Regulatory Reform in 2016 Starts Now

The House is voting on two pieces of regulatory reform legislation today, the Sunshine Act and the SCRUB Act. Both will likely pass, then it’s on to the Senate, though veto threats to both bills complicate matters. Over at RealClearPolicy, I break down both bills. The Sunshine Act would reform a regulatory practice called sue-and-settle:

In a typical sue-and-settle situation, an environmental-activist group sues the Environmental Protection Agency for not meeting deadlines or not enforcing certain regulations thoroughly enough. EPA officials, who may have been working with the plaintiffs behind the scenes, happily admit guilt and agree to a settlement that expands the agency's power and scope. 

See also my colleague William Yeatman’s work on sue-and-settle reform. Meanwhile, the SCRUB Act would:

[E]stablish an independent commission to comb through the 175,000-page Code of Federal Regulations for old, obsolete, redundant, and harmful rules. Its goal is to "achieve a reduction of at least 15 percent" in cumulative regulatory costs. With that goal in mind, and given that federal regulations now cost nearly $1.9 trillion per year, a successful commission could save the American people around $285 billion per year.

Read the whole thing here.