Rep. Ratcliffe's Bill to Rein in Sprawling Administrative State Passes House Judiciary Committee

Press Release

Rep. John Ratcliffe's (R-Texas) legislation to stop overreach by administrative agencies was approved by a vote of 12 to 8 in the House Judiciary Committee today.

The Separation of Powers Restoration Act (SOPRA) of 2016 (H.R. 4768) seeks to restore three co-equal branches of government by reversing the doctrine that has enabled administrative agencies to create rules that have the force of law.

"By allowing federal agencies to play free and loose in their interpretation of the laws they implement, we're allowing unelected bureaucrats to grade their own papers -- and ultimately it's the American people that are hurt by this circumvention of the Constitution," Ratcliffe said.

"I'd like to thank Chairman Goodlatte for his support in moving this much-needed legislation, and I'm hopeful my colleagues will join me in defending the separation of powers designed by our Founding Fathers if this bill is brought before the full House of Representatives."

House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) was an original cosponsor of H.R. 4768 and expressed his strong support for the measure.

"Today's federal administrative state is an institution unforeseen by the Framers of our Constitution that has turned into a runaway regulatory state." Goodlatte said.

"As a result, our system of checks and balances is tipping away from the legislative and judicial branches, and toward a vast, overreaching executive branch. The precedent set by Chevron has been a catalyst for this imbalance in our system of government, and SOPRA will tip the scales back to the way our Framers intended."

Ratcliffe's bill overturns a 1984 Supreme Court decision (Chevron v. NRDC) which ruled that courts should, in many cases, defer to administrative agencies' interpretations of "ambiguous" statutes written by Congress. H.R. 4768 would amend the Administrative Procedure Act to require courts to conduct a "de novo" -- or from scratch -- review of all relevant questions of law, rather than leaving such interpretation up to the whims of federal bureaucrats.

H.R. 4768 has 111 cosponsors in the House of Representatives, including every Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee. The Senate version of the bill, introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has 12 cosponsors, including Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah).

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