Consumer Financial Protection Accountability and Reform Act of 2026

(5) Additional rulemaking requirements

(A) In general. Each notice of proposed rulemaking issued by the Bureau shall be published in its entirety in the Federal Register and shall include—

(i) an identification of objectives and key performance indicators, including—

(I) a specification of the primary objectives and intended effects of the rule, balancing the need for consumer financial protection with access to affordable consumer financial products and services; and

(II) an identification of 1 or more key performance indicators by which the effectiveness of the rule will be assessed during the review under section 1022A;

(ii) an identification of each provision of Federal law that provides the Bureau with statutory authority to issue the proposed regulation, including, with respect to each material requirement of the proposed regulation, the statutory provision authorizing that requirement;

(iii) an examination of why the Bureau must undertake the proposed regulation and why the private market, State, local, or tribal authorities cannot adequately address the problem;

(iv) an examination of whether the proposed regulation is duplicative, inconsistent, or incompatible with other Federal regulations and orders;

(v) if the proposed regulation is found to be duplicative, inconsistent, or incompatible with other Federal regulations and orders, a discussion of—

(I) why the proposed regulation is justified;

(II) how the proposed regulation can coexist with the existing regulations; and

(III) how the Bureau plans to reduce the regulatory burden associated with the duplicative, inconsistent, or incompatible proposed regulation;

(vi) a quantitative and qualitative assessment of all anticipated direct and indirect costs and benefits of the proposed regulation, including—

(I) compliance costs for all regulated entities, including small businesses;

(II) effects on economic activity, efficiency, capital formation, and market competition;

(III) regulatory and administrative costs of implementation;

(IV) costs imposed on State, local, and tribal entities;

(V) effects on approval rates for consumer financial products or services;

(VI) effects on access to consumer financial products or services;

(VII) effects on the cost of credit to consumers and businesses;

(VIII) effects on the availability, variety, and terms of consumer financial products or services; and

(IX) with respect to any effect described in subclauses (I) through (VIII) that the Bureau determines cannot reasonably be quantified, an explanation of the basis for that determination and a qualitative assessment of such effect;

(vii) an identification of reasonable alternatives to the regulation, including modification of an existing regulation;

(viii) an analysis of the costs and benefits, both quantitative and qualitative, of any alternative identified pursuant to clause (vi);

(ix) if quantified net benefits of the proposed action do not outweigh the quantified net benefits of the alternatives, a justification of the regulation;

(x) if quantified benefits identified pursuant to clause (v) do not outweigh the quantified costs of the regulation, a justification of the regulation;

(xi) an assessment of how the burden imposed by the regulation will be distributed; including whether consumers, or small businesses will be disproportionately burdened; and

(xii) a probability distribution of the relevant outcomes of the proposed regulation, created through the use of appropriate statistical techniques.

(B) Release of data and assumptions relied upon in the rulemaking process. To the greatest extent possible, considering protections with respect to confidential supervisory information, trade secrets, and confidential commercial information, the Bureau shall—

(i) preserve and make available to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget any data and assumptions the Bureau relied upon in proposing a rule; and

(ii) make such data and assumptions publicly available.

(C) Rulemakings involving no material discretion

(i) In general. The requirements of subparagraph (A), other than the requirement under clause (ii) of such subparagraph to identify statutory authority, shall not apply to a provision of a proposed regulation to the extent the Bureau exercises no material discretion with respect to such provision pursuant to an express statutory requirement.

(ii) Explanation required. A notice of proposed rulemaking relying on the exclusion under this subparagraph shall identify each provision for which the Bureau asserts that the Bureau exercises no material discretion and the statutory requirement giving rise to that assertion.