U.S. House Passes Bill to Reduce Regulatory Burdens

By SEMA Washington, D.C., Staff

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a SEMA-supported bill to reduce the cost of burdensome regulations on business owners and job creators. The “Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015” would require federal agencies to conduct a cost-benefit analysis when issuing major new rules. Although a few laws already permit such analysis, the legislation would overturn prohibitions contained in other laws such as the Clean Air Act, Motor Vehicle Safety Act and Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Agencies would be required to adopt the least costly approach to achieve policy goals unless it could be demonstrated that a more expensive response was required to address public health, safety or welfare concerns. The bill has been sent to the U.S. Senate for consideration.

For more information, contact Stuart Gosswein at stuartg@sema.org.