Neomi Rao, Director, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: Washington’s new regulatory czar
Sep 5th
From: Politico | Politico 50 List
Danny Vinik
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Whether or not that theory gets tested, her fingerprints will be all over Trump’s deregulatory agenda. As head of OIRA, Rao will scrutinize all significant regulations the Trump administration proposes, ensuring that agencies stick to the White House’s agenda. She is also responsible for implementing Trump’s executive orders directing agencies to repeal two regulations for each significant one they issue, and to draw up plans for regulatory reform. For Rao, who spent a year working in the George W. Bush administration and later fought to rename George Mason’s law school in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the appointment puts her in a prime position to actually slash what she calls the “regulatory burden.”
Regulatory activity dips to new lows in Trump administration
Aug 24th
From: Bloomberg Government
The pace of regulatory activity has dipped to new lows in the first six months of the Trump administration, bringing welcome relief to businesses beset by rules from the prior administration, but dismaying public safety and civil rights advocates who fear crises are coming.
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which reviews all significant federal regulations, processed 67 regulatory actions in the first six months of this administration, including notices, proposals, and final rules, compared with 216 actions by the same point in the Obama administration, according to government data.
Judge Questions ‘Shadow’ Process in Challenge to Regulatory Order
Aug 14th
From: BNA/Daily Report for Executives
By Cheryl Bolen
President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring agencies to eliminate two regulations for each new regulation issued and offset the cost of each new rule is “fundamentally different” than previous executive orders guiding agency rulemaking, a federal judge said Aug. 10 ( Public Citizen Inc. v. Trump, D.D.C., No. 1:17-cv-00253, oral argument 8/10/17 ).
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This President Is No Different
Brett Shumate, deputy assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice, argued that presidents have been directing agency rulemaking processes for the past 40 years and this president is no different.
Mulvaney is Right to Call for More Money for OMB
Jul 25th
From: The Regulatory Review
Expanding a White House office could help shrink the whole federal government.
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Concerns about OIRA’s being understaffed are particularly salient in the wake of President Trump’s signing several aggressive executive orders designed to curb over-regulation. Executive Order 13,771, the centerpiece of President Trump’s deregulatory campaign, implements a “two out, one in” system that requires federal agencies to eliminate two old regulations for every new one they enact. The order also establishes a type of regulatory budget, setting a limit on the regulatory costs that agencies can impose on individuals and businesses each year. Executive Order 13,781 followed suit by calling for a comprehensive reorganization of the executive branch.
Trump administration reveals first regulatory agenda
Jul 21st
From: The Hill
By Lydia Wheeler
The Trump administration for the first time is mapping out its plans to cut down on the nation’s regulatory rulebook with the release of its first agenda.
The semi-annual Unified Regulatory Agenda published by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Thursday is a policy blueprint of sorts for federal agencies.
Trump administration to reveal which Obama-era rules it’s planning to repeal
Jul 20th
From: The Washington Post
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On Thursday, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget is planning to release a list of rules it plans to weaken or eliminate. The list will note that 469 proposals that were in the works during the Obama administration have been scrapped, and another 391 have been slowed. The administration is not releasing a full list of which regulations it’s targeting until Thursday, but they will run the gamut from significant policy measures to minor procedural measures, said Neomi Rao, who heads the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
Top White House post for Neomi Rao
Jul 19th
From: IANS live
WASHINGTON, DC — The Senate on July 10 confirmed Indian American Neomi Rao to be administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).
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OIRA has the final approval on all proposed and final rules, as well as government data collections.
Where is the Regulatory Agenda?
Jul 18th
From: Mondaq
Article by James J. Plunkett and Harold P. Coxson | Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart
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Speaking of regulations, the administration has yet to issue a Regulatory Agenda, the comprehensive document that serves as the federal government’s forecast and timeline of regulatory activity. The Regulatory Agenda is important for employers because it puts them on notice of potential regulatory changes and provides them with an opportunity to engage with policymakers on issues that may have significant impacts on their businesses. The Regulatory Agenda is traditionally released twice each year: once in the spring and then again in the fall. There are exceptions, of course (in 2012, only a single agenda appeared, issued in late December of that year). . . .
Reformer Neomi Rao Sails Through Senate Confirmation to Become the Government’s Top Regulatory Analyst
Jul 3rd
From: Reason.com
Off the media radar, the Trump administration continues serious work on deregulation, with professionals even Democrats praise
Today the Senate confirmed Neomi Rao as administrator of the Office for Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which is charged with vetting the federal government’s regulatory activities for cost-benefit sanity and recognizable legislative intent. Rao, founder of the Center for the Study of the Administrative State at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, has a long track record of criticizing the accrual of power and latitude at the executive branch’s regulatory agencies (see Christian Britschgi’s detailed report from earlier this month). The vote was 59-36.
Trump’s Comprehensive Plan For Reorganizing The Executive Branch About To Get Underway
Jun 27th
Editor’s Note: The most explicit linkage between the fiscal and regulatory realm—and the most successfully enforced regulatory review program—was President Nixon’s Quality of Life Review which was “conducted by the ‘budget’ side of OMB meaning that those conducting the reviews not only reviewed an agency’s regulations but also its budget, personnel level, information collections and its overall policies to assess, and enforce, their compliance with Presidential policy. In addition the Nixon program granted OMB the authority to review guidance and related quasi-rulemaking documents.” See here.
From: Forbes | Opinion