Archive for January, 2019

American Coatings Association Submits Comments to OIRA on Canada and U.S. Regulatory Cooperation

From: American Coatings Association

Last month, ACA submitted comments to the White House Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), in response to a Request for Information (RFI) seeking stakeholder input on how the Federal Government can reduce unnecessary regulatory differences under the auspices of the U.S.-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC). ACA’s comments identified three key areas for bilateral cooperation: uniform regulation of biocides; consistent hazard communication for labeling; and coordination and data sharing for chemical risk management.

With shutdown over, agency regulatory process soon to regain momentum

From: Federal News Network

By Jory Heckman

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Bridget Dooling, a former deputy chief and senior policy analyst at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, now a research professor at George Washington University’s Regulatory Studies Center, said there may be some lag to proposed rules appearing in the Federal Register.

“Sometimes there’s some back-and-forth needed between the Federal Register staff and the agency staff that they’re dealing with. I wouldn’t expect on day one after the government opens that you would see everything that’s been held up published on that same day,” Dooling said in an interview Thursday. “It will take some time to get all those documents into shape for publication.”

A long shutdown hinders Trump’s deregulatory efforts

From: The Hill | Opinion

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Less visible, however, is the absence of smaller and less public-facing entities such as the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which employs about 450 people. Nestled in the OMB is a small office, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), where I was part of the career staff until last year. An office that inspires colorful language, OIRA has been called “obscure but powerful” and the “cockpit of the regulatory state.” It has many functions, but the one that garners most public attention is its role in reviewing draft regulations before they are issued to the public.

2018: The Year in Regulation

From: American Action Forum

Dan Bosch, Dan Goldbeck

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PAPERWORK

This past year was a net deregulatory one in terms of estimated costs, but across all final rules, estimated paperwork burdens increased by nearly 10 million hours. The primary reason for this disparity comes down to a single rule: The Department of Agriculture’s “National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard.” As seen above, this rule clocks in at number one in the “Costliest Rules” ranking with roughly $5.6 billion in present value costs. The 20.5 million hours of new paperwork requirements under the rule likely contributed heavily to this price tag. This rule is something of an outlier for the year, however, as the second most burdensome rule brings only 900,855 hours – a difference of roughly 19.6 million hours.

OIRA Oversight of the Regulatory Process is an Essential Government Function

From: Bloomberg Government

Rulemaking Goes Dark During Shutdown Over Spending Standoff

Cheryl Bolen

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The agency rulemaking process continues for funded or excepted agencies, a senior administration official said in an email to Bloomberg Government. OIRA is providing necessary support to those agencies and activities, consistent with law, the official said.

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