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
New bill would increase spending transparency, more regulatory transparency needed
Galileo may not have uttered the famous words, “Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so,” but the sentiment behind that admonition…
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…
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Op-Eds
Supreme Court Rules EPA Can Override States on Environment
In an ongoing fight between states and the federal government over control of environmental policy, the federal government has notched an important victory…
Op-Eds
Creating Cow Concerns Should Make Mad Consumers
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />U.S. consumers are known for their affection for food, so it's a wonder most Americans…
Op-Eds
Clinton’s Midnight Madness vs. the Bush Administration
Remember all those “<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />midnight regulations” finalized by outgoing Clinton administration officials during their final two months…
Op-Eds
No, Not the NHS!
Whenever I hear the words “universal health care” — as I did during Sunday night's Democratic debate in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =…
Op-Eds
End Subsidies for Nanotechnology
Op-Eds
UN-Dermining the Net
There's mounting evidence that the Internet's good old days as a globalcyberzone of freedom—where governments generally take a “hands off” approach—may be numbered. [Last year] delegates from 192 countries met in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Geneva to discuss how the Internet should be governed and what steps should be taken to solve the global “digital divide” and “harness the potential of information” onbehalf of the world's poor. Also on the table at the session—the UnitedNations World Summit on the Information Society—was the question of domainname management and how much protection free speech and expression shouldreceive on the Net. The real issue, however, is whether a “United Nations forthe Internet” is on the way. The great advantage of the Net is precisely the ability to reach as many peopleas possible and overcome artificial restrictions on trade or communications attraditional geographic boundaries. The Web, whatever problems it has raised,has provided far more opportunity and freedom to mankind. The United Nationsappears eager to assume greater control over the Net, not because of itsfailures, but because it undermines members' authority. That sounds like thebest reason ever to make sure a United Nations for the Internet never becomes areality. …
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