Regulatory Transactions

Editor’s Note: Professor Rowell’s paper Partial Valuation and Cost-Benefit Analysis is attached below.

From: RegBlog

Arden Rowell | 05/30/12

Editor’s Note:  The complete letter from the Sunlight Foundation to Administrator Leppink, with cc names including OIRA Administrator Sunstein and Secretary Solis, is attached below.

From: Sunlight Foundation

The following letter was just sent to the Department of Labor, on behalf of Sunlight and a number of our allies, requesting that the DOL re-post materials online that they removed when they abandoned proposed regulations regarding child labor in agriculture.  As the letter says, no major administration decision should be accompanied by related materials’ disappearance from public view.

Letter-to-the-Department-of-Labor-on-Rulemaking-Transparency

From: Bloomberg

By Alan Levin and Andrew Zajac

A regulation exempting pilots atUnited Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) and FedEx Corp. (FDX) from new rules to combat fatigue will be reviewed after the U.S. government disclosed errors in its analysis of costs and benefits.

The Federal Aviation Administration, responding to a lawsuit by UPS pilots challenging the exemption, said in a courtfiling that it discovered unspecified errors behind its conclusion that the rule would be too costly for cargo airlines.

From: Shopfloor

Today several news outlets reported that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has sent the final Boiler MACT regulations over to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for final review. It’s expected that OMB will finish the review in the next few weeks, and the EPA will issue the regulations in the next month or so.

The Boiler MACT regulation will only add to the already cumbersome regulatory burden facing manufacturers of all sizes. These regulations will hurt our ability to compete and stifle job creation. The Council for Industrial Boiler Owners estimates the regs will cost more than $14 billion to implement.

From: Bloomberg

By Andrew Zajac

Food companies, consumer groups and even a senior administration official are pressuring the White House to announce new food safety regulations that were mandated by law to be released more than four months ago.

Food companies such as General Mills Inc. and consumer groups are joining forces to lobby President Barack Obama’s administration to implement provisions of the Food Safety Modernization Act, which would increase oversight of the U.S. food chain.

Editor’s Note:  The article below discusses complex, detailed regulatory proposals with far-reaching and potentially unseen impacts throughout the economy.  Americans should be appreciative of OMB undertaking the painstaking (and apparently thankless) task of carefully reviewing FDA’s regulatory plans to ensure that they advance the public interest consistent with legal authorities.  OMB’s review of FDA regulations, a long-established basic exercise of Presidential authority and responsibility, is a prudent approach to avoiding the unexpected consequences of faulty “slam dunk” analyses.

From: The Washington Post

Food-safety rules in limbo at Office of Management and Budget

By Dina ElBoghdady