The Regulatory Accountability Act significantly expands procedural requirements for how federal agencies create rules and issue guidance. The bill requires agencies to conduct detailed cost-benefit analyses for major rules (those costing $100 million or more annually), consider at least three reasonable alternatives, submit rules for pre-publication review, provide extended public comment periods of 60-90 days, and publicly disclose all supporting studies and data. The legislation establishes the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs as the primary overseer, granting it authority to review major rules for compliance and require corrections before finalization, and mandates that agencies develop assessment frameworks and conduct evaluations of major rules within 10 years. The bill also modifies judicial review standards to allow courts to remand rules back to agencies but not strike them down directly, while limiting deference to agency guidance. Additionally, the legislation includes technical amendments to update cross-references across federal statutes to align with restructured Administrative Procedure Act provisions, ensuring consistency throughout federal law without substantively changing existing regulatory requirements.
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