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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The week in regulations, shutdown edition: Student loans and foreigners’ biometric data
President Trump announced a trade deal with China. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates. The continued federal shutdown meant another slow week in the Federal…
Blog
Darklore Depository 2025: An unofficial inventory of guidance documents and other regulatory dark matter
Halloween can remind policy wonks that some of the ghastliest regulatory chills come not from ordinary notice-and-comment regulation buried in the daily Federal Register, but…
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The week in regulations, shutdown edition: Visa fees and regional haze
President Trump demanded that the Justice Department pay him $230 million. He also cut off all trade negotiations with Canada because of a tv commercial…
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News Release
New Chance for Local Telephone Competition
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” /> Contact for Interviews: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Richard Morrison,…
News Release
Connecticut Official Worsens Blackout Worries
Contact for Interviews: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273 …
Op-Eds
A Bright Idea: Deregulate
The massive blackout that shut off lights along the East coast, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Midwest and Canada need not…
News Release
Bush’s Choice for EPA Chief Lost Opportunity?
Contact: Jody Clarke, 202.331.2252<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> <?xml:namespace prefix = st1…
Op-Eds
Time to Put Auntie Beeb Out to Grass
<?xml:namespace prefix = v ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml” /><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /><?xml:namespace prefix = w ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word” />The current spat…
News Release
CEI’s President Makes the Case to Tame Regulatory Beast
Contact for interviews: Richard Morrison, 202-331-2273 Washington, D.C., July 22, 2003—Today the House Committee on Government Reform will hear testimony from Competitive Enterprise Institute President…
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