Published: May 2017

Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA) would hurt consumers

Advocates penned a letter to the Senate urging legislators to oppose the Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA) — which should be called the “Regulatory Paralysis Act.” This bill aims to cripple the process for issuing and enforcing regulations that ensure Americans have clean air and water, healthy food and consumer products, fair wages, safe workplaces and many key financial protections.

The Senate’s 2017 Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA) would grind proposed consumer protections to a halt by requiring extensive time-consuming analysis that prioritizes costs over benefits, providing more opportunities for litigation, and undermining the expertise and independence of federal agencies. The RAA would paralyze the rulemaking process by adding dozens of cumbersome analytic and procedural requirements, allowing more political and judicial interference and rigging the process so that corporate profits come before protecting the public.

Lead Organization

Public Citizen

Other Organizations

AFL-CIO | AFSCME | Alliance for Justice | American Association for Justice | American Association of University Women (AAUW) | American Family Voices | American Forests | Americans for Financial Reform | Bend the Arc Jewish Action | BlueGreen Alliance |Center for Biological Diversity | Center for Food Safety | Center for Foodborne Illness Research & Prevention | Center for Justice & Democracy | Center for Progressive Reform | Center for Responsible Lending | Center for Science in the Public Interest | Chicago Consumer Coalition | Clean Water Action | Coalition on Human Needs | Consumer Action | Consumer Assistance Council, Inc. | Consumer Federation of America | Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety | D.C. Consumer Rights Coalition | Daily Kos | Demand Progress | DiSabato & Bouckenooghe LLC | Earthjustice | EarthRights International | Economic Policy Institute Policy Center | Empire State Consumer Project | Environment America | Farm Aid | Florida Alliance for Consumer Protection | Food & Water Watch | Free Press Action Fund | Friends of the Earth – US | Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings | Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy | Institute for Science and Human Values | International Corporate Accountability Roundtable |Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement | Jobs With Justice | Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future | League of Conservation Voters | Main Street Alliance | Massachusetts Consumer Council | National Association of Consumer Advocates | National Center for Lesbian Rights | National Center for Transgender Equality | National Consumer Law Center, on behalf of its low-income clients | National Disability Rights Network | National Education Association | National Employment Law Project | National Fair Housing Alliance | National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund | National Women's Law Center | Natural Resources Defense Council | Network for Environmental & Economic Responsibility/UCC | Oceana | Poverty & Race Research Action Council | Privacy Rights Clearinghouse | Progressive Congress Action Fund | ProgressNow | Public Citizen | Public Justice | Public Knowledge | Reinvestment Partners | Service Employees International Union | Sierra Club | State Innovation Exchange (SIX) | The Wilderness Society | U.S. PIRG | Union of Concerned Scientists | United Steelworkers | Voices for Progress | Waterkeeper Alliance | Western Organization of Resource Councils | Workplace Fairness

More Information

For more information, please visit Public Citizen's website.

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Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA) would hurt consumers   (RAASign-onLetter.pdf)