July 12, 2018

U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative,

You will soon consider H.R. 50, the Unfunded Mandates and Information Transparency Act of 2017 (UMITA). On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I urge you to support this legislation.

Under the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) of 1995, Congress sought to limit unfunded federal agency mandates on local governments and the private sector. However, regulatory agencies were exempt from UMRA’s guidelines. Instead of curbing invasive federal rules and regulations, UMRA has allowed agencies to impose expensive regulations on states and local business.

H.R. 50 would require all federal agencies to follow UMRA and improve the regulatory process for unfunded mandates by imposing sharper guidelines and stronger oversight. Greater private-sector input would be allowed during the regulatory process. This legislation would improve cost disclosures for federal mandates and require agencies to perform UMRA-approved analyses on the potential economic effects of proposed regulations on local governments and small business. UMITA also authorizes the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to oversee whether agencies have responsibly followed UMRA and allows judicial review of any regulatory actions that fail to comply with UMRA’s requirements.

H.R. 50 closes loopholes that agencies have used to over-regulate localities and small business for more than two decades. This bipartisan legislation has passed the House in the last four Congresses, and support for UMITA should be no different now. All votes on H.R. 50 will be among those considered for CCAGW’s 2018 Congressional Ratings.

Sincerely,

Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW

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