Legislative Review of Agency Rules
Comparing the approaches of the U.S. Congress and Texas Legislature.
What happens when a state agency proposes a rule that the Legislature does not like? Here’s a look at two different approaches: the U.S. Congress and the Texas Legislature.
The D.C. Approach: The Congressional Review Act
The Congressional Review Act (CRA) is a little-known procedural tool available to federal lawmakers that allows them to overturn an agency’s final rules within 60 days of adoption.
It’s a last-ditch legislative check on executive power.
Say the U.S. Department of Education wanted to enact new regulations relating to the qualifications for federal student loans. Those regulations would go through the normal notice-and-comment rulemaking process. Once finalized and in effect, Congress would have 60 days to nullify the rules. To do so, it would pass a resolution out of both chambers on a simple majority vote.
