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Jayapal, Warren Introduce Legislation to Curb Corporate Influence on Federal Regulation, Restore Deference to Experts

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA) are introducing the Experts Protect Effective Rules, Transparency, and Stability (EXPERTS) Act to re-establish public trust in the federal regulatory process by prioritizing transparency and elevating the voices of subject matter experts over those of corporations with profit-driven interests. 

“Many Americans are taught in civics classes that Congress passes a law and that’s it, but the reality is that any major legislation enacted must also be implemented and enforced by the executive branch to become a reality,” said Jayapal. “We are seeing the Trump administration dismantle systems created to ensure that federal regulation prioritizes public safety. At a time when corporations and CEOs have outsized power, it is critical that we ensure that public interest is protected. This bill will level the playing field to ensure that laws passed actually work for the American people. 

“Giant corporations and their armies of lobbyists shouldn’t get to manipulate how our laws are implemented,” said Senator Warren. “While Donald Trump keeps selling away influence over our government, we’re fighting to ensure the rules are being written to help working Americans, not corporate interests.”

The federal rulemaking process is how governmental agencies implement and enforce the law.  Rulemaking creates essential regulations that carry out the goals of legislation addressing issues ranging from health care to workers’ rights. It requires agencies to give the public notice of proposed regulations and the opportunity to comment or provide feedback. But presently, industry-backed lobbyists hold more negotiating power in the regulatory process than the general public. They are able to schedule private meetings with regulators, fund sham scientific studies to submit with public comments, and misrepresent the negative impact of stricter regulatory oversight.

Last year, in their Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo ruling, the Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference doctrine that required courts to respect the expertise of federal agencies in implementing laws passed by Congress. This doctrine has led to a broad range of protections for Americans, including reducing worker exposure to hazardous substances, limiting predatory credit card fees, and promoting clean air and water. The Loper Bright ruling gives courts greater leeway to overturn expertise-based policies for the benefit of the Trump Administration and corporations.

The EXPERTS Act would: 

  • Codify Chevron Deference: Require courts to defer to agencies’ reasonable interpretations of their rules that Congress empowered them to issue in order to implement statutes.
  • Establish Rulemaking Transparency: Require a full disclosure of who is funding the scientific, economic, and technical studies submitted to agencies during the rulemaking process, mandate a public explanation for the withdrawal of rules, and require the public disclosure of any changes made to a regulatory proposal during the rulemaking process.
  • Eliminate Industry-Backed Delays to Rulemaking: Accelerate the rulemaking review process by excluding private parties from using the negotiated rulemaking process. 
  • Restore the Time Limit for Legal Challenges: Reinstate a 6-year time limit for legal challenges to agency actions, with the clock starting when the action is finalized. 
  • Empower the Public in the Rulemaking Process: Fine corporations that lie to the government about whether a public interest rule would cost their shareholders, establish an Office of the Public Advocate to serve as an advocate for public interests, and require the government to respond to citizen petitions.

“The EXPERTS Act is urgently needed to respond to the rampant deregulatory efforts happening now. The bill is a comprehensive blueprint for modernizing, improving, and strengthening the regulatory system to better protect the public. The EXPERTS Act would enhance our government’s ability to deliver results for workers, consumers, public health, and our environment. And it would increase participation so that people – not just big corporations – can weigh in on potential rules that affect them,” said Rachel Weintraub, Executive Director, Coalition for Sensible Safeguards (CSS). “For most of the last century, policy, scientific, and technical experts were in charge of writing the rules that protect American workers, consumers, families, and our environment – and it made all of us better off. Expert regulators brought us cleaner air and water, safer food and consumer products, fairer workplaces and markets, and much more. Every year going back decades, studies showed the benefits to the public of new and existing regulations outweighing the costs to industry by a factor of 10-to-1 or more. This is what trusting the experts got us, and it’s what the EXPERTS Act will restore.”

“The EXPERTS Act is the marquee legislation to improve our regulatory system,” said Lisa Gilbert, Co-President, Public Citizen and CSS Co-Chair. “The bill aims directly at the corporate capture of our rulemaking process, brings transparency to the regulatory review process and imposes a $250,000 fine on corporations that submit false information, among other things. The bill is essential law for the future of our health, safety, environment, and workers. Public Citizen urges swift passage in both chambers.”

This legislation is sponsored by Representatives Alma Adams (NC-12), Gabe Amo (RI-01), Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03), Becca Balint (VT-AL), Joyce Beatty (OH-03), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Brendan Boyle (PA-02), Julia Brownley (CA-26), André Carson (IN-07), Greg Casar (TX-35), Judy Chu (CA-28), Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09), Steve Cohen (TN-09), J. Luis Correa (CA-46), Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-03), Chris Deluzio (PA-17), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Maxine Dexter (OR-03), Debbie Dingell (MI-06), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Dwight Evans (PA-03), Valerie Foushee (NC-04), Maxwell Frost (FL-10), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Jesus G. “Chuy” Garcia (IL-04), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Jahana Hayes (CT-05), Steven Horsford (NV-07), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Jonathan L. Jackson (IL-01), Henry C. (“Hank”) Johnson, Jr. (GA-04), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Summer Lee (PA-12), Mike Levin (CA-49), Ted Lieu (CA-33), Stephen Lynch (MA-08), Seth Magaziner (RI-02), Lucy McBath (GA-06), Jennifer L. McClellan (VA-04), Betty McCollum (MN-04), James P. McGovern (MA-02), LaMonica McIver (NJ-10), Jerrold Nadler (NY-12), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-AL), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Mike Quigley (IL-05), Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), Linda T. Sánchez (CA-38), Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Brad Sherman (CA-32), Lateefah Simon (CA-12), Adam Smith (WA-09), Melanie Stansbury (NM-01), Shri Thanedar (MI-13), Dina Titus (NV-01), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Jill Tokuda (HI-02), Paul Tonko (NY-20), Lauren Underwood (IL-14), Juan Vargas (CA-52), Nydia Velázquez (NY-07), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), and Nikema Williams (GA-05). The legislation is also sponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal (CT), Cory Booker (NJ), Mazie Hirono (HI), Andy Kim (NJ), Ben Ray Luján (NM), Ed Markey (MA), Jeff Merkley (OR), Peter Welch (VT), Bernard Sanders (VT), Adam Schiff (CA), Chris Van Hollen (MD), and Ron Wyden (OR).

The legislation is endorsed by Coalition for Sensible Safeguards; Accountable.US / Accountable.NOW; AFL-CIO; AFT; American Atheists; American Bird Conservancy; American Economic Liberties Project; American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees; Americans for Financial Reform; Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization; Consumer Advocates Against Reverse Mortgage Abuse (CAARMA); Center for Auto Safety; Center for Digital Democracy; Center for Economic Integrity; Center for Economic Justice; Center For Food Safety; Center for Justice & Democracy; Center for Progressive Reform; Center for Science in the Public Interest; Clean Air Council; Coalition on Human Needs; Colorado Fiscal Institute; Consumer Action; Consumer Federation of America; Consumer Federation of California; Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety; Cultivating Lives Educational Services; Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council; Earthjustice Action; Endangered Species Coalition; Economic Policy Institute; GenDemocracy; Genesee Co-op Federal Credit Union; Good Jobs First; Government Information Watch; GreenLatinos; Greenpeace USA; Impact Fund; Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy; Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility; International Center for Technology Assessment; Interfaith Power & Light; International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW); Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health; Jobs to Move America; Kettle Range Conservation Group; Lawyers for Good Government; League of Conservation Voters; Medical Students for a Sustainable Future (MS4SF); National Association of Consumer Advocates; National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients); National Consumers League; National Employment Law Project; National Federation of Federal Employees; National Health Law Program; New Jersey Association on Correction; NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice; Oregon Consumer Justice; Oregon Consumer League; People Power United; Physicians for Social Responsibility; Public Citizen; Rise Economy; Sciencecorps; Sierra Club; Small Business Majority; South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center; Southern Environmental Law Center; Texas Appleseed; The Conservation Angler; Union of Concerned Scientists; Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice; United Steelworkers; United Way of Central Texas; U.S. PIRG; Virginia Citizens Consumer Council; Voices Organized in Civic Engagement (VOICE); WE ACT for Environmental Justice; Zero Hour; 20/20 Vision. 

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