Stop Corporate Capture Act

Stop Corporate Capture Act

This bill modifies the process for federal agency rulemaking.

Specifically, it (1) requires interested parties who submit a study or research as part of a comment to a proposed rule to disclose the source of the funding for the study or research, (2) limits the use of the negotiated rulemaking process to government agencies, (3) provides statutory authority for the judicial principle that requires courts to defer to an agency's reasonable or permissible interpretation of a federal law when the law is silent or ambiguous (i.e., the Chevron doctrine), and (4) establishes an Office of the Public Advocate to support public participation in the rulemaking process.

Additionally, a public company that knowingly makes a false or misleading statement in a comment to a proposed rule is subject to a civil penalty of not less than $250,000 for a first violation and not less than $1 million for each subsequent violation.

Finally, the bill provides agencies with the authority to reissue a rule that has been rescinded under a joint resolution of disapproval pursuant to the Congressional Review Act. For one year, beginning on the date of enactment of this bill, an agency may reinstate such a rule by publishing it in the Federal Register. After the one-year period, an agency may reinstate a rule using notice-and-comment rulemaking procedures.