The U.S. House of Representatives passed the ABC-supported Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2015 (H.R. 427) July 28. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and was cosponsored by an additional 171 representatives. 

In a letter sent to each member of the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of the vote, ABC stressed the need for accountability in the regulatory process and regulations based on sound scientific analysis and input from the business community.

In the letter, ABC expressed its support for the REINS Act because the bill “will help to bring greater accountability to the rulemaking process as it would require any executive branch rule or regulation with an annual economic impact of $100 million or more—designated by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as a ‘major rule’— to come before Congress for an up-or-down vote before being enacted.”

In 2014 alone, the federal government’s rulemakings carried an estimated regulatory cost of $181.5 billion, requiring approximately 10 billion hours of paperwork. Many of these regulations, whose price tag does not include local or state-level regulations, affect the construction industry and may serve to limit businesses’ ability to hire and expand, or price construction projects out of the market completely. 

The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives with bipartisan support (243-165, Roll no. 482). The Senate version of the bill (S. 226) was introduced by Sen. Rand Paul (R- Ky.) and has been cosponsored by 36 senators.