March 1, 2017

The House passed the OIRA Insight, Reform, and Accountability Act (H.R.1009) on March 1, 2017.

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is part of the Executive Office of the President (EOP). It is the central authority for the review of Executive Branch regulations. OIRA also reviews government collections of information from the public, and oversees the implementation of government-wide policies regarding information policy, privacy, and statistical policy.

The bill would place independent regulatory agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under OIRA’s jurisdiction.

In addition to expanding OIRA’s authority to review the regulatory actions of these agencies, H.R.1009 requires the Administrator of OIRA to convene a working group that assists with the review of regulatory plans. The bill directs OIRA to publish a unified agenda of each regulation that is under review, identify any redundancies or conflicts with existing standards, and determine which standards are outdated and prime for elimination.

After its passage in the House, the bill was introduced in the Senate and referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on March 2.

Sources: Congress.gov, GovTrack.us