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
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…
Blog
CEI briefs the public on the need for administrative law court reform
The Competitive Enterprise Institute recently hosted our first Capitol Hill event of the year, urging Congress to propose administrative law court (ALC) reform. Our…
Forbes
The Quiet Threat To Science Posed By ‘Indigenous Knowledge’
“Indigenous knowledge” is in the spotlight thanks to President Biden, who issued an executive order within days of taking office, aimed at ushering…
Search Posts
Op-Eds
Gorging on Regulations
Congress is now debating the $1.8 trillion federal budget. While federal spending consumes an awesome 18 percent of nation’s economic product, the official budget at least…
News Release
Shadow Insurance Regulation Committee issues statements on Commercial Insurance Deregulation, Workers’ Comp, and Electronic Comm
Washington, DC, April 19, 1999 – The Shadow Insurance Regulation Committee issued three statements of consensus today, concerning commercial insurance deregulation, workers’ compensation…
Products
Regulatory Budget Check
However controversial the $1.7 trillion federal budget may be, taxpayers know what Washington officially spends in the congressionally approved budget. That places some…
Products
Proposed Regulatory Report Card
Regulatory Report Card Recommended Official Summary Data by Program, Agency, and Grand Total …with 5-year historical…
Op-Eds
Regulatory Cost Balance Sheet
A new report to Congress by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) finds that health, safety and environmental regulations cost between $174 billion and…
News Release
New Study Provides “How-To” Guide for Regulatory Reform
Washington, DC, February 29, 2000 –A new report released today by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) called for congressional approval of all major regulations…
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