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: Seat belts and eagle possession
This week’s roundup will be a little different than usual. Since the new year began mid-week, and I already published a breakdown of 2024’s year-end numbers, as…
Blog
Biden’s regulatory landscape: A year-end analysis
As we ring in 2025, the Federal Register reveals a noteworthy chapter in regulatory history under the Joe Biden administration. We take our traditional year-end look at it here. The 2024 Federal Register closed…
Blog
2024 Regulation roundup
All the major regulatory numbers for 2024’s new regulations are now in the books. Here are the highlights, followed by a little analysis and a preview of…
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
Blog
Government Unions Stall San Diego Pension Reform
Collective bargaining privileges are facilitating the San Diego Municipal Employee Association’s (MEA) ability to wreak havoc over voter-approved pension reform. These privileges elevate union special…
Blog
A History of Interstate Commerce Part 1: Neither Interstate Nor Commerce
The Supreme Court’s impending decision on the constitutionality of the health care bill’s individual mandate presents a golden opportunity to review the history of the…
Blog
Google and Antitrust: Economic Liberty in the Balance
Way back when the DOJ brought an antitrust suit against Microsoft in 1990s, Milton Friedman had this to say to The Wall Street…
Blog
Alcohol Regulation Roundup: Longest Day Edition
Happy summer solstice everyone (it was yesterday, but this is the first full day of summer)! Wherever you are, I hope you're enjoying the maximum…
Blog
Support Rep. Diane Black’s MTI to Halt Misguided Federal Support for “Distracted Driving” Laws
Today, Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) issued a notice of her intent to offer a motion to instruct (MTI) [PDF] highway bill conferees to oppose…
Blog
Net Neutrality: Two Concepts of Liberty
Two Concepts of Liberty In December of 2010, the FCC passed a network neutrality order mandating, among other things, that ISPs allow content to…
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Communication Workers of America Remain a Thorn in Verizon’s Side
Communication Workers of America is seeking government intervention in order to protect union jobs at Verizon’s unprofitable wireline industry. If the union’s call for intervention…
Blog
Supreme Court Issues 5-to-4 Rulings, But Not On Obamacare
The Supreme Court announced four decisions today, three of them decided by slender 5-to-4 margins, but not the long-awaited ruling about the constitutionality of…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
84 new regulations, covering everything from gopher frogs to cotton gins.
New York Times
This Week in Small Business: Working Without Pay
From Gene Marks' post in The New York Times' You're the Boss blog: The Internal Revenue Service offers advice for safeguarding tax…
Blog
Sen. Rand Paul Introduces Bills to Dramatically Rein in TSA
Yesterday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced two bills aimed at reducing the power of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). S.3303 would end the TSA’s…
Blog
An IRS Trojan Horse
The IRS' proposed real-time tax system is a Trojan horse for a return-free system, in which the IRS would become your tax preparer as well…
Blog
Losing the Universe with LOST
The Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) has been languishing in the Senate for decades, but led by Massachusetts senator John Kerry, there is growing…
Blog
End in Sight for Pennsylvania’s State-Run Liquor Stores
Could it finally happen? After decades of hemming, hawing, and growing public anger over Pennsylvania’s outdated regulations, change may finally be in the cards for…
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China Takes Hard Stance on EU’s Airline Emissions Charges
It looks like it could begin a trade war — in airplanes. China has announced that it may impound European Union airplanes in retaliation if…
Blog
Jamie Dimon and the “Just Fine” Private Sector
It will be interesting to see how the Big Government punditocracy squares its doubling-down defense of President Obama's comments that "the private sector is…
Blog
Stigler on the Regulatory Mindset
"There are only two alternatives to the market: the state, and prayer. It turns out the two were merged in one."…
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Union Bosses Care More about Collective Bargaining than Students
In Massachusetts and Louisiana, union bosses' recent actions indicate collective bargaining privileges and lavish contracts are their number one priority. First in Massachusetts, the AFL-CIO…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
65 new regulations last week, covering everything from substance abuse to the official taxonomy of the endangered African wild ass.
Blog
Regulation of the Day 220: Driver’s Side Mirrors
A math professor has invented a driver's side mirror that eliminates the dreaded blind spot, but regulators won't let car makers use them.
Blog
In New York, a Private/Public Sector Union Rift
The fact that government employee unions have been at the center of budget debates across the nation underscores their outsize influence on state and local…
Business Week
Obama Shouldn’t Embellish His Small Business Record
From Scott Shane's article in Bloomberg Businessweek: Now consider regulation. The National Economic Council report says that the president has cut “red tape”…
Blog
Tapping Space Resources
Over at The Washington Times, Bob Zubrin says that we need space property rights. Gee, I wonder…
Blog
Ten Thousand Commandments and Growing
Over at ?The Washington Times?, Wayne Crews and I praise President Obama's recent regulatory reforms. They're small, but they're better than nothing:…
Blog
Taxpayers Win as Dulles Rail Drops Pro-Union Contracting Rules
In a win for Old Dominion taxpayers, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) yesterday rescinded a pro-union project labor agreement (PLA) for the building of the Metro…
Blog
Government Restrictions on Salt Consumption May Cost Lives
Some government officials would like to curb salt consumption, even though such restrictions could increase death rates. “The Department of Agriculture’s dietary guidelines still…
Blog
George Will Makes the Case for the REINS Act
In his column today, George Will makes the case for Congress to take responsibility for the enormous costs which regulation imposes on American businesses…
Blog
Washington’s Ten Thousand Commandments
The 2012 edition of “Ten Thousand Commandments” is out now. If you don’t feel like reading all 66 pages (though I recommend you do!),…
Blog
A Liberal War on Women: “New Law Keeps Many Homemakers from Qualifying for Credit Cards”
The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (CARD Act), a law passed by a liberal Congress and signed by President Obama, “…
The American Spectator
Washington’s Ten Thousand Commandments
Deficits, taxes, and spending are the defining issues of the 2012 campaign. Regulation deserves a seat at the table, too. The federal government spent $3.6…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
58 new rules despite the short work week, covering everything from dishwashers to Maine lobsters.
Blog
Maryland Gov. O’Malley Grants Big Labor Protections from Disclosure
In Maryland, labor unions join the protected ranks of doctors and lawyers with respect to confidentiality privileges. In early May, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley signed…
Blog
New York City Mayor Michael “Nanny” Bloomberg Wants To Ban Super-Sized Soda
The infamous mayor, known for instituting paternalistic food policies, like banning trans fats and Four Loko, limiting salt, regulating calories, is at it again.
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 31, 2012: Ten Thousand Commandments
Congress passed 81 bills last year, while agencies passed 3,807 regulations. This, according to Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews, is regulation without representation.
Blog
Paycheck Fairness Act Contains Unfair Provisions, Would Result in Equal Pay for Unequal Work
“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., scheduled a vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act when the Senate returns from its week-long recess,” reports Susan…
Blog
CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
95 new final rules published last week, covering everything from crocodiles to the definition of "unblockable drain."…
Oil & Gas Journal
US Regulatory Costs Amplify Pressure of the Mammoth Deficit
From Bob Tippee's column in The Oil & Gas Journal: An annual report published by the Competitive Enterprise Institute estimates the cost of…
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 24, 2012: Driverless Cars
A prototype driverless car made by Google recently made the rounds in Washington, DC, and Land-use and Transportation Policy Analyst Marc Scribner got to take…
Blog
Senate Vote Today on FDA, Supplements, and Energy Drinks
Today, the Senate will vote to reauthorize and modify the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) prescription drug and medical device user-fee program (…
Blog
MWAA: A Government-Authorized Fiefdom
Should Congress’s power extend to creating taxpayer-funded government entities that are free from state and federal laws concerning ethics, transparency, and disclosure? No, but it…
Blog
Is the Obama Administration Anti-Business?
If President Obama has found it hard in responding to critics who accuse him of being “anti-business,” he really only has his own administration’s policies…
Blog
Facebook’s Fall and the Post-Sarbanes-Oxley “Cheers IPOs”
How Over-Regulation is Robbing Investors of Wealth from Smaller IPOs When I wrote pieces here and at the Daily Caller late last week injecting a…
Blog
H.R. 1909 — Unfinished Free-Market Business to Lift Barriers to Lending
They said it couldn't be done. That Congress couldn't pass a bipartisan bill in an election year to help the economy. Particularly one that lessens…
Blog
Techno-Phobic California Politicians “NHTSA” Google’s Driverless Car
Last week, I wrote about Google’s amazing new self-driving car, which CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman and I had the opportunity to test-ride in…
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