any non-monetized or unquantified factor in regulatory impact analyses or benefit-cost analyses for proposed, final, or interim final rules.
• Bars the Office of Management and Budget from authorizing the use of, or itself considering, non-monetized or unquantified factors in such analyses.
• Requires agencies to publish in the Federal Register, for each covered rule: (1) a summary of each regulatory impact and benefit-cost analysis, (2) the full text of those analyses with methods and rationale, and (3) additional information about the agency's decision-making processes related to the analyses.
• Directs the OMB Director to issue updated guidance to agencies within 90 days of enactment to implement these restrictions and transparency requirements.
• Allows any party affected by a rule that used non-monetized or unquantified factors in its analysis to bring a civil action in federal district court.
• Requires courts to declare a final or interim final rule invalid if they find the agency relied on non-monetized or unquantified factors in violation of the new section.
• Applies the judicial review provision to any rule issued by an agency on or after November 9, 2023.
• Makes the amendments effective 30 days after the date of enactment.

• The bill applies the judicial review rule to regulations issued on or after November 9, 2023, which is before the bill itself was introduced, potentially affecting recent rules adopted under earlier analysis practices.
• Because the bill ties key definitions to OMB Circulars A-4 and A-94 and their future revisions, later changes to those circulars could indirectly change how the statute operates.
• The prohibition covers not just final and interim final rules but also proposed rules, which may influence how agencies conduct even early-stage analysis and drafting.