Congressman David Schweikert of Arizona’s 1st District has introduced the RESTART SUNSET Act of 2025, aimed at increasing accountability in the federal rulemaking process. The legislation, officially known as H.R.4770, seeks to amend current regulatory practices by requiring federal agencies to actively review regulations that have a significant economic impact on small businesses.
Under existing law, agencies are expected to periodically assess such rules, but there is no enforcement mechanism ensuring these reviews take place. The proposed bill would change this by automatically sunsetting any outdated regulation that has not been properly reviewed within ten years of the act’s enactment or from the final publication date of future regulations.
“We cannot keep asking Americans to follow rules that agencies themselves won’t bother to re-examine,” said Rep. David Schweikert. “The RESTART SUNSET Act of 2025 offers a clear path forward. Either agencies do their job and review the rules, or those rules come off the books.”
Key provisions in the bill include mandatory retrospective economic reviews for regulations affecting small entities and automatic sunset for existing and future rules lacking proper review within a decade. Agencies would be allowed to exempt certain rules if they can demonstrate and justify that these do not affect a substantial number of small entities, with exemptions published in the Federal Register. Additionally, agencies must evaluate whether regulations overlap with other federal policies to eliminate duplicative or inefficient rules.
Despite bipartisan support for regulatory review since 1980 and multiple executive orders from various administrations encouraging periodic assessment, many agencies have not consistently complied with these requirements. Some federal departments have noted that enforcement mechanisms like sunsetting could improve compliance rates.
David Schweikert was re-elected in both 2022 and 2024 general elections, narrowly defeating his opponents each time.
