Compliance Stuff

As the upcoming elections approach, employers should be aware of the Congressional Review Act, its potential impact on current rulemaking, and how your workplace might be affected . This brief Insight will outline how the CRA works, how it has been used in the past, and why new regulatory activity might be impacted due to upcoming deadlines. 1. What is the Congressional Review Act? The Congressional Review Act, enacted in 1996, allows Congress to review and potentially overturn new federal regulations issued by government agencies. It gives a new Congress the power to overturn rules established by an outgoing Administration, making it a significant tool during periods of political transition. When a rule is finalized, Congress has 60 legislative days to disapprove it through a Joint Resolution. If both the House and Senate pass the resolution and the President signs it, the rule is nullified, and the agency is prohibited from issuing a substantially similar rule in the future. This l...

 CRA “Lookback” Deadline: August 1, 2024? The Buzz recently discussed the importance of the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to the administration’s regulatory agenda and how the CRA’s “lookback” provision allows a new Congress to review and rescind regulations finalized within sixty days of the previous Congress’s adjournment . This week, the Congressional Research Service provided some more clarity as to when that sixty-day marker might fall, though it was quick to point out that “[i]t is not possible to know with certainty what date the 2024 lookback period will begin until the end of the 118th Congress.” CRS wrote: CRS unofficially estimates that Biden Administration rules submitted to the House or Senate on or after August 1, 2024, until the end of the second session of the 118th Congress are likely to be subject to the CRA lookback provisions and will qualify for additional periods of CRA review in the first few months of the first session of the 119th Congress (2025). This me...