THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE BILL

INTRODUCED BY McILHINNEY, ARGALL, GREENLEAF, ERICKSON, RAFFERTY, ALLOWAY, GORDNER, FOLMER, ORIE, KASUNIC, WAUGH, DINNIMAN, BRUBAKER, BROWNE, CORMAN, STACK, WOZNIAK, BAKER, SCARNATI, WARD, ROBBINS, D. WHITE, PIPPY, YAW, TOMLINSON, WASHINGTON, M. WHITE AND BOSCOLA, OCTOBER 4, 2011

REFERRED TO STATE GOVERNMENT, OCTOBER 4, 2011  

AN ACT

Amending the act of June 25, 1982 (P.L.633, No.181), entitled,

as reenacted, "An act providing for independent oversight and

review of regulations, creating an Independent Regulatory

Review Commission, providing for its powers and duties and

making repeals," further providing for legislative intent,

for definitions and for proposed regulations and procedures

for review.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Section 2 of the act of June 25, 1982 (P.L.633,

No.181), known as the Regulatory Review Act, reenacted and

amended June 30, 1989 (P.L.73, No.19) and amended June 25, 1997

(P.L.252, No.24), is amended to read:

Section 2.  Legislative intent.

(a)  The General Assembly has enacted a large number of

statutes and has conferred on boards, commissions, departments

and agencies within the executive branch of government the

authority to adopt rules and regulations to implement those

statutes. The General Assembly has found that this delegation of

its authority has resulted in regulations being promulgated

without undergoing effective review concerning cost benefits,

duplication, inflationary impact and conformity to legislative

intent. The General Assembly finds that it must establish a

procedure for oversight and review of regulations adopted

pursuant to this delegation of legislative power in order to

curtail excessive regulation and to require the executive branch

to justify its exercise of the authority to regulate before

imposing hidden costs upon the economy of Pennsylvania. It is

the intent of this act to establish a method for ongoing and

effective legislative review and oversight in order to foster

executive branch accountability; to provide for primary review

by a commission with sufficient authority, expertise,

independence and time to perform that function; to provide

ultimate review of regulations by the General Assembly; and to

assist the Governor, the Attorney General and the General

Assembly in their supervisory and oversight functions. To the

greatest extent possible, this act is intended to encourage the

resolution of objections to a regulation and the reaching of a

consensus among the commission, the standing committees,

interested parties and the agency.

[(b)  This act is not intended to create a right or benefit,

substantive or procedural, enforceable at law by a person

against another person or against the Commonwealth, its agencies

or its officers.]

(c)  This act is intended to improve State rulemaking by

creating procedures to analyze the availability of more flexible

regulatory approaches for small businesses in accordance with

the following findings:

(1)  A vibrant and growing small business sector is

critical to creating jobs in a dynamic economy.

(2)  Small businesses bear a disproportionate share of

regulatory costs and burdens.

(3)  Fundamental changes that are needed in the

regulatory and enforcement culture of agencies to make them

more responsive to small business can be made without

compromising the statutory missions of the agencies.

(4)  When adopting regulations to protect the health,

safety and economic welfare of the Commonwealth, agencies

should seek to achieve statutory goals as effectively and

efficiently as possible without imposing unnecessary burdens

on small business.

(5)  Uniform regulatory and reporting requirements can

impose unnecessary and disproportionately burdensome demands,

including legal, accounting and consulting costs upon small

businesses with limited resources.

(6)  The failure to recognize differences in the scale

and resources of regulated businesses can adversely affect

competition in the marketplace, discourage innovation and

restrict improvements in productivity.

(7)  Unnecessary regulations create entry barriers in

many industries and discourage potential entrepreneurs from

introducing beneficial products and processes.

(8)  The practice of treating all regulated businesses

similarly may lead to inefficient use of regulatory agency

resources, enforcement problems and, in some cases, to

actions inconsistent with the legislative intent of health,

safety, environmental and economic welfare legislation.

(9)  Alternative regulatory approaches which do not

conflict with the stated objective of applicable statutes may

be available to minimize the significant economic impact of

rules on small businesses.

(10)  The process by which State regulations are

developed and adopted should be reformed to require agencies

to solicit the ideas and comments of small businesses, to

examine the impact of proposed and existing rules on such

businesses and to review the continued need for existing

rules.

(d)  For any regulation subject to this act, a small business

that is adversely affected or aggrieved by final agency action

is entitled to judicial review of agency compliance with the

requirements of this section. A small business may seek such

review during the period beginning on the date of final agency

action and ending 18 months later.

(e)  This act is not intended to create a right or benefit,

substantive or procedural, enforceable at law by a person

against another person or against the Commonwealth, its agencies

or its officers.

Section 2.  Section 3 of the act is amended by adding a

definition to read:

Section 3.  Definitions.

The following words and phrases when used in this act shall

have the meanings given to them in this section unless the

context clearly indicates otherwise:

* * *

"Small business."  As defined by the United States Small

Business Administration's Small Business Size Regulations under

13 CFR Ch. 1 Part 121 (relating to Small Business Size

Regulations).

* * *

Section 3.  Section 5(a) of the act, amended December 6, 2002

(P.L.1227, No.148), is amended and the section is amended by

adding a subsection to read:

Section 5.  Proposed regulations; procedures for review.

(a)  On the same date that an agency submits a proposed

regulation to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication

of notice of proposed rulemaking in the Pennsylvania Bulletin as

required by the Commonwealth Documents Law, the agency shall

submit to the commission and the committees a copy of the

proposed regulation and a regulatory analysis form which

includes the following:

(1)  The title of the agency and the names, office

addresses and telephone numbers of the agency officials

responsible for responding to questions regarding the

regulation or for receiving comments relating to the

regulation.

(1.1)  A specific citation to the Federal or State

statutory or regulatory authority or the decision of a

Federal or State court under which the agency is proposing

the regulation, which the regulation is designed to implement

or which may mandate or affect compliance with the

regulation.

(2)  A concise and, when possible, nontechnical

explanation of the proposed regulation.

(3)  A statement of the need for the regulation.

(4)  Estimates of the direct and indirect costs to the

Commonwealth, to its political subdivisions and to the

private sector. Insofar as the proposed regulation relates to

costs to the Commonwealth, the agency may submit in lieu of

its own statement the fiscal note prepared by the Office of

the Budget pursuant to section 612 of the act of April 9,

1929 (P.L.177, No.175), known as "The Administrative Code of

1929."

(5)  A statement of legal, accounting or consulting

procedures and additional reporting, recordkeeping or other

paperwork, including copies of forms or reports, which will

be required for implementation of the regulation and an

explanation of measures which have been taken to minimize

these requirements.

(7)  A schedule for review of the proposed regulation,

including the date by which the agency must receive comments;

the date or dates on which public hearings will be held; the

expected date of promulgation of the proposed regulation as a

final-form regulation; the expected effective date of the

final-form regulation; the date by which compliance with the

final-form regulation will be required; and the date by which

required permits, licenses or other approvals must be

obtained.

(9)  An identification of the types of persons, small

businesses, businesses and organizations which would be

affected by the regulation.

(10)  An identification of the financial, economic and

social impact of the regulation on individuals, small

businesses, business and labor communities and other public

and private organizations and, when practicable, an

evaluation of the benefits expected as a result of the

regulation.

(10.1)  For any proposed regulation that may have an

adverse impact on small businesses, an economic impact

statement that includes the following:

(i)  An identification and estimate of the number of

the small businesses subject to the proposed regulation.

(ii)  The projected reporting, recordkeeping and

other administrative costs required for compliance with

the proposed regulation, including the type of

professional skills necessary for preparation of the

report or record.

(iii)  A statement of the probable effect on impacted

small businesses.

(iv)  A description of any less intrusive or less

costly alternative methods of achieving the purpose of

the proposed regulation.

(11)  A description of any special provisions which have

been developed to meet the particular needs of affected

groups and persons, including minorities, the elderly, small

businesses and farmers.

(12)  A description of any alternative regulatory

provisions which have been considered and rejected and a

statement that the least burdensome acceptable alternative

has been selected.

(12.1)  A regulatory flexibility analysis in which the

agency shall, where consistent with health, safety,

environmental and economic welfare, consider utilizing

regulatory methods that will accomplish the objectives of

applicable statutes while minimizing adverse impact on small

businesses. The agency shall consider, without limitation,

each of the following methods of reducing the impact of the

proposed regulation on small businesses:

(i)  the establishment of less stringent compliance

or reporting requirements for small businesses;

(ii)  the establishment of less stringent schedules

or deadlines for compliance or reporting requirements for

small businesses;

(iii)  the consolidation or simplification of

compliance or reporting requirements for small

businesses;

(iv)  the establishment of performance standards for

small businesses to replace design or operational

standards required in the proposed regulation; and

(v)  the exemption of small businesses from all or

any part of the requirements contained in the proposed

regulation.

* * *

(a.1)  Prior to the adoption of any proposed regulation that

may have an adverse impact on small businesses, each agency

shall notify the commission of its intent to adopt the proposed

regulation.

* * *

Section 4.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.