{
  "id": "R43622",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R43622",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 432258,
      "date": "2014-06-30",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-06T22:57:30.174664",
      "title": "Upcoming Rules Pursuant to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: The Spring 2014 Unified Agenda",
      "summary": "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA, as amended) was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. As is often the case with legislation, the ACA granted rulemaking authority to federal agencies to implement many of its provisions. The regulations issued pursuant to the ACA and other statutes carry the force and effect of law. Therefore, scholars and practitioners have long noted the importance of rulemaking to the policy process, as well as the importance of congressional oversight of rulemaking. For example, one scholar noted that the \u201cConstitution\u2019s grant of legislative power to Congress encompasses a responsibility to ensure that delegated authority is exercised according to appropriate procedures.\u201d Congressional oversight of rulemaking can deal with a variety of issues, including the substance of the rules issued pursuant to congressional delegations of authority and the process by which those rules are issued.\nHaving a sense of what rules agencies are going to issue and when they are going to issue those rules can help Congress conduct oversight over the regulations that are issued pursuant to the ACA. One way in which Congress can identify upcoming ACA rules is by reviewing the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, which is published by the Regulatory Information Service Center (RISC), a component of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), for the Office of Management and Budget\u2019s (OMB\u2019s) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). The Unified Agenda lists upcoming activities, by agency, in three separate categories: \n\u201cactive\u201d actions, including rules in the prerule stage (e.g., advance notices of proposed rulemaking that are expected to be issued in the next 12 months); proposed rule stage (i.e., notices of proposed rulemaking that are expected to be issued in the next 12 months, or for which the closing date of the comment period is the next step); and final rule stage (i.e., final rules or other final actions that are expected to be issued in the next 12 months); \n\u201ccompleted\u201d actions (i.e., final rules or rules that have been withdrawn since the last edition of the Unified Agenda); and\n\u201clong-term\u201d actions (i.e., items under development that agencies do not expect to take action on in the next 12 months).\nAll entries in the Unified Agenda usually provide uniform data elements, which typically include the department and agency issuing the rule, the title of the rule, the Regulation Identifier Number (RIN), an abstract describing the nature of the action being taken, and a timetable showing the dates of past actions and a projected date for the next regulatory action. Each entry also indicates the priority of the regulation (e.g., whether it is considered \u201ceconomically significant\u201d under Executive Order 12866, or whether it is considered a \u201cmajor\u201d rule under the Congressional Review Act).\nThe most recent edition of the Unified Agenda, which was published on May 23, 2014, is the seventh edition of the agenda since enactment of the ACA. In this edition, agencies reported 14 proposed rules and 17 final rules that they expect to issue pursuant to the ACA within the next 12 months. Agencies also reported a total of four long-term regulatory actions. \nThe Appendix of this report lists the upcoming proposed and final rules published in the Spring 2014 Unified Agenda in a table.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
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      "topics": []
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  ],
  "topics": [
    "Domestic Social Policy",
    "Health Policy"
  ]
}