There are two main areas in which Congress can enact meaningful reform. The first is to rein in regulatory guidance documents, which we refer to as “regulatory dark matter,” whereby agencies regulate through Federal Register notices, guidance documents, and other means outside standard rulemaking procedure. The second is to enact a series of reforms to increase agency transparency and accountability of all regulation and guidance. These include annual regulatory report cards for rulemaking agencies and regulatory cost estimates from the Office of Management and Budget for more than just a small subset of rules.
In 2019, President Trump signed two executive orders aimed at stopping the practice of agencies using guidance documents to effectively implement policy without going through the legally required notice and comment process.
Featured Posts
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Lime emissions and stabilizing the Western Balkans
The 2024 Federal Register set a new all-time record page count on December 3. It surpassed 2016’s record of 95,894 pages with nearly a month to spare. Syria’s dictatorship…
Blog
Biden breaks Federal Register record
Joe Biden’s administration has set a new Federal Register record with 96,088 pages as of December 3, 2024, surpassing the Obama administration’s 95,894 pages in…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Milk marketing and sport fishing
It was a shortened week on account of Thanksgiving. Agencies issued new regulations ranging from fed cattle to general service lamps. On to the data: • Agencies issued 57 final regulations last week,…
Search Posts
Reason
Georgia’s ‘Mimosa Mandate’ Is a Victory for Alcohol Freedom
Reason cited Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on alcohol regulations: Why stifle alcohol sales when they’re clearly the miracle elixir society needs? Michelle Minton…
Newsmax
Don’t Let Red Tape Stunt Innovative Cryptocurrency
As cryptocurrency and the associated blockchain celebrate their tenth birthdays, the new “Free to Prosper” agenda for the 116th Congress — published by my…
Blog
What If Trump’s Regulations Exceed His Regulatory Rollback Savings?
President Donald Trump has pruned rules and costs at a quicker pace than other presidents. But could his other policies torpedo that?…
Blog
This Week in Ridiculous Regulations
Last week, people got worked up over hamburgers and a television commercial about razors. Meanwhile the partial federal shutdown continued, and a bill to introduce…
National Law Review
Think-Tank Calls for RFS Repeal
The National Law Review cited CEI’s Agenda for the 116th Congress: On January 8, 2019, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a non-profit…
News Release
CEI Asks Court to Invalidate the FCC’s Costly Conditions on 2016 Charter Cable Merger
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and four cable customers yesterday filed the opening brief in their challenge to the wide-ranging conditions imposed by the FCC…
Staff & Scholars
Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation
Ryan Young
Senior Economist
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Regulatory Reform
Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government
Sam Kazman
Counsel Emeritus
- Antitrust
- Automobiles and Roads
- Banking and Finance
Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment