Sunset Chevron Act

Sunset Chevron Act

This bill requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to compile a list of federal agency rules that were upheld under the administrative law doctrine of Chevron deference. It also establishes sunset dates for the rules and requires the GAO list to include the dates.

(In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the Supreme Court overturned Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council and held that courts must exercise their independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority. Under Loper, the courts may not defer to an agency interpretation of the law simply because a statute is ambiguous, as the Chevron doctrine required.)

The GAO list must include each federal court decision that (1) upheld a rule based on Chevron deference, (2) was not subsequently overturned, and (3) pertains to a rule that is in effect on the date of enactment of this bill. The list must also include a sunset date for each identified rule.

The sunset date for each agency's most recent rule on the list must be 30 days after the list is published. The sunset date for each prior rule of the agency must be 30 days after the sunset date of the rule preceding it on the list.

Further, rules identified on the list are subject to a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act without regard to the 60-legislative-day limit on the period for filing such a resolution after a rule has been received by Congress.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov