[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6145 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6145
To amend title 5, United States Code, to require disclosure of
conflicts of interest with respect to rulemaking, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 19, 2025
Ms. Jayapal (for herself, Ms. Adams, Mr. Amo, Ms. Ansari, Ms. Balint,
Mrs. Beatty, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Ms. Brownley, Mr.
Carson, Mr. Casar, Ms. Chu, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Cohen, Mr.
Correa, Ms. Dean of Pennsylvania, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Deluzio, Mr.
DeSaulnier, Ms. Dexter, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Evans of
Pennsylvania, Mrs. Foushee, Mr. Frost, Mr. Garcia of California, Mr.
Garcia of Illinois, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Horsford, Mr.
Huffman, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Khanna,
Mr. Krishnamoorthi, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, Mr. Levin, Mr. Lieu, Mr.
Lynch, Mr. Magaziner, Mrs. McBath, Ms. McClellan, Ms. McCollum, Mr.
McGovern, Mrs. McIver, Mr. Nadler, Ms. Norton, Ms. Omar, Ms. Pingree,
Mr. Pocan, Mr. Quigley, Mrs. Ramirez, Ms. Salinas, Ms. Sanchez, Ms.
Scanlon, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Sherman, Ms. Simon, Mr. Smith of
Washington, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. Thanedar, Ms. Titus, Ms. Tlaib, Ms.
Tokuda, Mr. Tonko, Ms. Underwood, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Velazquez, Mrs.
Watson Coleman, and Ms. Williams of Georgia) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in
addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for a
period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 5, United States Code, to require disclosure of
conflicts of interest with respect to rulemaking, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Experts Protect Effective Rules,
Transparency, and Stability Act of 2025'' or the ``EXPERTS Act of
2025''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Congress is dependent on providing discretion to
executive officials and agencies (including independent
agencies) to implement its statutes. Congress provides
appropriate oversight of the use of this discretion.
(2) Regulatory legislation is often phrased in broad terms,
with an intelligible principle, to empower agencies to address
issues, such as those presented by technological, scientific,
or social developments that were not precisely foreseen when
the legislation was enacted, and to draw upon the agency's
specialized knowledge, experience, and responsibility for
implementing the statute.
(3) Such broad authorizing language is often necessary to
empower the administering agency to take effective action when
new or unforeseen issues arise, provided that the rule does not
exceed clear limits in statute nor implement it in an
impermissible manner.
(4) A rule that an agency has adopted to implement a
broadly worded regulatory statute should generally not be held
to be invalid on the basis that Congress has not addressed the
agency's proposed course of action in specific terms.
(5) A rule that an agency has adopted to implement a
regulatory statute should generally not be held to be invalid
on the basis that the agency has not previously adopted a
similar rule or scheme of regulation.
(6) The expectation that a rule will have broad economic,
political, or social significance, should not, standing alone,
negate application of the principle stated in paragraph (1),
(2), or (3).
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) agency economic analyses of regulatory actions commonly
underestimate the benefits of regulatory actions that protect
public health and safety and overestimate the costs of
regulatory action to industry;
(2) agency regulatory actions often fail to adequately
consider the distributional effects and social equity impact of
regulatory action; and
(3) an agency shall prioritize the statutory direction of
Congress when taking regulatory action.
SEC. 4. DISCLOSURE OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.
Section 553 of title 5, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (c)--
(A) by striking ``After notice required'' and
inserting the following:
``(1) After notice required'';
(B) in the first sentence of paragraph (1), as so
designated, by inserting ``, subject to subsections (f)
and (h),'' after ``the agency shall''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) In the case of any submission under paragraph (1) by
an interested person that includes a scientific, economic, or
technical study or research (or a citation thereto) that the
interested person funded directly or indirectly, or the
nonpublic results of any scientific, economic, or technical
study or research that the interested person funded directly or
indirectly, the interested person shall disclose to the agency
the following:
``(A) The amount of any funds that were received by
the person who conducted the study or research.
``(B) The entity that provided the funds referred
to in subparagraph (A).
``(C) Any entity that was allowed to review or
revise the study or research, and the extent of that
review or revision.
``(D) Any financial relationship between the person
who conducted the study or research, and any person
that would be affected by the proposed rule.''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(f) With respect to any submission by an interested person under
subsection (c) or any other submission by an interested person relating
to a proposed rule or final rule that includes a scientific, economic,
or technical study or research by the interested person not published
in a publicly available peer-reviewed publication, or any result of a
scientific, economic, or technical study or research by the interested
person not published in a publicly available peer-reviewed publication,
the interested person, in making that submission, shall disclose to the
agency--
``(1) the source of any funding for the study or research,
as applicable;
``(2) any entity that sponsored the study or research;
``(3) the extent to which the findings of the study or
research were reviewed by a person that may be affected by the
rulemaking to which the submission relates;
``(4) the identity of any person identified under paragraph
(3); and
``(5) the nature of any financial relationship, including a
consulting agreement, the support of any expert witness, and
the funding of research, between any person that conducted the
study or research and any interested person with respect to the
rulemaking to which the submission relates.''.
SEC. 5. INCREASING DISCLOSURES RELATING TO STUDIES AND RESEARCH.
Section 553 of title 5, United States Code, as amended by section 4
of this Act, is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(g) With respect to a study or research that is submitted by an
interested person to an agency under subsection (c), the agency shall
ensure that the study or research is available to the public (including
on the Internet website of the agency and on the public docket of the
agency for the rulemaking) unless disclosure is exempted or excluded
under section 552.
``(h)(1) If a study or research submitted by an interested person
to an agency under subsection (c) presents a conflict described in
paragraph (2), the agency shall disclose the conflict to the public on
the internet website of the agency and on the public docket of the
agency, and by publication in the Federal Register, unless disclosure
is exempted or excluded under section 552.
``(2) A conflict described in this subsection means a study or
research for which--
``(A) not less than 10 percent of the funding for the study
or research is from an entity subject to the jurisdiction of
the agency with respect to that rulemaking; or
``(B) an entity subject to the jurisdiction of the agency
with respect to that rulemaking that is regulated by the agency
conducts, reviews, or revises the study or research.
``(i) In the case of a violation of the requirement to make a
disclosure--
``(1) under subsection (c)(2) or subsection (f) with
respect to a submission; or
``(2) under subsection (h) with respect to a conflict
related to a submission referred to under subsection (g),
the agency may exclude from consideration or otherwise disregard the
submission, and the agency has no obligation to respond to the
submission, except that the submission may be remade with required
disclosures during the opportunity for participation referred to in
subsection (c)(1). Nothing in this subsection may be construed to
affect the level of deference (in accordance with applicable law)
accorded to agency action by a court reviewing such action.''.
SEC. 6. DISCLOSURE OF INTER-GOVERNMENTAL RULE CHANGE.
With respect to any material provided to the Office with regard to
a regulatory action for purposes of centralized review of regulatory
actions, the agency shall--
(1) not later than the date on which the agency publishes a
general notice of proposed rulemaking required under section
553(b) of title 5, United States Code, with respect to the
action, place in the rulemaking docket--
(A) the substance of any change between the text of
any draft regulatory action that the agency provided to
the Office and the text published in the general notice
with respect to the action; and
(B) a statement regarding whether any change
described in subparagraph (A) was made as a result of
communication with--
(i) the Office;
(ii) another agency; or
(iii) any other Federal official; and
(2) not later than the date on which the agency publishes
the regulatory action in the Federal Register, place in the
rulemaking docket--
(A) the substance of any changes between the text
of the regulatory action that the agency provided to
the Office and the text of the regulatory action that
the agency published in the Federal Register; and
(B) a statement regarding whether any change
described in subparagraph (A) was made as a result of
communication with--
(i) the Office;
(ii) another agency; or
(iii) any other Federal official.
SEC. 7. JUSTIFICATION OF WITHDRAWN RULES.
(a) In General.--If an agency withdraws a regulatory action after
providing the action to the Office under section 6(a)(3) of the
Executive Order 12866 (or, if the agency does not provide the
regulatory action to the Office under that section, after publishing
the general notice of proposed rulemaking with respect to the action
under section 553(b) of title 5, United States Code), the agency shall
publish in the Federal Register, on the public docket of the agency,
and on the internet website of the agency a statement regarding the
decision by the agency to withdraw the action.
(b) Contents.--A statement required under subsection (a) with
respect to a decision by an agency to withdraw a regulatory action
shall include, at a minimum--
(1) a detailed explanation of the reasons that the agency
withdrew the action; and
(2) an explanation regarding whether the decision by the
agency to withdraw the action was based, in whole or in part,
on a request by, or input from--
(A) the Office;
(B) another agency; or
(C) any other Federal official.
SEC. 8. NEGOTIATED RULEMAKING.
(a) In General.--Subchapter III of chapter 5 of title 5, United
States Code, is amended--
(1) in section 561, in the first sentence, by inserting
``between agencies and Federal, State, local, or tribal
governments. This subchapter shall apply only to informal
negotiations between Federal, State, local, or tribal
governments'' after ``informal rule making process'';
(2) in section 563--
(A) in subsection (a)--
(i) in paragraph (2), by inserting
``Federal, State, local, or tribal government''
after ``identifiable''; and
(ii) in paragraph (3), by striking
``persons who'' and inserting ``representatives
of Federal, State, local, and tribal
governments that''; and
(B) in subsection (b)--
(i) in paragraph (1)--
(I) in subparagraph (A)--
(aa) by striking ``persons
who'' and inserting ``Federal,
State, local, or tribal
governments that''; and
(bb) by striking ``,
including residents of rural
areas''; and
(II) in subparagraph (B)--
(aa) by striking ``with
such persons'' and inserting
``with representatives of those
governments''; and
(bb) by striking ``to such
persons'' and inserting ``to
those governments''; and
(ii) in paragraph (2), in the second
sentence--
(I) by striking ``persons who'' and
inserting ``representatives of Federal,
State, local, or tribal governments
that''; and
(II) by striking ``, including
residents of rural areas'';
(3) in section 564--
(A) in the section heading, by striking ``;
applications for membership on committees'';
(B) in subsection (a)--
(i) in paragraph (4), by striking ``the
person or persons'' and inserting ``the
representatives of Federal, State, local, and
tribal governments'';
(ii) in paragraph (6), by adding ``and'' at
the end;
(iii) in paragraph (7), by striking ``;
and'' and inserting a period; and
(iv) by striking paragraph (8);
(C) by striking subsection (b);
(D) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection
(b); and
(E) in subsection (b), as so redesignated--
(i) in the subsection heading, by striking
``and Applications''; and
(ii) by striking ``and applications'';
(4) in section 565(a)--
(A) in paragraph (1), in the first sentence, by
striking ``and applications''; and
(B) in paragraph (2)--
(i) by striking ``and applications''; and
(ii) by striking ``publications,'' and all
that follows through the period at the end and
inserting ``publications.''; and
(5) in section 569(a), in the first sentence--
(A) by striking ``and encourage agency use of'';
and
(B) by inserting ``between Federal, State, local,
and tribal governments'' after ``negotiated rule
making''.
(b) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--
(1) Balanced budget act of 1997.--Section 1856(b)(1) of the
Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (42 U.S.C. 1395w-26) is amended by
striking ``, using a negotiated rule making process under
subchapter III of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code''.
(2) Elementary and secondary education act of 1965.--The
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301
et seq.) is amended--
(A) in section 1601 (20 U.S.C. 6571)--
(i) in subsection (a), by striking
``subsections (b) through (d)'' and inserting
``subsection (b)'';
(ii) by striking subsections (b) and (c);
and
(iii) by redesignating subsections (d) and
(e) as subsections (b) and (c), respectively;
(B) by repealing section 1602 (20 U.S.C. 6572); and
(C) in section 8204(c)(1) (20 U.S.C. 7824(c)(1)),
by striking ``using a negotiated rulemaking process to
develop regulations for implementation no later than
the 2017-2018 academic year, shall define'' and
inserting ``shall, for implementation no later than the
2017-2018 academic year, define''.
(3) Health insurance portability and accountability act of
1996.--Section 216(b) of the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act of 1996 (42 U.S.C. 1320a-7b note) is amended
to read as follows:
``(b) Rulemaking for Risk-Sharing Exception.--
``(1) Establishment.--The Secretary of Health and Human
Services (in this subsection referred to as the `Secretary')
shall establish standards relatin