The OIRA Module: Published Research

From: Regulatory Studies Center | GW Columbian College of Arts and Sciences

By Bridget C.E. Dooling

Cutting red tape in the Medicare program delivers cost savings while other deregulatory efforts fall short

Download the Regulatory Insight (PDF)

Introduction

Executive Order 13771 imposed new constraints on executive branch regulatory agencies, directing them to cut two rules for any new rule issued and to offset any costs imposed by new rules. The Regulatory Reform Report for fiscal year (FY) 2018, issued last month by the Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), provides an update on agency actions over the course of the year. It shows a present value estimate of $23.4 billion in “overall regulatory costs” saved.

From: Notice & Comment | A Blog from the Yale Journal on Regulation and the ABA Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice

by Bridget C.E. Dooling

Earlier this month the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a proposed rule that may turn out to be the first opportunity to test the Congressional Review Act (CRA) post-disapproval restriction on rulemaking.

Editor’s Note:  See also A Website Dedicated to the Implementation of a Regulatory Budget.

From: The Hill

By J.T. Young, opinion contributor

***

A budget would help address regulations’ two major issues: The obvious, affordability, and the overlooked, accountability.

America’s private sector bears the cost of regulation.  Regardless of good intention, costs mount. Regulations have been aptly called an invisible tax.  As with taxes, while often justified by some programs deemed worthwhile, they still subtract from private individuals’ means.  The private sector — individuals and businesses — can do less than they would otherwise — save, invest, and spend.

Editor’s Note: For an invaluable resource on regulatory budgeting, see A Website Dedicated to the Implementation of a Regulatory Budget.

From: Notice & Comment | A Blog from the Yale Journal on Regulation and the ABA Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice

by Adam White

A CALL FOR PAPERS

As the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs nears its fortieth birthday, we tend to spend a lot of time thinking about its history. But in a constitutional government that is nearly 230 years old, OIRA is actually very, very young—less a monument than an experiment.

From: Science

Wendy Wagner1, Elizabeth Fisher2, Pasky Pascual3

Editor’s Note: President Carter deserves much of the credit for institutionalizing White House review of federal regulations. The administrative state would be a vastly less contained enterprise were it not for his leadership in creating OMB’s institutional capacity to review regulations. The Godfather of Regulatory Budgeting explains “‘President Carter had set up this office [OIRA] of almost 90 people and we had been reviewing regulations. When Reagan issued the executive order, we had an infrastructure, which is very important . . . .'”

From: The Hill

By Stuart Eizenstat

Editor’s Note: See the Complete 2018 ABA Administrative Law Conference Agenda.

From: Regulatory Pacesetters

***

Whether or not to institute a ceiling on these de facto taxes is a public policy issue that needs to be addressed when, and preferably before, the existing constraint on regulatory expenditures expires.  In a nutshell presently there is a constraint on the incremental costs that regulators can impose on the public; should this constraint, or a variant thereto, continue for the foreseeable future?  The particular mechanism to do so is also open for debate.