Senator Collins Joins Colleagues in Introducing Bill to Provide Regulatory Relief for Businesses & Workers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) joined Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Joni Ernst (R-IA), and James Lankford (R-OK) in introducing the Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act to require independent regulatory agencies to analyze the costs and benefits of new regulations and tailor new rules to minimize unnecessary burdens on the economy and job creators.

“Currently, independent agencies are not required to examine the costs and benefits of their regulations on our economy before adopting them,” said Senator Collins. “By requiring these independent agencies to undergo the review processes that applies to all other agencies, this bipartisan bill will help prevent the harm burdensome regulations can cause to small businesses and jobs in Maine and across our country.”

For more than 30 years, presidents of both parties have required agencies to analyze the costs and benefits of major new regulations, but this process has always exempted independent agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Federal Communications Commission, among others. This legislation would close that gap by authorizing the president to bring independent agencies into the same analysis and review process that governs other regulators. 

Click HERE for a one-page summary of the Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act.