CSS Members Support the Stop Corporate Capture Act (H.R. 1507)
July 22, 2024 | Download PDF
The Honorable Mike Johnson
Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
568 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
The Honorable Hakeem Jeffries
Democratic Leader, U.S. House of Representatives
2433 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Speaker Johnson and Democratic Leader Jeffries:
The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards (CSS) and the undersigned organizations strongly support the Stop Corporate Capture Act, H.R. 1507.
To tackle the pressing challenges we face as a nation, we must have a robust, responsive, and inclusive federal regulatory system. We do not have such a regulatory system today. Instead, after decades of neglect and underinvestment, our regulatory system is now rife with delay, unbridled corporate influence, inadequate transparency, and weak public accountability. With long overdue, common-sense reforms, the regulatory system would be better able to keep up with innovation and technological advances and do more to further social justice and equity.
The Stop Corporate Capture Act is needed now more than ever in the wake of the disastrous decision by the Supreme Court to overturn the long-standing legal precedent of Chevron deference. Congress must act to codify Chevron deference into law in order to prevent any fallout from this Supreme Court decision. The decision undermines the ability of government agencies to do their job – that Congress gave them – to protect the public. If Congress does not act, many of the harms that Chevron deference intended to prevent, such as ensuring that unelected judges defer to agency experts and civil servants instead of substituting their own policy views when reviewing important regulatory safeguards, are likely to occur. Making Chevron deference the law of the land is critical to restoring separation of powers and stopping the judiciary from usurping power that Congress delegated to agencies that protect the public.
The Stop Corporate Capture Act offers the necessary comprehensive blueprint for modernizing, improving, and strengthening the regulatory system to protect the public from harm more effectively. It would level the playing field for all members of the public to have their views accounted for in regulatory decisions that affect them; promote scientific integrity; and restore our government’s ability to deliver results for workers, consumers, public health, and the environment.
Among the essential reforms this bill would introduce are the following:
Restore Scientific Integrity and Independent Expertise
The Stop Corporate Capture Act codifies Chevron deference, the long-standing legal principle that prevents judges from allowing their political preferences to influence their decisions in cases involving regulations. Chevron deference requires courts to defer to government agencies that Congress empowered to protect the public when an agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous statute is reasonable. This makes sense, as agencies are the independent, subject-matter experts. The Act also requires anyone submitting scientific or other technical research to agencies during the rulemaking process to disclose any potential conflicts of interest the research may raise. In addition, a provision of the Act bars the White House from unreasonably delaying essential safeguards by empowering agencies to resume work if the regulatory review process fails to conclude after 60 days. Importantly, the Act authorizes agencies to quickly reinstate any rules that were rescinded through the Congressional Review Act (CRA).
End Unbridled Corporate Influence
The Stop Corporate Capture Act brings transparency to the “black box” of the White House regulatory review process, which has become a focal point for corporate lobbying. The Act accomplishes this by requiring disclosure of changes and the sources of those changes to draft rules during that process. Furthermore, the Act makes it a federal crime for corporations to submit false information in order to influence regulators during the rulemaking process.
Prioritize Social Justice and Equity
The Stop Corporate Capture Act creates an Office of the Public Advocate, charged with promoting agencies’ public engagement practices and helping members of the public to participate more effectively in regulatory proceedings, especially people from structurally marginalized communities. The Office of the Public Advocate will research the social equity impacts of the regulatory process and perform social equity assessments of pending rules when requested by the public. The Act also strengthens agency procedures for notifying the public, particularly members of structurally marginalized communities and individuals who speak languages other than English, about pending rulemakings.
Congress must pass the Stop Corporate Capture Act to enact critical and long overdue reforms to our nation’s regulatory process that work for the public interest and restore judicial review of regulations by codifying Chevron deference. We once again urge you to support this necessary and groundbreaking bill.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
AFL-CIO
AFT
American Atheists
American Bird Conservancy
American Economic Liberties Project
American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees
Americans for Financial Reform
Asbestos Disease Awareness Org
CAARMA Consumer Advocates Against Reverse Mortgage Abuse
Center for Auto Safety
Center for Digital Democracy
Center for Economic Justice
Center For Food Safety
Center for Justice & Democracy
Center for Progressive Reform
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Clean Air Council
Coalition for Sensible Safeguards
Colorado Fiscal Institute
Consumer Action
Consumer Federation of America
Consumer Federation of California
Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety
Cultivating Lives Educational Services, Inc
Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council, Inc.
Earthjustice
Endangered Species Coalition
Economic Policy Institute
GenDemocracy; Stop the Coup 2025 campaign to stop Project 2025
Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union
Good Jobs First
Government Information Watch
GreenLatinos
Greenpeace USA
Impact Fund
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
International Center for Technology Assessment
Interfaith Power & Light
International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW)
Jobs to Move America
Kettle Range Conservation Group
Kids In Danger
Lawyers for Good Government
League of Conservation Voters
National Association of Consumer Advocates
National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients)
National Employment Law Project
National Health Law Program
New Jersey Association on Correction
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
Oregon Consumer Justice
People Power United
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Public Citizen
Public Justice Center
Rise Economy
Sierra Club
Small Business Majority
South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center
Southern Environmental Law Center
Texas Appleseed
The Conservation Angler
20/20 Vision
Union of Concerned Scientists
Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice
United Steelworkers
U.S. PIRG
Virginia Citizens Consumer Council
VOICE (Voices Organized in Civic Engagement)
WE ACT for Environmental Justice
Zero Hour