During a House Oversight Committee hearing before the congressional recess, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) spoke in opposition of proposed legislation regarding regulatory costs.
00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, HR 2409 would require all guidance statements to explicitly state on the first page that it does not have the force of law.
00:13Making federal regulatory guidance clearer is a desirable goal, but this bill may have the effect of confusing entities that have to implement federal regulation using the guidance that is provided.
00:26Although agency-issued guidance to the public does not literally have the force of law, stating this on every piece of guidance would be tremendously confusing and, I believe, misleading,
00:38particularly for all the statutory programs and regimes that rely on a combination of statute and implementing guidance in the real world to function properly.
00:48For example, we do not place a disclaimer on stop signs that say this stop sign does not have the force of law.
00:56That could lead to a lot of people running stop signs and having accidents, then denying responsibility for their actions because the disclaimer told them not to worry about it.
01:05Similarly, this legislation would furnish regulated entities many more opportunities to escape the law
01:11and to bring frivolous suits over agency guidance with the inevitable result that agencies would be unable to hold polluters accountable, protect workers' safety, and ensure that the public has access to health, safety, and food.
01:26For those reasons, I strongly oppose this bill in its current form.
