Statement of Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte Markup of H.R. 4003, the “Regulatory Reporting Act of 2015”

Chairman Goodlatte: H.R. 4003, the “Regulatory Reporting Act of 2015,” introduced by Congresswoman Mimi Walters of California, continues to build on the work of the Over-criminalization Task Force. The issue of regulatory crime is closely related to that of criminal intent, and the bill this Committee just considered.  As I stated, there are nearly 5,000 federal criminal statutes on the books today.  However, the reality is that those statutory crimes are just the tip of the iceberg.  That is because there are an estimated 300,000 regulations carrying criminal penalties today.  Yes, I said “estimated” – because no one knows exactly how many there are.  During the pendency of the Over-criminalization Task Force, we asked CRS to count the regulations, and they told us they did not have the resources to do so. Again, this problem is one largely of Congress’s own making.  Regulatory crimes are created when Congress passes a general statute and establishes a criminal penalty for violating that statute, as well as any regulation, rule or order issued by an agency under the statute.  The statute may contain a mens rea requirement, but Congress still does not know precisely what conduct it is criminalizing at the time it delegates this authority.  This is simply because, in many cases, the conduct has not yet been regulated. This means that American citizens may find themselves in legal jeopardy after committing the prohibited conduct, without knowing that the conduct was in fact criminal.  It also means that Congress has empowered unelected, largely unaccountable bureaucrats to decide what should be a Federal crime. During the Over-Criminalization Task Force hearings, we heard multiple examples of over-reach by the regulatory state.  Examples included a 23-year-old man who found a buried skull on a hunting trip in Alaska, and turned it over to the U.S. Forest Service only to be charged with removing an archeological resource from public lands; or the young girl who saved a woodpecker from the family cat, and whose parents were fined for violating the Migratory Bird Act because it is a crime to take or transport a woodpecker.  Cases such as this make us shake our heads, but they have a much more sinister effect: subjecting law-abiding citizens to prosecution for violating obscure regulations of which they cannot possibly be fully aware threatens to undermine the legitimacy of Federal criminal law. H.R. 4003 takes a very important step towards addressing this problem.  It requires that every Federal agency that enforces regulations carrying criminal penalties issue a report to Congress listing those regulations, and providing information on those regulations.  H.R. 4003 requires agencies to tell Congress why criminal penalties are necessary to enforce the regulations; whether there is an intent requirement associated with the regulation; whether the public has received notice of the regulatory prohibition; and whether the regulation is necessary to protect public safety or national security. I commend the gentlelady from California for introducing this important legislation, and urge my colleagues to support it.

For more on today’s markup, click here.