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: airline fees and greenhouse gas reporting
The Federal Register grew at nearly triple its usual pace last week. It is on pace for its first-ever 100,000-page year. GDP growth slowed to…
The Center Square
Study: Mixed record on permitting reform offers some hope
CEI’s James Broughel provided comments to The Center Square about a study he authored: “Pennsylvania’s a state where energy is very important to its…
Forbes
Libertarian Victory: You Mean We Can Shut Down Government Without Even Passing A Law?
It is happening again. Congress will enact another bloated, pork-laden and largely unread omnibus spending bill to complete formal appropriations for the 2024 fiscal year…
Search Posts
Blog
CEI Podcast For August 30, 2012: Delayed FDA Rules Should Be Scrapped
Senior Fellow Greg Conko argues that these rules should be scrapped altogether for two reasons: they will do little to improve food safety, and they…
Blog
Regulation Of The Day 227: Returning From The Moon
When Armstrong, Aldrin, and Michael Collins returned to Earth after the Apollo 11 mission, they actually filled out a customs form.
Blog
In Free Speech Victory, SEC Lifts Gag Rule On Hedge Funds And Venture Capital
Today's proposed Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule lifting the outdated ban on "general solicitation" by hedge funds and venture capitalists is a victory for entrepreneurs,…
Blog
Congress Should Create A Repeal Committee
David Deerson and I look at how such a committee might work in a piece over at RealClearPolicy:…
RealClear Policy
Congress Should Create a Repeal Committee
When Congress passes a highly unpopular bill that forces people to buy products from private businesses, and then the Supreme Court upholds it, something needs…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
76 new rules and1,687 Federal Register pages, from offshore drilling to odometers.
Blog
Regulation Roundup
A creative way to get around liquor permits, plus more.
Blog
Clinton Vs. Clinton (And Obama) On Deregulation
With little success on the economic front, President Barack Obama in 2012 is embracing much of his message on the economy from 2008. And from that playbook,…
Blog
CEI Podcast for August 23, 2012: Bailouts as Corruption
Senior Fellow Matt Patterson argues that when government is big and powerful enough to dispense favors like bailouts, special interests will flock to Washington to…
Blog
Regulation And The Green Bay Packers
The NFL has a 53-man roster limit, but it doesn't prescribe how many linemen or quarterbacks the team must carry. That's up to the GMs.
Blog
FDA Rules Won’t Work, Will Harm Small Farmers
The FDA recently decided to delay implementing about $1.4 billion of food safety regulations until after the November election. We think the FDA should scrap…
Blog
Regulation And Government “Science” Cost Us More Than Dollars
Today, the Independent Women's Forum blog highlights a new NERA Economic Consulting study (produced for Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation) on the costs…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
65 new rules, from offshore drilling to closed captioning.
Blog
Regulation Roundup
Fines for inaccurate weather forecasts, illegal chocolate egg smuggling, plus more.
Blog
West Nile Outbreak Warrants Pest Control — Pesticide Spraying Included
This year, Texas is experiencing its worst outbreak of the mosquito-transmitted West Nile virus ever. Fortunately, most people who get it won't suffer…
Blog
Regulation And The Setting Sun
Agencies are well-equipped for passing regulations, but not for repealing them. This becomes a problem as the years march on, and dusty old rules that…
Blog
California’s Unconstitutional Proposition 37
Writing in the Daily Caller, legal commentator Walter Olson says that California's Proposition 37 is bad policy that will only enrich opportunistic lawyers:…
Blog
Time To Extinguish Flame Retardant Hype
Flame retardants are making headlines these days thanks to an “exposé” — more properly characterized as an unsubstantiated smear campaign — published as a…
Blog
Equal Pay Should Be For Equal Work, Not Unequal Work
Yesterday, I criticized the assumption that people should receive equal pay for unequal work, such as requiring the average woman to be paid exactly…
Blog
When Wage Gaps Are Fair
When I and my wife first got married, she worked shorter hours than I did, and used her additional time outside the workplace for activities…
American Spectator
Needed: Judicial Activism
When it comes to the issues, it’s much harder than it should be to find substantive differences between President Obama and Mitt Romney. One potential…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Dog Days Edition
These days in D.C., the mercury regularly rises above the 90-degree mark right along with most of the U.S. As unpleasant as it might be…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
68 new rules, from health care to Glasflugel gliders.
Barron's
Laws Gone Wild? Drowning in Regulation
Barron's highlights Wayne Crews's study on the federal regulatory burden. According to a forthcoming report by the Competitive Enterprise Institute called Tip of…
Blog
Bureaucratic Green Chemistry
California bureaucrats recently released their proposed regulations implementing the state’s 2009-passed “green chemistry” law. The law supposedly will make life safer for California residents by…
Blog
Regulation Of The Day 226: Hot Dog Carts
Nathan Duszynski is 13 years old and lives in Holland, Michigan. His stepfather has multiple sclerosis. His mother has epilepsy. Neither is able to work.
Blog
Capitalism In Space
Over at National Review Online today, I have a piece on the current state of play in U.S. human spaceflight. It’s…
Blog
The Case For A Repeal Amendment
If you want different results, you need different rules. Allowing two-thirds majorities of the states to repeal federal laws and regulations is one rule change…
Blog
Teachers Unions Defend Institutional Incompetence
No good deed goes unpunished. Take Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s brave decision to lay off 3,600 employees -- including teachers and principals -- of 24 of New…
Forbes
The Least Sexy But Most Urgent Economic Reform Remains Ignored In The Presidential Campaign
Despite the federal government’s unabated growth, the most significant domestic policy landscape change has been shutting off the the power to the Social Security third…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
85 new regulations, from prairie dogs to corporate jets.
Blog
CEI Podcast For August 2, 2012: Cybersecurity Bill Fails
Today the Senate shot down a controversial cybersecurity bill that Associate Director of Technology Policy Studies Ryan Radia believes would have been a disaster.
Blog
The Great Hollywood Swindle
When is a market not a real market? When it trades in fake goods — products or services that could not exist if government didn’t…
Blog
EPA Attack On Asthmatics Coming To An End?
CEI warned policy makers a couple decades ago that an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) phase out of over-the-counter sales of CFC containing asthma inhalers…
Blog
Regulation Of The Day 225: Boobie Pillows
Kern County, California's government takes morality very seriously. Chapter 9.12.010 of the County Code states that “No vendor shall vend stuffed articles depicting the female…
Blog
Unruly Lead Paint Rule
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform recently released an interesting report on regulatory impediments to job creation. Among the…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
86 new rules last week, covering everything from Florida tomatoes to tug boat races.
Blog
Amendment to Cybersecurity Act Would Deter Federal Government Privacy Abuses
[caption id="attachment_58589" align="alignright" width="150"] Lord Acton's beard absolutely knows that power corrupts[/caption] In the ongoing debate over the Senate’s Cybersecurity Act of 2012 (…
Blog
New Regulations Threaten To Wipe Out Community Banks
The new Basel III capital requirement regulations are supposed to strengthen the international financial system, with their avowed effect being to: improve the banking…
Blog
Bloomberg Soda Ban Blocks Sale of Low-Calorie Drinks
As I’ve written before, Mayor Bloomberg’s big-soda ban is ill-conceived, unjust, invasive, and useless, among other things. As Seth Goldman, the CEO of Honest…
Blog
CEI Podcast for July 24, 2012: Unfunded Mandate Reform
Research Associate David Deerson explains why past efforts to rein in unfunded mandates failed, and why new legislation that Congress is set to vote on…
Blog
Don’t Blame Capitalism for Washington State’s Liquor Privatization “Failure”
There is no alternative way, so far discovered, of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities…
Blog
Cut Down On Unfunded Mandates, Part III
In my last post, I discussed the ways in which Rep. Virginia Foxx’s (R-N.C.) Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency Act (UMITA) updates and improves…
Blog
Cut Down On Unfunded Mandates, Part II
In my last post, I explained the concept of unfunded mandates, and why we need to find a way to curb Congress’s ability to pass…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
81 new rules and 1,283 Federal pages last week, covering everything from sippy cups to perch fishing in Alaska.
Washington Times
Season for Relief From Big Government
The good news is that this year’s budget deficit will be half a trillion less than last year’s. The bad news is that it still…
Blog
Revised Cybersecurity Act Makes Meaningful Progress On Privacy
em>By Ryan Radia and Berin Szoka A new version of the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 was introduced last night (PDF), and a vote on…
Blog
Cut Down On Unfunded Mandates, Part I
Next week, the House will likely vote on H.R. 4078, a reform package entitled “The Regulatory Freeze for Jobs Act of 2012.” One of the…
Blog
CEI Files Amicus Brief In Support Of EPIC’s Petition To Force A TSA Rulemaking On Strip-Search Machines
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) filed a brief of amici curiae in support of the Electronic Privacy Information Center's (EPIC) petition for writ…
Blog
On Dodd-Frank’s Unhappy Anniversary, Main Street Suffers Most
The LIBOR rate-fixing controversy and JP Morgan's failed trades are all spun as reasons why we need Dodd-Frank, the so-called "financial reform" law that was…
Legal Brief
Brief of Amici Curiae Supporting EPIC’s Petition for Writ of Mandamus (EPIC v. DHS)
In the last half decade, as millions of Americans have undergone AIT screening by the TSA, none have been afforded an opportunity to comment on…
Blog
Robert De Niro Admits Progressivism Kills Economies
Question: What do you get when a left-leaning state enlists a progressive celebrity to brag about how un-leftist the state is? Answer: The hilarious…
Blog
Flame Retardant Risks Overblown
Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and 25 members of Congress recently sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson urging quick action on regulations…
Blog
Do Shampoo “Technicians” Really Need To Be Licensed?
I never knew how unqualified I was to bathe myself. The states of New Hampshire, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas all have laws requiring professional…
Blog
Obama Administration Urged Self-Reliant Hispanics To Go On Food Stamps
The government encouraged self-sufficient Hispanics to apply for food stamps, in a Spanish-language radio campaign that continued until English speakers finally became aware…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week In Regulation
84 new rules and 1,412 Federal Register pages, covering everything from fair use of the FBI's anti-piracy seal airline pilot's working hours.
Blog
The Other Scandal In Unhappy Valley
So it turns out that Penn State has covered up wrongdoing by one of its employees to avoid bad publicity. But I'm not talking about…
Blog
Regulation Roundup
Britain bans starting pistols from track meets, plus more.
Blog
Rent-Seeking In The Apple Industry
A small food company in Canada has grown an apple that doesn’t turn brown after being sliced. Not everyone thinks it’s a great idea.
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Friday The 13th Edition
Happy Friday the 13th, everyone! Remember: raise your glasses with extra care this evening. Connecticut: In a continued effort to remain competitive with alcohol…
Blog
Financial System Continues To Not Collapse On JPMorgan Chase Earnings Report
As was was widely reported this morning, JPMorgan Chase today released its quarterly earnings statement, disclosing $5 billion of net income after accounting for a…
Blog
FDA Delay Likely Killed Thousands, Imposed Billions In Costs
The FDA didn’t approve a home test for HIV until 24 years after it first received an application. According to an FDA advisory committee,…
Blog
Sign A Petition Requiring The Transportation Security Administration To Follow The Law!
Over at the White House’s “We the People” site, a petition rapidly gathering signatures that demands that the Transportation Security Administration abide by a…
Blog
Dietitian Licensing Board Attempts To Limit Free Speech, Silence Bloggers
Have you ever given someone advice on how to lose weight through dietary changes? Have you ever recommended that certain foods could be consumed or…
Blog
TSA Roundup
Everyone's favorite sexy-searchers are back in the news, but not for the right reasons.
Blog
Poisonous Advice From The Environmental Working Group
Here we go again. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has issued its 2012 Shopping Guide to Pesticides in Produce — which is the eighth edition…
Blog
Regulation Of The Day 224: Competing With Taxis
A cool startup company called Uber operates in about half a dozen cities in the U.S. and Canada, and is growing fast. Think of…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
71 new rules and 1,388 Federal Register pages covering everything from wedding entertainment to collisions at sea.
Blog
Italy Kicks the Can on Labor Reform
Italy continues to put off addressing its most fundamental economic problem: impossibly rigid labor regulation. In this letter to The Wall Street Journal, I explain why…
Blog
Rhode Island Elected Officials Subvert the Gift Clause, Taxpayers Pay the Price
Over at the Rhode Island Providence Journal, my colleague Jessica Miller and I express the need for Rhode Island (along with every other state)…
Blog
Google, Antitrust Antagonism, Patent Trolling, and Joseph Schumpeter
Google has been in the news lately for all the right reasons, but also some wrong ones. The FTC is investigating its use of patents…
Blog
CEI Podcast for July 5, 2012: Relic of Prohibition
Prohibition ended 79 years ago, but in Washington, D.C., it is still illegal to buy liquor on Sundays. Fellow in Consumer Policy Studies Michelle Minton…
Blog
Against the First Amendment: How Public-Sector Unions Neglect Free Speech
No one should be forced to join or contribute to any organization if they do not want to do so. This principle forms the bedrock…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: July 4th Liberty Edition
As you prepare to raise your glass in celebration (or memorial) of American freedom, give a cheer for the ever increasingly liberated alcohol laws around…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 223: Fred Flintstone Cars
Sebastian Trager built a replica of Fred Flintstone’s car, but regulators won't let him drive it.
Blog
Food Safety Regulations That Kill
In Reason magazine, Baylen Linnekin writes about "the sickening nature of many food-safety regulations," like the "poke and sniff" inspection method mandated by the…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 222: Macaroni
According to federal regulations, you may not, in fact, stick a feather in your hat and call it macaroni.
Blog
Court’s Obamacare Decision — What Would John Locke Say?
Richard Epstein of the Hoover Institution and the University of Chicago Law School gives the Chief Justice some tough love in “What Was Roberts…
Blog
D.C. To End Sunday Liquor Ban?
In D.C. politics, one month can make all the difference. At the end of April, Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham said that he opposed…
Blog
The Good, the Bad, and the Broccoli
Most people thought that the health care decision would hinge on the Court’s interpretation of the Commerce Clause. That’s why I wrote the first three…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
101 new final regulations, covering everything from Costa Rican flowers to tanning.
Blog
Obamacare Lives. So, Now What?
Former CEI scholar Tom Miller (now with AEI) has some thoughts on the Obamacare decision in today's…
Blog
Soda Pop, States’ Interests, and the General Welfare
Michael Bloomberg is as notorious as any American politician of our time. The New York Mayor’s recently proposed ban on “sugary drinks” larger than 18 ounces is the…
Reason
Government Mini Golf: The Federal Regulations For Putt-Putt Courses
From Peter Suderman's post on Reason's Hit & Run: Under the umbrella of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the federal government has issued…
Blog
CEI Podcast: June 28, 2012: The Obamacare Decision
General Counsel Sam Kazman shares his thoughts on the Supreme Court's health care decision, the Commerce Clause, Congress' taxation power, and more.
Blog
Supreme Court Concocts New “Rational (Tax) Basis” Test in Upholding Health Law
In a move that seems to have surprised many observers, the Supreme Court today upheld nearly all of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act…
Blog
Obamacare Upheld, 5-to-4: A Perverse Decision That Undermines Political Accountability
Today, in a really perverse ruling, the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare's individual mandate as a tax in a 5-to-4 decision, even though Obamacare's supporters…
Blog
Quick Thoughts on the Health Care Ruling
The Supreme Court upheld the health care bill, as you've no doubt heard by now. Over at the Daily Caller, I offer a few quick…
Blog
Regulation of the Day 221: Miniature Golf Courses
The federal government regulates the slopes of miniature golf courses.
Blog
A Political Climate that Discourages Setting Up a Small Business
The EEOC has punished a cafe owner for not selecting a hearing- and speech-impaired applicant for a cashier’s position, even though such impairments obviously…
Blog
Highway Bill Would Continue Pension Underfunding Shell Game
As if the Senate Highway Bill (S. 1813) could not become more of a lumbering monster, along comes its Section 40312, which allows "pension…
Blog
Supreme Court Limits Arizona’s Anti-Immigration Law
The Supreme Court has struck down portions of Arizona’s SB 1070 — the controversial immigration law that targets undocumented migrant workers. The Court ruled that…
Blog
A History of Interstate Commerce Part 3: The Expansion
The seminal event in expanding the commerce clause’s interpretation was the 1937 Supreme Court case National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
77 new final rules and 1,633 Federal Register pages, covering everything from prison rape to airport concession workers.
Legal Brief
State National Bank of Big Spring et al. v. Geithner et al.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute and the 60 Plus Association join the State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, in their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of…
Blog
Bailouts Won’t Save Europe, Only Reform Will
As European leaders panic over bailouts for Southern Europe, they miss an important reality. Comprehensive structural reform is the only long-term solution for recovery. Perversely, bailouts…
Blog
Supreme Court Ruling in FCC v. Fox Television Stations Undermines Vague Regulations at SEC, EEOC, and NLRB
In its ruling yesterday in FCC v. Fox Television Stations, the Supreme Court overturned the FCC’s finding that Fox Television was guilty of…
Blog
A History of Interstate Commerce Part 2: Rebels Without a Clause
The Articles of Confederation, which preceded the Constitution, lacked a Commerce Clause. The federal government had no power to regulate commerce among the states. That…
Blog
FCC v. Fox Television: Protection Against Vague Laws Applies to Civil Cases and Protects Businesses
Past Supreme Court rulings like FCC v. Pacifica (1978) allow the federal government to ban "indecency" in broadcasting, and give the government a freer…
Blog
Supreme Court Rules against Union Forced Speech
Thomas Jefferson said that, "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and…
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