^®: CRE Regulatory Action of the Week

U.S. Chamber Seeks Information on Government Consent Decrees
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to some 30 Federal agencies seeking information on how these agencies use consent decrees to establish regulatory policy. The Chamber's actions are part of its ongoing effort to evaluate the prevalence of "Regulation by Litigation" – the use of Federal litigation by private or public parties to achieve regulatory policy goals through the courts that they could not achieve through legislation or agency rulemakings. Federal consent decrees are generally negotiated in secret. The Chamber FOIA requests highlight the crucial problem with "Regulation by Litigation"– that public policy is changed without either the public participation and oversight inherent in the legislative and rulemaking process, or even awareness that the policy has been changed.