About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

B-325553 1 (2014-05-29)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadqhx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GAO U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 B-325553 May 29, 2014 Congressional Requesters Subject: GAO's Role and Responsibilities Under the Congressional Review Act This opinion responds to requests for our views on the applicability of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed Standards of Performance for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units, 79 Fed. Reg. 1430 (Jan. 8, 2014) (the proposed Greenhouse Gas rule). CRA establishes a process for congressional review of agency rules and establishes special expedited procedures under which Congress may pass a joint resolution of disapproval that, if enacted into law, overturns the rule. Congressional review is assisted by CRA's requirement that all federal agencies, including independent regulatory agencies, submit each rule to both Houses of Congress and to GAO before it can take effect. After discussion with congressional staff, we agreed to answer three questions: (1) what is GAO's role under CRA and what type of agency action triggers that role; (2) what role does GAO play under CRA with regard to a proposed rule; and (3) do prior GAO opinions under CRA examining final agency actions outside of the rulemaking process provide precedent in answering these questions.1 As explained below, GAO's role under CRA is to receive the rules submitted by executive branch agencies, and to provide a report to Congress on each major rule. The reporting requirement is triggered by an agency's submission of a final rule to GAO. Moreover, the precedent provided in our prior opinions underscores that proposed rules are not rules for CRA purposes, and GAO has no role with respect to them. 1 Our practice when rendering opinions is to contact the relevant agency and obtain its legal views on the subject of the request. GAO, Procedures and Practices for Legal Decisions and Opinions, GAO-06-1064SP (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 2006), available at www.gao.gov/legal/resouces.html. We contacted the General Counsel of EPA who provided us with the agency's views. Letter from EPA to Assistant General Counsel, GAO, Apr. 1,2014.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most