There are two major anti-regulatory bills moving through Congress—the REINS Act and the RAA—which, if passed, will have major implications for rulemaking at all agencies, including DOL and OSHA.
For starters, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2017 (REINS Act) would require all new economically significant regulations to be approved by both chambers of Congress before taking effect. If not approved within 70 days, the rule wouldn’t take effect and would not be able to be voted on again until the next session of Congress. Absurd! The REINS Act already passed the House on Jan. 3, and has been sent over to the Senate.
The Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017 (RAA) combines several anti-regulatory bills proposed in previous years, and among many other things, would add over 70 procedural hurdles to the rulemaking process that agencies would have to clear before issuing new rules. It would substantially lengthen the rulemaking process (possibly by several years), and in the meantime the public, workers, and our environment will remain unprotected from harms that our protector agencies wish to mitigate. The RAA passed the House on Jan. 12, and has been sent over to the Senate.
To learn more about REINS and RAA, and other anti-regulatory legislation, visit the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards website.
Please take action by opposing this legislation and urging your Senators to vote against it.
If you are planning to send a letter in opposition, or know of any sign-on letters, please share with the listserv.
Also, here are some sample tweets on both bills:
- The #REINSAct means handing the reins of #publichealth and safety over to big corporations. #regulation http://bit.ly/reinsact
- Here’s how the #REINSAct would harm American #workers, #consumers and #families: http://bit.ly/reinsact
- By blocking and delaying protections, the #RAA would harm American #workers, #consumers and #families. http://bit.ly/goawayraa
- What’s at stake if the #RAA passes? #CleanAir, #CleanWater, #SafeFood, #WorkerSafety and more. http://bit.ly/goawayraa
- The #RAA is part of the GOP’s corporate-sponsored attack on #regulation. #GoAwayRAA http://bit.ly/goawayraa