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

News Release
CEI Report Proposes Legislation to Stop Future Congresses from Exploiting National Crises to Grow Government
WASHINGTON—The United States has been rocked by three major economic crises so far in the 21st century—the 9/11 terror attacks, the 2008 financial crash, and…

Study
The Case for Letting Crises Go to Waste
Executive Summary An Abuse-of-Crisis Prevention Act to reaffirm boundaries of politicians and the legislation they can pass has become necessary to the survival of limited…

Blog
A Brief Outline of a Regulatory Report Card Congress Should Enact
Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so. — Quote frequently attributed to Galileo, that, alas, probably was not his.If I…
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Study
Property Wrongs: The Growth of Federal Land-Use Control
Full Document Available in PDF In the spring of…
Study
Public vs. Private Land Management: Which is Better for the Environment
Full Document Available in PDF The…
Study
Putting People Last: Endangered Species vs. People
Full Document Available in PDF Law-abiding, workaday Americans all across…
Study
Instrastate Trucking: Stronghold of the Regulators
The deregulatory wave of the 1970s and early 1980s freed the railroads, the airlines, air cargo carriers, and interstate trucking and buses from the…
Study
Pick a Number
Full Study Available in PDF How much would you be willing to pay for an…
Op-Eds
Better Living Through Government Mandate
Technology—or rather government-favored technology—has gained favor among Washington politicos and activists. Technology, these activists seem to believe, makes it possible to mandate almost anything—recycling,…
Staff & Scholars

Clyde Wayne Crews
Vice President for Policy and Senior Fellow
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation

Ryan Young
Senior Fellow
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Regulatory Reform

Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government

Sam Kazman
General Counsel
- Antitrust
- Automobiles and Roads
- Banking and Finance

Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment