Since the 2008 financial crisis, the Federal Reserve has morphed into a government institution whose unconventional activities and vastly expanded powers would scarcely be recognized by drafters of the original legislation that created it. Regrettably, commensurate transparency and accountability have not followed.

Since September 2008, the Fed’s balance sheet has ballooned to $4.5 trillion, equal to one-fourth of the U.S. economy and nearly five times its precrisis level. And after seven years of near-zero interest rates, the central bank’s so-called forward guidance provides almost no guidance to investors on when rates might be normalized. This uncertainty is a significant cause of businesses’ hoarding cash and postponing capital investments, and of community banks’ conserving capital and reducing lending.

Adding to the economic uncertainty, the 2010 Dodd-Frank law granted the Fed sweeping new regulatory powers to intervene directly in the operations of large financial institutions. The Fed now stands at the center of Dodd-Frank’s codification of “too big to fail.” With respect to these firms, the Fed is authorized to impose “heightened prudential standards,” including capital and liquidity requirements, risk management requirements, resolution planning, credit-exposure report requirements, and concentration limits. The Fed is even authorized, upon a vague finding that a financial institution poses a “grave threat” to financial stability, to dismantle the firm. The Fed, in short, can literally occupy the boardrooms of the largest financial institutions in America and influence how they deploy capital.

The Fed’s monetary policy must be made clear and credible, and its regulatory activities must comport with the rule of law and be subject to public scrutiny. To accomplish this, the Fed Oversight Reform and Modernization Act of 2015, sponsored by Rep. Bill Huizenga (R., Mich.), should be enacted. Here are the main parts of the FORM Act, which was passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday.

In regard to monetary policy, the Fed must publish and explain with specificity the strategy it is following. The Fed retains unfettered discretion to choose the rule or method for conducting monetary policy. The FORM Act simply requires the Fed to report and explain its rule, and if it deviates from its chosen rule, why. Economic history shows that when the Fed employs a more predictable method or rules-based monetary policy, more positive economic outcomes result.