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.
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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,…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Pear handling and airport construction
CEI founder Fred Smith passed away at age 83. Few people were as effective as Fred in pushing back against regulatory excesses, and nobody did it…
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Forbes
Beware: The Biden Administration Refers To “Economically Significant” Regulations In The Past Tense
The past few days have brought renewed attention to Biden’s Executive Order 14,094 on “Modernizing…
Study
Four Principles for Real Permitting Reform
Federal legislators continue to focus on permitting reform. For example, the Senate is reportedly1 working on more ambitious reform than those recently enacted in the…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: soybean standards and pain medication limits
The FTC issued its new draft merger guidelines. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from milk marketing to Postal Service snitches. On to the…
News Release
House Oversight and Accountability Committee unanimously advances regulatory reform legislation
Earlier today, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee advanced 41 to 0 the Guidance Out of Darkness (GOOD) Act from Rep. James Comer (R-KY).
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: historical captain permits and apricot marketing
The Supreme Court agreed to hear CEI’s Moore v. U.S. tax case in its upcoming term. It also handed down rulings in controversial cases…
Daily Caller
Don’t Stop At College — End Race-Based Admissions In Public Schools
There’s an important battle brewing in our public schools between equity and treating students equally under the law. Equitable treatment of one class of students…
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