Bill bans agencies from weighing non-dollar harms in regulations

What it does

This bill prohibits federal agencies from considering non-monetized or unquantified factors—such as environmental quality, public health benefits that lack a dollar value, or equity impacts—when analyzing proposed regulations. Agencies must limit regulatory impact analyses to tangible, immediately quantifiable monetary benefits and costs. The bill empowers courts to invalidate rules that violate this restriction and requires agencies to publish detailed economic analyses in the Federal Register.

Why we flagged it

The bill does not repeal regulations or agencies; it constrains the analytical framework agencies must use when writing new rules. By prohibiting consideration of non-monetized factors, it functionally deregulates by making it legally impossible for agencies to justify rules that protect non-monetary public goods. This is deregulation by methodology—a narrower, more defensible legal strategy than outright repeal.

What the text implies

• Environmental regulations protecting air/water quality, endangered species, or climate impacts become legally vulnerable if their primary justification rests on non-monetized environmental benefit rather than direct cost savings to industry.
• Public health rules (e.g., occupational safety, food safety, pharmaceutical approval) that weigh reduced mortality or disease incidence without assigning a dollar value per life become challengeable in court.
• Equity and civil-rights protections embedded in regulatory analyses (e.g., disparate impact on low-income communities) cannot be weighed unless quantified as direct monetary cost to the regulated entity.
• Rules protecting workers, consumers, or vulnerable populations become easier to invalidate if courts find any non-monetized factor influenced the agency's decision, creating a new litigation vector for industry challenges.
• The statute of limitations runs back to November 9, 2023, potentially invalidating rules issued in the past 14+ months that relied on non-monetized analysis—a retroactive destabilization of settled regulatory landscape.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Citizens lose the ability to have agencies weigh non-monetary harms—environmental degradation, public health risks, equity impacts, worker safety improvements without immediate cost savings—in regulatory decisions. Agencies become legally barred from considering these factors, even when they are substantial and real. This systematically favors industries whose costs are easily monetized (compliance spending) over diffuse public harms (air quality, cancer risk, community displacement) that resist

Who stands to gain

• industries with high compliance costs (energy, manufacturing, chemicals, finance)
• regulated entities facing environmental or health-based restrictions
• litigation firms specializing in administrative law and regulatory challenges

Named in the bill

Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Executive Order 12866, Executive Order 13563, Executive Order 14094, OMB Circular A-4, OMB Circular A-94, U.S. District Courts, Federal agencies (all)

Where it stands

1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.

• Jan 17, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
• Jan 17, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs”
• Nov 19, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Hearings held”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.