CBO Scores the ALERT Act of 2015

The ALERT Act of 2015 (HR 1759) would require federal agencies to provide certain information to the public regarding proposed and final regulations. The bill would require federal agencies to submit information for a proposed new supplement to the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (a semiannual compilation of the federal regulations under development) that would be published monthly. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs would be required to post that information on the Internet on a monthly annual basis. With certain exceptions, regulations would not be effective until six months after they have appeared in the proposed monthly report.

CBO estimates that preparing the monthly supplemental reports for 3,000 to 4,000 final regulations each year would cost less than a million dollars a year, subject to the availability of appropriated funds, over the 2016,2020 period. Because agencies routinely monitor the status of regulations that are being processed, CBO does not expect this additional reporting requirement would add a significant administrative burden. HR 1759 could affect direct spending by some agencies because their operating costs are covered by receipts from the sale of goods, fees, and other collections. Because most of those agencies can adjust the amounts collected, CBO estimates that any net changes in direct spending by those agencies would not be significant.