House Judiciary Members Should Support Bill to End Regulatory Capture

For Immediate Release: Nov. 9, 2023
Contact: David Rosen, drosen@citizen.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee should support the Stop Corporate Capture Act (H.R. 1507), 37 groups in the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards told committee members today. The letter comes as the Biden administration is finalizing reforms to improve regulatory cost-benefit analysis, many of which the bill would codify into law.

“The Stop Corporate Capture Act is a comprehensive blueprint for modernizing, improving, and strengthening the regulatory system to better protect the public,” said Rachel Weintraub, executive director of the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards. “It would level the playing field so that regular people – not just big corporations – can weigh in on potential rules that affect them. The bill would restore our government’s ability to deliver results for workers, consumers, public health, and our environment.”

Specifically, the bill would…

• Codify Chevron deference, the longstanding legal principle that courts must defer to agencies as long as their interpretation of an ambiguous statute is reasonable;
• Require disclosure of changes and the sources of those changes made to draft rules during the White House regulatory review process;
• Bar the White House from unreasonably delaying essential safeguards;
• Make it a federal crime for corporations to submit false information to regulators;
• Require anyone submitting scientific or technical research to disclose potential conflicts of interest;
• Create an Office of the Public Advocate charged with increasing public participation in rulemaking, which will give communities that benefit most from new regulatory protections a much stronger voice in the process, including those that speak languages other than English; and
• Authorize agencies to quickly reinstate rules rescinded through the Congressional Review Act.

Unfortunately, the House majority is moving in the opposite direction with dangerous and radical legislation that would block new safeguards and deepen corporate capture in our regulatory system. To tackle today’s most pressing challenges – including the climate crisis, growing economic inequality, and racial injustice – we need a robust, responsive, and inclusive federal regulatory system that works for the public interest.