With our high level of unemployment, better-designed regulations are needed to spur job creation. H.R. 3010, the Regulatory Accountability Act, would modernize the rulemaking process and is expected to be voted on in the House of Representatives this week.

A Chamber-led, multi-industry letter, was sent to to House members in support of the bill.

As the letter points out,

The Regulatory Accountability Act would build on established principles of fair regulatory process and review embodied in executive orders since the Clinton administration. These principles make the regulatory process more transparent, agencies more accountable, and regulations more cost-effective. This legislation would not affect any regulations that are already in effect, nor would it impact enforcement under current regulations.

The letter also shows how the Regulatory Accountability Act would enhance the regulatory process by:

• Increasing public participation in shaping the most costly regulations before they are proposed;
• Requiring that agencies must choose the least costly option unless they can demonstrate a need to protect public health, safety, or welfare;
• Giving interested parties the opportunity to hold agencies accountable for their compliance with the Information Quality Act;
• Providing for on-the-record administrative hearings for the most costly regulations to insure that agency data is well tested and reviewed;
• Restricting agencies’ use of interim final regulations where no comments are taken before a regulation takes effect and providing for expedited judicial review of whether that approach is justified; and
• Providing for a more rigorous test in legal challenges for those regulations that would have the most impact.